Florida Death Row Advocacy Group

Jeffrey R. Straley Professional Accountant Supervisor Bureau of Finance & Accounting Inmate Trust Fund Section

2 Cop Arrests May Tilt Cases

Defense attorneys say numerous criminal cases could be overturned following the arrests of two BSO detectives…By Wanda DeMarzo
The recent arrests of two Broward Sheriff's Office detectives could lead to a deluge of overturned criminal convictions -- much like the fallout following the scandal in Los Angeles's Rampart Division five years ago, defense lawyers say.
''Hundreds of cases in California were tainted because the [Ramparts detectives] were not credible,'' said former public defender Jon Kasen, now a criminal defense attorney in Fort Lauderdale. The Rampart Division scandal started in September 1999, after an officer charged with stealing cocaine from evidence lockers cut a deal: in exchange for a lighter sentence, he would provide information about other police misconduct.
Los Angeles officers stole drugs, beat suspects, planted evidence and lied in court, according to records.
In the end, more than 100 cases were overturned because of the scandal.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney's office rejected 82 Rampart cases partly because it would require testimony from offices who lacked credibility.
''We charged nine officers and ended up with five convictions,'' said Jane Robison of the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
Last week, Weston detectives Chris Thieman and Christian Zapata turned themselves in to be booked into the Broward County Jail on charges of official misconduct for allegedly falsifying police reports.
The arrests also could undermine efforts of other detectives when they are called to testify or present evidence in upcoming felony trials, defense lawyers say.
''These arrests are definitely going to raise credibility issues with defense attorneys,'' said Broward Public Defender Howard Finkelstein. ``It's like in the O.J. case. The message is no good because the messenger is tainted.''

With more arrests expected to touch almost every BSO district, Finkelstein said the ramifications could be far-reaching on the county's judicial system.
''Any lawyer worth his salt is going to say the problems with BSO detectives falsifying reports is a systematic problem,'' Kasen said. ``They'll say that it is beyond the realm of possibility that detectives were only doing this in one area.''

The Broward State Attorney's Office continues its probe into whether other BSO deputies falsified confessions on official documents, said State Attorney's Office spokesman Ron Ishoy.
The State Attorney's Office would look at the credibility issues on a case-by-case basis if it should come up, Ishoy said. An investigation of this magnitude is unprecedented, criminologists say.
''I've never seen anything like this,'' said Peter Scharf, director of the Center for Society, Law and Justice at the University of New Orleans. ``The results of this could be disastrous. Where does the state go from here? Do you just let everybody walk out of jail?''

Cases that have no physical evidence or DNA linking the defendant to the crime will be most in jeopardy, attorneys say.
BSO deputies went after career criminals, such as Elbert Haney, of Fort Lauderdale.
Detectives in Tamarac, Weston, Dania Beach, Deerfield Beach and Pompano Beach cleared dozens of crimes by attributing them to Haney: some of those, investigators say, he did not commit.
Haney is serving a 10-year sentence for burglary, dealing in stolen property and grand theft.
Broward prosecutors are reviewing several cases involving Haney. Investigators brought Haney to the Broward County Jail several weeks ago to be interviewed by the State Attorney's Office, he told The Herald in a Dec. 21 letter.
Haney's attorney, Mitch Poulay, said he will be reviewing all of his cases involving BSO detectives to see if the convictions can be overturned.
''This investigation ... is definitely going to upturn the apple cart in Broward's judicial system,'' Poulay said. 'If there is independent evidence, other than the detectives' testimony, the cases will be prosecuted. Otherwise, the state is going to have to dump them.''
In addition to the two deputies already charged, several other Weston deputies have been warned that they are the subject of Broward prosecutors' investigation into ``exceptional clearances.''
The Herald conducted a computer analysis on a sample of cleared cases in six districts over a two-year period. The analysis showed that detectives often cleared cases using ``exceptional clearance.'' ''Exceptional clearance'' means the offender has been identified but not charged because of some reason beyond police control, such as the death of the suspect or the victim's refusal to testify.

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!!!! It’s hard to believe that it’s February already; the year is going by so fast---Not that I mind. Up here in cold and snowy Ohio, the quicker we can zoom through the winter months the better. Spring is just around the corner, we’re over the hump!
Life has been nuts here as well, I’m afraid, and I haven’t had time to give more than a passing glance at the Senate confirmation hearings on Alberto Gonzales and “Condi” Rice. Not that I would have watched much of it anyway, I’d only get angry and start throwing things at the TV. How can we “confirm” Gonzales, an architect of terror, as our Attorney General? When Bush was governor of Texas, it was Gonzales who advised Bush on death sentence commutations, but he routinely omitted tiny little details such as reporting incidents of ineffective counsel, conflict of interest, mitigating evidence, and even evidence of true innocence. At the confirmation hearings, Gonzales failed to answer the simplest questions about the Bush Administration's policies on the torture and abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib.

