Whitaker v. State
In the defendant's trial for the capital murder of his family, the
State's references to the defendant's proffer and the court's exclusion
of it in the record were permissible. The proffer and the plea negotiations were a significant part of
the defendant's mitigation case at punishment. They showed that he was
willing to plead to as many life sentences as the State was seeking to
take responsibility for the crime and to spare his remaining family
members the ordeal of a trial. The defendant testified that his guilt
was never an issue and that he never planned to present a defense to
the charges against him at the guilt-innocence phase of trial. The
defendant made no objection to the State's references to the proffer
and to the plea negotiations and therefore waived any error.
