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Wrongful arrest in Florida; why weren't these steps taken in Durham?
Topic Started: Feb 25 2014, 05:18 PM (236 Views)
Quasimodo

Handled much differently than in Durham.

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http://members.jacksonville.com/news/crime/2014-02-24/story/name-mix-sexual-battery-case-sends-wrong-clay-county-teen-jail-35-days

Name mix-up in sexual battery case sends wrong Clay County teen to jail for 35 days

Mon, Feb 24, 2014


Cody Williams was arrested in late August, charged with the sexual battery of someone younger than 12.
The 18-year-old Clay High School student spent 35 days in jail.

One problem: He was the wrong Cody Williams.

Three officers have received formal counseling for their role in the wrongful arrest and another officer faces a 10-day unpaid suspension and a transfer from investigations to patrol.

[They actually disciplined the officers involved.]

Deputy Sheriff Johnny Hawkins of the Clay County Sheriff’s Office will learn Tuesday if he will receive that punishment.

“As a result of your incompetence, an innocent man was arrested for an offense that he did not commit,” Sheriff Rick Beseler told Hawkins in a February disciplinary letter.

Hawkins’ phone number was not listed or available Monday evening to seek comment.

A girl younger than 12 told Clay Sheriff’s officers in 2013 that on or around Halloween 2012 she had sex with an older boy she identified as Cody Williams. The girl’s exact age at the time wasn’t released by authorities.

The girl told police investigators what the boy looked like and where he attended school. Without showing her any photos of possible suspects, the sheriff’s office sought the arrest of Cody Lee Williams.

Cody Lee Williams, of Green Cove Springs, was arrested two months later on a sexual battery charge.

He was 17 at the time of the reported crime and was promptly charged as an adult by State Attorney Angela Corey’s office.

Williams, who has had legal trouble in the past with marijuana, said he was aghast by the charge when he was arrested at his home.

“I can’t even tell you the horror of hearing those words,” said Williams. “My heart just started beating really fast and all my insides just kind of dropped.”

Sheriff Rick Beseler said his department has policies in place intended to prevent these types of wrongful arrests.

“If those policies had been followed then this wouldn’t have happened,” he said. “This is not a routine problem. That’s why the supervisors are even being held accountable. We take this stuff very seriously.”

[supervisory responsibility...]

Beseler noted such an occurrence is rare, considering that the office arrests between 7,000 and 8,000 people a year. Jim Pimentel, department general counsel, said in the past 10 years there was only one other allegation of wrongful arrest.

In December, the sheriff’s office requested Cody Lee Williams’ arrest in the case be expunged.

When Hawkins, who interviewed the victim, thought Cody Lee Williams was the suspect, he failed to show her his photo to confirm he had the right person, according to an internal report on Hawkins’ investigation.

“He stressed that he usually will show a photo lineup but could not explain why he did not in this incident,” according to the report.

It wasn’t until Williams went to court in early October and was given documents with the details of the charges against him that he put the pieces together. He called his mother from jail and told her he believed police were actually seeking someone else named Cody Williams.

Both teens attended the same schools since seventh grade and were born the same year, Cody Lee Williams said. He said he knew Cody Raymond Williams, but didn’t run in the same social group.

“We were just two guys with the same name at the same school,” he said.

The two students shared the same teacher, though in different classes, and that teacher called them by their middle names to avoid confusion.

After Cody Lee Williams called his mother from jail, she reached out to Hawkins, who immediately began looking into the matter and conducted a photo lineup with the victim.

[The investigating officer himself immediately investigated to see if they had the wrong person.]

Hawkins included Cody Lee Williams’ photo in the lineup and asked the victim if she saw the person she had sex with in the lineup.

“She stated he was not there and then pointed at Cody Lee Williams and stated, ‘I do know this Cody Williams but this is not the one,’ ” according to an October report by Hawkins.

Hawkins said he asked the girl why she didn’t mention that there was another Cody Williams during earlier conversations and “she had no answer,” according to the report.

The internal investigation found that Hawkins failed to properly identify a suspect, failed to properly document information obtained in the investigation, made inaccurate statements in reports and failed to properly document actions taken in an investigation.

Attorney Kristopher Nowicki, who is representing Williams in his potential civil action, said a photo lineup could have prevented Williams’ arrest.

“It seems that there was no investigation done other than my client’s name,”
he said. “It is not Cody Williams’ obligation to investigate crimes on behalf of the state of Florida.”

Deputy Sheriff Jason Wright, Sgt. Daniel Moreland and Sgt. Eric Twisdale will all receive formal counseling for their roles in the Williams case that will permanently be placed in their files.

Cody Raymond Williams, the one police were looking for from the beginning, is due to appear in court on the sexual assault charge on March 3.
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Quasimodo

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If the detective did a warrant for Cody Lee Williams the detective would have to have met with the State Attorneys Office to review the warrant then go to a judge. How did the warrant get past Angela Coreys Office when the very basic principal of positively identifying the suspect was never established. Coreys office should have provided the oversight to have caught this which would have prevented the unlawful arrest. But then Angela Corey is all about putting people in jail and padding her conviction numbers over integrity and ethics.

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Quasimodo

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Here is how this should of happened: state attorney good afternoon detective how can I help you? Detective -I am here to get a warrant on a young man age 17 for sexual battery. Attorney OK let me see your arrest warrant and reports. Attorney - looks good but I have a question how do you know its him? Detective - the girl named him by name and told me which school he went to. Attorney -ok but that still does not answer my question how did you positively identify him as the suspect? Detective hmm ugh hmm well the girls knew him by name. Attorney - do a photospread and see if the girl can positivy Identify him and come back and see me when your done. The next day...detective to attorney - thank you attorney for your advice she told me it was not him and there was another guy at the same school with the same name and she identified him. Thank you attorney you saved my butt from bad embarrassing situation. Now that is how oversite by the State Attorneys Office Works.




What kind of oversight did Nifong give to Gottlieb and Himan. (Oops! Forgot: it was Nifong who was
heading the investigation team.)

What kind of oversight did Stephens give before signing a warrant for an unconstitutionally broad NTO?

What kind of oversight did Duke Med give before permitting Levicy to provide an officer with "facts"
about an examination?

What sort of oversight did the Durham police supervisory personnel provide to Gottlieb and Himan
before they entered a dorm to talk with students who had legal counsel?

And so on...





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Mason
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Parts unknown
.
Angela Corey ...

Interesting
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abb
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This just in.

http://lincolnparishnewsonline.wordpress.com/2014/02/26/2nd-circuit-slams-monroe-pd-on-false-arrest-case/
2nd Circuit Slams Monroe PD on False Arrest Case

http://www.la2nd.org/archives/docs/d509bc.pdf
"...because Det. Dowdy’s investigation was substandard, he failed to perform his duty to correctly identify the suspect prior to her arrest..."
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Quasimodo

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But the Fourth Circuit, with a worse example, can't slam the Durham prosecutors...

(I think they and Beaty may have set precedents that future defendants will regret...)

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