Stephen Elliot Drakus v. State of Florida, 219 So. 3d 979

Appellant Stephen Drakus filed a Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.850 postconviction motion raising seven grounds alleging, among other things, ineffective assistance of counsel for rejecting a 15‑year plea offer.
Drakus alleges counsel advised him to reject the 15‑year offer because a newly assigned prosecutor would offer a better deal; no improved offer materialized.
The postconviction court summarily denied the claims, finding ground 1 (the plea‑offer claim) conclusively refuted by pretrial hearing statements indicating Drakus and counsel were prepared for trial and that Drakus had rejected the 15‑year offer.
The district court reviewed whether the summary denial was legally sufficient or conclusively refuted by the record.
The court held the record did not conclusively refute the claim but that the pleading was facially insufficient under the governing ineffective‑assistance/plea‑offer standard.
The court reversed the portion of the order denying ground 1 (allowing amendment to cure pleading defects) and affirmed denial of the remaining claims.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether ground 1 was conclusively refuted by the record	Drakus: counsel told me to reject a 15‑year offer because a new prosecutor would give a better deal; I would have accepted 15 years but for counsel’s advice	State: pretrial statements show Drakus rejected the offer and was ready for trial, so claim is refuted	Record did not conclusively refute the claim; summary denial on that basis was error
Whether ground 1 was facially sufficient under ineffective‑assistance standard	Drakus: ineffective assistance induced rejection of plea, causing prejudice	State: claim lacks specifics showing deficient performance and prejudice	Claim is facially insufficient for failing to allege deficient performance and that the State would not have withdrawn the offer; court allowed amendment
Whether other 3.850 claims were improperly denied summarily	Drakus: raised six additional grounds	State: trial court addressed and denied them	District court affirmed denial of the remaining claims
Procedural remedy when initial 3.850 pleading is legally insufficient	Drakus: requested relief on merits	State: relied on summary denial	Court: defendant must be given opportunity to amend an initial 3.850 ineffective‑assistance claim	Court remanded to permit amendment of ground 1

Griggs v. State, 995 So. 2d 994 (Fla. 1st DCA 2008) (standard for reviewing summary denial of postconviction claims)
Alcorn v. State, 121 So. 3d 419 (Fla. 2013) (elements required to show prejudice from rejecting plea due to counsel’s misadvice)
Morgan v. State, 991 So. 2d 835 (Fla. 2008) (mere post‑trial failure to prevail does not by itself show counsel’s advice was deficient)
Spera v. State, 971 So. 2d 754 (Fla. 2007) (leave to amend inadequate initial 3.850 ineffective‑assistance pleadings)
Ferris v. State, 996 So. 2d 228 (Fla. 1st DCA 2008) (same principle on amendment opportunity)
Hauter v. State, 206 So. 3d 839 (Fla. 5th DCA 2016) (misinformation by counsel inducing rejection of plea can be actionable)
Lamb v. State, 202 So. 3d 118 (Fla. 5th DCA 2016) (same)