In an uncommon move, he asks the defense to set aside the plea deal after hearing from the victim. A hearing today determines whether the case will go to trial.
By ALEX LEARY
Published June 29, 2004
NEW PORT RICHEY - Charles Patric Afriat showed up in court Monday morning thinking he would be sentenced to six months in jail for shooting into an occupied vehicle - a fraction of the 15 years in prison he could have received at trial.
Instead, the former Hernando County sheriff's deputy left Judge Michael F. Andrews' chambers having to face another hearing this morning that could result in a trial after all.
What changed was the victim showed up to protest the plea deal worked out between prosecutors and Afriat's attorney and presented to Andrews on June 14.
Leonard Umhoefer skipped that meeting but wanted his chance to address the judge, to tell about sleepless nights and the fright he feels behind the wheel.
"It's impossible to escape the events of that day," the 44-year-old Port Richey man said Monday. He insisted that a more appropriate punishment for Afriat was time in state prison, where the minimum sentence would be one year and one day.
"If I got shot at, I'd probably be just as upset as you," Andrews said.
Afriat's attorney, Jim Campbell, was essentially asked whether he would withdraw the plea. He refused.
"Why would I open him up to 15 years?" Campbell said later in an interview. "You'd have to be crazy."
But Andrews gave him until 8:30 a.m. today to produce case law that would prevent the judge from moving the case to trial.
"The plea (deal) has been accepted. The question now is can it be set aside?" Andrews told the Times on Monday afternoon.
This move, lawyers not connected with the case say, pits the victim's right to be heard with that of a defendant. If Afriat already has accepted a plea deal, he arguably has been subjected to penalty of law. Opening that back up raises questions of double jeopardy.
At the same time, "there is always a built-in argument where sentencing has not occurred that the proceedings have not been concluded - that it isn't over until it's really over," said J. Larry Hart, a local criminal defense lawyer and former prosecutor.
"It makes for a very interesting situation," he said.
The ordeal began about 6:30 a.m. Feb. 7. Afriat had finished his shift at the Hernando Sheriff's Office and was on his way home to New Port Richey when, authorities said, he became enraged at Umhoefer and fired a shot from his department-issued .40-caliber Glock.
A bullet hit the doorjamb of Umhoefer's Chevrolet Cavalier. Afriat, 33, denied knowledge of the incident at first but then admitted firing his weapon. But he said Umhoefer had been chasing him and that he acted in self-defense.
Afriat initially entered a not guilty plea, setting in motion the typical court proceedings leading to trial. Umhoefer attended the first pretrial conference in May, but nothing happened.
He skipped the June 14 conference, he said, after his victim's advocate told him another continuance was likely. On that day, though, the plea deal was presented. Umhoefer read about it in the newspaper three days later.
"I wanted to be there for exactly the reason I was here today - to make my voice be heard," Umhoefer said outside the courtroom Monday. He said would rather avoid the stress of trial but feels obligated to seek justice.
Campbell said Umhoefer took a risk in not attending the June 14 meeting and lost.
"It's certainly not the state's fault, certainly not my fault," Campbell said.
Assistant State Attorney Mike Halkitis agreed, saying Umhoefer was properly notified of the hearings.
"We expect if he was that concerned to show up," he said.
Halkitis, who did not handle the plea deal, said he thought six months followed by three years of probation was "stiff" considering Afriat had a clean criminal record. (Campbell had asked for probation only.)
"Obviously it was traumatic to him," Halkitis said of Umhoefer. "But the judge never knew it. We never knew it."
