With his brother finally mentally sound and agreeing to plead guilty, cop-killing suspect Dennis Escobar changed his mind Monday. No plea deal.
And so the perplexing legal saga of the Escobar brothers, accused of murdering Miami Officer Victor Estefan in 1988, took yet another bizarre twist.
The plea deal – 55 years in prison – for now has fallen apart again.
And Escobar, accused of gunning down Estefan after a traffic stop in March 1988 in Little Havana, will resume his trial and face a potential death sentence if convicted.
“F---ing playing games is what he’s doing,” Estefan’s son, Angel, growled he stormed out of the courtroom.
The Escobar brothers were previously convicted and sent to Death Row in 1991, a conviction later overturned by the Florida Supreme Court.
Monday’s development came after a week of stunning legal drama in Dennis Escobar’s murder trial, which began earlier this month. The timeline:
On Feb. 17, prosecutors discovered a previously unknown police audio tape in which Escobar appears to tell a Miami detective in 1988 that he wants to speak to his lawyer. The tape damaged the credibility of the case’s lead detective, who long claimed Escobar agreed to waive his right to remain silent before confessing in detail.
With the case damaged, prosecutors revealed last Tuesday that they had offered to waive the death penalty if Escobar pleaded guilty and accepted a life prison term.
On Wednesday, both sides asked for a mistrial – but Circuit Judge Leon Firtel refused. He ordered lawyers to pore over every piece of evidence in dozens of boxes to make sure there were no more items that could impact the case.
On Friday, after days of behind-the-scene negotiations, both sides agreed on a plea deal to be taken in that afternoon.
The deal called for a guilty plea to second-degree murder and a sentence of 55 years. Under 1988 Florida law, that means each brother would spend only about 18 more years in prison for the Estefan murder.
After that, the brothers would have been returned to California, where they must each serve a life sentence for trying to kill highway patrol officers there in 1988. They are, however, eligible for parole in California.
On Friday afternoon, as Estefan’s relatives and Miami homicide detectives gathered, the deal appeared to be set. But when Firtel began asking Douglas Escobar standard questions about pleading guilty, the man refused to accept the offer.
Douglas, who had a history of mental illness, clearly could not grasp the plea deal. In mixed English and Spanish, Douglas told the judge he didn’t want to go to trial — but he didn’t think he was guilty because “he didn’t shoot nobody.”
Firtel gave Douglas’ lawyers the weekend to talk him. On Monday morning, his mind sharp with medication, Douglas told his lawyers he understood and wanted to indeed plead guilty.
Two court-appointed psychologists interviewed him Monday, morning. “He’s stable, well organized mentally,” one of them told the judge.
But then, the bombshell. Dennis Escobar no longer wanted to plead guilty, attorney Phillip Reizenstein told the judge.
“He wishes to go to trial,” Reizenstein said.
The shocking decision spurred Estefan’s son to leave court, slamming the door. Estefan’s sobbing widow, Delia Estefan, left too.
Lawyers will reconvene in the afternoon to decide what to do now. Judge Firtel has yet to rule on the mistrial —the jury is still on standby.
If the trial indeed goes forward, Escobar’s defense team will likely ask that his confession be thrown out because of the audiotape. The detailed confession lies as the heart of the prosecution’s case.
