Juan Carlos Chavez, convicted killer/dismemberer of young Jimmy Ryce in 1995 [that would be the sex-offender-legislation-inspiring Jimmy Ryce], is making his way through his deck of defense cards, hoping to find one that will at least save him from Florida's unique lethal torture-injection. The latest up is that his murder-trial lawyer, former Miami public defender Art Koch, told him to tell a certain lie on the witness stand, which would be evidence that Ryce got bad legal advice in his trial. Now, Chavez told so many lies to police, prosecutors, and jurors that it's plain he could lie with the best of them, without Koch's approval. Also, a mountain of evidence exists against Chavez, irrespective. Koch says he was under medication and thus prone to disorientation, which caused him to disregard the most sacred rule of all courts and bar associations. That's quite a drug, that . . . whatever it was. [Miami Herald]
Judges Reserve the Right to Doctor Up Public Records We found out last year that judges in at least some counties routinely, and on their own, hide public records from the public. They just lock 'em up somewhere without telling anyone. State Supreme Court justice Fred Lewis is in the process of fixing that problem. Now, the Miami Herald has learned that, at least in Miami-Dade, some judges also approve the falsifying of records that stay public. The examples found were criminal records of informers, who allegedly need their identities protected. However, when an informer testifies against an alleged perp, the defense lawyer must be able to question the informer's credibility, which is obviously hampered if the judge and prosecutor have already, say, erased evidence of dishonesty. [Miami Herald]
Follow-Ups WKMG-TV reporter Tony Pipitone [The F State, 1-18-2007] has been subpoenaed because the prosecutor in the Orlando expressway investigation wants to get his hands on the 80 cartons of consultant Doug Guetzloe's papers that Pipitone now owns. [WKMG-TV (Orlando)]
Miami Northwestern Senior High football star (and accused statutory rapist) Antwain Easterling [The F State, 1-17-2007] has negotiated a first-offender wrist-slap. [Miami Herald]
The Palm Beach town council has notified Donald Trump that a fine of $1,250 a day has started to kick in for the oversized U.S. flag [The F State, 1-3-2007] at his Mar-a-Lago estate. [South Florida Sun-Sentinel]
Prosecutors found three more police audiotapes in that Fort Pierce death-penalty case, running the total to 10, that should have been turned over to the defense [The F State, 1-17-2007]. The exasperated judge has declared a mistrial. [Palm Beach Post]
Floridians With Worse Sex Lives Than You Winter Park police picked up Dwayne Thomson, 47, following several complaints from Office Depot and Kmart shoppers that he was perched in the parking lot, pants down, having a good ol' time with himself. He tried to inform the arresting officer that he was scratching a hard-to-access bug bite. [WKMG-TV (Orlando)]
More Things To Worry About Today A photogenic stud of a Bradenton 1st-grade teacher, James Goodbrad, 25, could probably have anyone (M or F) in the bar, but police say what he really wanted to do was feel up, and then lie on top of, an unwilling 15-yr-old boy [WTSP-TV (St. Petersburg)] . . . . . Marketing-savvy Pasco highway panhandler Jim Tolbert radically improved his income by introducing a new sign, "Why Lie Need Beer" [St. Petersburg Times] . . . . . A security alert for Palm Beach County Airport: Pilots, be really careful of the feral pigs on the runway [South Florida Sun-Sentinel] . . . . . The Tampa City Council, weary of thinking so hard about which parts few of town they could herd sex offenders into, decided to consider keeping 'em out of the whole damn town [except for already-resident sex offenders, who, after all, may be sex offenders, but they're our sex offenders] [Tampa Tribune].
This article appears in Jan 17-23, 2007.