Former Manatee deputy denied ‘extra good time’ off jail sentence for slamming inmate

Former Manatee County Sheriff’s Office corrections deputy Paul J. Wagner surrendered to the Manatee County jail last month to begin serving a four-month sentence for slamming an inmate to the ground in 2017 and breaking the inmate’s nose and teeth.

Wagner had faced up to five years in prison for felony battery before his defense attorney negotiated a 4-month sentence as part of a plea deal with the state attorney’s office.

On Tuesday morning, Wagner’s defense attorney, Charley Demosthenous, was in court on Wagner’s behalf in an attempt to get a judge to sign off and allow him to earn “extra good time” while serving the sentence at the Sarasota County jail.

If granted, the request would have allowed Wagner to earn up to an additional 20 days off his sentence.

But before even considering the request, Circuit Judge Lon Arend questioned “how (Wagner) made it to Sarasota?”

Initially, Demosthenous told the judge that it was so that Wagner could participate in additional programs in Sarasota that Manatee does not offer. But after having a brief conversation with two of Wagner’s relatives who were in the courtroom, Demosthenous told the judge that Wagner was transferred because he used to work as a deputy at the Manatee County jail.

“My understanding is that the state negotiated a particular plea with an agreed upon sentence with an understanding of what the good/gain time policies are in Manatee,” Arend said.

As a result, Arend said he was not comfortable with allowing Wagner to “reap the benefit” of his transfer, he added.

On June 23, 2017, Wagner and two other deputies were escorting an inmate through the jail after a search for contraband revealed that the inmate had a hidden stash of oranges. The inmate had gotten confrontational and was handcuffed as a result.

Even though he was already restrained, when the inmate continued to argue with deputies, Wagner slammed him against the wall before he picked him up, spun him around and threw him face first onto the floor.

The inmate was left with a broken nose and several broken teeth.

The incident was captured on the jail’s video surveillance system and Wagner was fired after internal affairs and criminal investigations.

His criminal case was set to go to trial before Wagner took a plea deal on June 28. As part of his negotiated sentence, Wagner was ordered to surrender to the Manatee County jail by July 12.

Prior to that he was to report to probation officials. As part of his two-year probation sentence negotiated as part of his plea, Wagner was ordered to complete a 30-day work offender program and a 16-week anger management class.

Historically, deputies or former deputies are often housed in other counties for their safety.

According to a memorandum of understanding dated July 29, the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office agreed to the “inmate courtesy hold.” A hold order or receipt for custody shows that he was released from Manatee’s custody on July 12 to Sarasota with an expected release date of Nov. 1.

Assistant State Attorney Tyler Egbert objected to the motion on Tuesday, arguing that Wagner should not earn “any additional credit beyond what he would have received had he been housed in Manatee.”

Egbert was not made aware of the transfer at the time, and said that a transfer is always left to the discretion of the sheriff’s office or Florida Department of Corrections.

In Manatee County, inmates can earn up to two days per month for “good time” for simply not misbehaving. They can earn up to an additional three days per month of “gain time” for having a job at the jail or for participating in the addiction recovery housing program.

In Sarasota County, however, inmates are automatically given five days of “gain time” per month, although that time can be taken away for misbehavior. Inmates in Sarasota can additionally earn up to five days per month of “good time” for having jobs or participating in an education program or one of three specialty housing programs: addiction recovery, veterans or prisoner re-entry.

Wagner is currently in the prisoner re-entry program.

“I’m not going to sign something that will give him some additional benefit because everybody went out of their way to allow him to go to another county for housing,” Arend said.

Demosthenous again consulted with Wagner’s relatives before making his final argument. One of the women, his sister, is a current employee of the sheriff’s office, and was wearing her agency issued jacket, although she was not there in any sort of official capacity.

“He was sent there because he was a deputy in Manatee County and while I am thankful and appreciative that he was sent there, he has completed every class and I would just ask the court to allow him to receive extra good time. Apparently, he is a model inmate,” Demosthenous said.

Sarasota jail records confirm that Wagner, who has been listed as medium risk, has not had any discipline issues.

This story was originally published August 7, 2019 at 4:56 AM.