How can he forget the atrocities that he helped define? I don’t get it, do you? I read an article that had a solution for his convenient lack of memory. Torture him. Yup, that’s what the author recommended. Wire his private parts with electrodes, pose him naked for humiliating polaroids, throw him naked into an ice cold cell, and torture his butt. If Gonzales feels torture is an acceptable policy to get answers to crucial questions, why should he be any better and more immune to such effective methods? After all, he will be in charge of our country’s legal enforcement. Hey, if it’s good enough treatment for an average detainee, then it should be good enough for the man who created and believes in its effectiveness. I think it would only be fair!
Riley would like to thank those of you who have sent your concerns and good wishes his way since his illness. I’m happy to report that he recently had surgery and is home and healing nicely. Thanks to all for caring!
And, before I say good-bye, may all of you feel loved and blessed this Valentine’s Day, and always.

Love-- Dianne

ATTENTION!

ASKING YOUR ATTORNEYS FOR COPIES OF YOUR RECORDS IN YOUR CASE!
If any one of you have asked your registry attorney, or CCRC, to send you copies of your records in your case, and you have been told verbally or in writing by any attorney or investigator that you cannot have your records, for any reason -- including the reason that they (the attorney or CCRC) do not have the personnel or the money to pay someone to copy your records and send them to you and that therefore, they will not send to you your complete record, but will send you only the records your attorney feels are important -- it would be in your best interest to immediately contact the following people at the below addresses.
Enclose with your letter to the following agencies regarding the matter of your not being able to obtain copies of your records, should be any copies of any letters you have received from your attorney advising you that a complete copy of your records cannot and will not, for any reason, be forwarded to you.

For people represented by CCRC Middle:
Bill Jennings
3801 Corporex Park Dr., Suite # 210
Tampa, FL 33691

For people represented by the Registry:
Roger Maas
Commission on Capital Cases
402 S Monroe St.
Tallahassee, FL 32399-1300

For people represented by CCRC South
Neal A. Dupree
101 Northeast 3rd Ave., Suite # 400
Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33301

Also, please send a copy of your correspondence with the above listed agencies regarding your problems getting copies of your records in your case to FDRAG……

Fellow Readers: We’ve been offered the unique opportunity of keeping That Damned Cat off the pages of the FDRAG Newsletter. If we work together, we can keep that flea-ridden carcass off the pages of the press and back on the street where he belongs. To that end I offer you:

This column will offer monthly book reviews, on a variety of subjects, everything from best sellers to nonfiction to the classics to scholarly tomes. We’ll review not just individual books, but particular authors and their works, categories of books (for instance, Horror, American History, Current Events, Science Fiction). We can also review different types of magazines, since there are so many different specialty magazines available now (like music magazines, computer, car and motorcycle, outdoor living).
Now, I’m not saying “we” because of my multiple personality disorder. It’s always great to see the variety of books that are requested in the monthly Share-a-Book program. To say that the readers have eclectic tastes would be putting it very mildly! I’ve noticed too, that in addition to requesting books, more and more people are requesting magazine subscriptions – so the magazine reviews wasn’t my idea, it was yours. This column will work – if you, the reader will send in book or magazine reviews. You know you have opinions about what you read! The review doesn’t have to be anything fancy – just a few paragraphs describing what the book or magazine is about, what you thought of it, if you’d recommend it, and whom you think might like reading it. Just send your review in to the FDRAG address and it will be published in the newsletter. Since I’m a bit compulsive, your grammar and spelling will be cleaned up! Here’s a brief book review just to give you an idea:
Life on the Outside: The Prison Odyssey of Elaine Bartlett By Jennifer Gonnerman, Farrar, Straus and Giroux; 1st Edition (March 15, 2004)
This book is a chilling indictment on the War on Drugs. We lost. Elaine Bartlett, a poor, black mother spent sixteen year in a New York prison for a first-offense cocaine trafficking charge under Governor Nelson Rockefeller’s “War on Crime” drug laws. During her time in prison, her siblings either died by violence or AIDS or ended up in prison, and most of her children, raised on the streets, met similar fates.