Gaime case: the anatomy of a plea deal
Kristina Gaime's defense attorneys were ready to make a deal in April. By August, the talks got serious. Her father wishes she hadn't made a deal.
By JAMAL THALJI
Published October 8, 2005
DADE CITY - Kristina Gaime's father doesn't like the plea bargain that will keep his daughter behind bars for more than a decade.
"I'm not pleased with the deal at all," Gary McDuffie said Friday. "I haven't talked to Kristina in five, six days. ..."
That was all McDuffie had to say about Wednesday night's surprise plea agreement, under which his daughter would plead guilty and accept a 20-year sentence for killing one of her sons and trying to kill the other in a botched 1999 murder-suicide.
Gary and Kathleen McDuffie have stood by their daughter throughout the 61/2-year legal odyssey, and spent six figures hiring Barry Cohen's powerhouse law firm to defend her.
But instead of fighting it out at trial, it came to a stunning end with a plea bargain approved at an unannounced court hearing held more than an hour after the Pasco County Courthouse closed.
Plea deals are a fact of life in the criminal justice system, even in such a high-profile case.
"I have a lot of respect for them as parents," said Gaime's lead attorney, Lyann Goudie. "I think that they really have gone above and beyond the call of duty on behalf of their child. I think for them it's a process that in a lot of ways they don't understand - where they want their daughter home today.
"For them, I don't think they were happy with the fact that she was going to plea. But it's ultimately only one person's decision."
Gaime got 20 years for second-degree murder, 15 for attempted second-degree murder, both sentences to run together. She had faced first-degree murder and life in prison. With credit for time served and a state law that says she must serve 85 percent of her sentence, the 41-year-old Land O'Lakes woman could be out of prison in as few as 10 years.
The defense, which has proclaimed Gaime's innocence, started negotiations on a deal two months ago.
It began at an August deposition. Goudie, one of the area's highest-profile defense attorneys, turned to Jim Hellickson, one of the veteran prosecutors at the State Attorney's Office.
"So, are we going to trial on this case or not?" Goudie asked. "He said, "Make me an offer.' I did."
She offered time served. Gaime had spent 61/2 years in jail, waiting for trial. Goudie had made the same offer in April, after an appellate court upheld a judge's decision suppressing key evidence. Hellickson declined then, and did so again in August.
"He said a reasonable one," Goudie said. "At that point I said 10 (years)."
But the defense was winning. What changed? In May, the only other survivor in Gaime's townhouse that night in 1999 became a witness: Adam Rotell, Gaime's surviving son. Now 14, he lived through the morphine and carbon monoxide that killed his 6-year-old brother, Mathew. He was all the state had left after judicial rulings gutted the case.
Hellickson said he thinks Adam's testifying against his mother persuaded the defense to take the negotiations seriously. Goudie said Gaime wanted to spare her son that ordeal, and spare herself.
"I think the concept of putting him through that, along with the associated risk of going to trial," Goudie said, "is what ultimately led to her decision."
So Goudie started the talks. The numbers climbed to 15. Hellickson suggested 20. Goudie said they agreed on it Sept. 7. The respective sides consulted Gaime and her ex-husband Stephen Rotell a month ago. He wanted to talk to Adam about the deal.
The state was ready to accept the deal regardless of what the Rotells thought, but persuaded them Tuesday night to okay it. Gaime's attorneys met with her at the Pasco County jail Wednesday morning. She agreed to the deal. The defense wanted to finish it in court right away. The state delayed it so Stephen Rotell could attend.
That night, Gaime stood before a judge and ended it. If she hadn't, Goudie was ready to keep fighting.
"The bottom line is if Kris had turned around (in court) at 6:15 p.m. and said, "I'm not doing this,"' Goudie said, "that would have been fine with me."