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 veggie
Registered: 07/25/04
Posts: 6,524
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 Drug sting stirs legal questions [FL]
#9030742 - 10/05/08 12:22 AM (1 month, 29 days ago) |
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Drug sting stirs legal questions
October 4, 2008 - heraldtribune.com
SARASOTA COUNTY - A 60-year-old man caught with marijuana in his car became a drug informant to stay out of jail, and he helped detectives make six cases.
He provided evidence against his roommate and gave detectives a tip that led to the arrest of one of his neighbors, all part of a deal that got his charges dropped.
But in one case, he was too eager to help, and a judge threw out the charges last week.
The informant had called his neighbor at least 17 times at work and late at night, begging to buy marijuana to get him through some tough times. Circuit Judge Rick De Furia ruled that this was entrapment.
The case also made the judge question the training and education of the narcotics detectives who made the arrests. The detective did not monitor the informant's behavior, and only swooped in at the end to make an arrest as the drugs were changing hands.
"The court is of the opinion that it was the undercover officer's lack of experience and lack of education regarding the issue of entrapment that led to the unintended result here," De Furia wrote.
Defense attorneys are now requesting records about other drug arrests, looking for other cases where confidential informants were not supervised.
The Sheriff's Office has refused to release the case numbers of the other four cases that the 60-year-old informant helped make, citing a law that protects the identities of confidential drug informants.
The Sheriff's Office has also refused to release records showing how much the informant was paid, or say whether he is still working with detectives.
Defense attorney Don Hartery, who raised the entrapment issue and had the charges against his client dismissed, said the informant was paid about $80 per case and is no longer working with the Sheriff's Office.
Prosecutors are appealing De Furia's ruling.
The informant had his drug possession and criminal driving charges dismissed because of his cooperation.
The first person he provided information about was his roommate, who was charged with misdemeanor drug possession for a small amount of marijuana found in a sock drawer. The roommate entered a pretrial diversion program. It was his first arrest.
Hartery represented the informant's neighbor, Jason Szymanski, in the case. Hartery, who worked as a prosecutor for more than 20 years, said he was shocked to find out the detective left the informant alone to set up a deal in Szymanski's case, and never asked about how it was set up.
"All they did was show up at the deal and do the buy, with no video, no recording," Hartery said.
Informants are subject to some of the same rules as deputies in making a case. But the informant was never instructed about entrapment.
After all the phone calls and at least one personal visit from the informant, Szymanski agreed to split a $120 bag of marijuana with the informant.
Szymanski was arrested for selling drugs, something he had never been charged with before.
"He was trying to help out a friend who was begging," Hartery said. "He just didn't want to do it and he finally caved in."
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EntheogenicPeace
Scholar
Registered: 10/04/05
Posts: 2,329
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Re: Drug sting stirs legal questions [FL] [Re: veggie]
#9031830 - 10/05/08 10:55 AM (1 month, 29 days ago) |
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Quote:
A 60-year-old man caught with marijuana in his car became a drug informant to stay out of jail, and he helped detectives make six cases.
He provided evidence against his roommate and gave detectives a tip that led to the arrest of one of his neighbors, all part of a deal that got his charges dropped.
What a fucking lowlife. He doesn't deserve to see the sun for much longer.
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 ray40cal
omnitrippint
 
Registered: 05/05/08
Posts: 1,260
Loc: midwest side
Last seen: 9 days, 19 hours
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Wow the informant when initially caught, would have only spent a few days in jail, and been put on probation at the most. I bet he just wanted to keep smoking without being piss tested. What an asshole. Such a lowlife snitch he's not even worth a bullet.
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durian_2008
Cornucopian
Registered: 04/02/08
Posts: 324
Last seen: 1 day, 3 hours
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Re: Drug sting stirs legal questions [FL] [Re: ray40cal]
#9031928 - 10/05/08 11:20 AM (1 month, 29 days ago) |
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Legal questions are stirred, and there is discussion about arbitrary rules, but not moral absolutes. There's no concern, whatsoever, about whether the stings were actually wrong, or not. The only subject of "debate" was the extent of life-altering powers, which the legal system had bestowed upon itself.
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ray40cal
omnitrippint
Registered: 05/05/08
Posts: 1,260
Loc: midwest side
Last seen: 9 days, 19 hours
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Re: Drug sting stirs legal questions [FL] [Re: durian_2008]
#9031976 - 10/05/08 11:33 AM (1 month, 29 days ago) |
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What? Weed is illegal. There's nothing police officers can do about it, and nothing a judge can do about it either unless he wants to get assasinated by some crazy pharm assasin. Morality is negated. Most judges don't want to condemn people to punishment because of marijuana use, but they have no choice.
Medical weed, and uncertain decriminalization laws are all that can happen because the pharmacy industry, lumber industry, and other big ones that weed can obliterate if legal, make it so.
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CptnGarden
Tabaquero
Registered: 05/13/04
Posts: 9,831
Loc: the microbial layer
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Re: Drug sting stirs legal questions [FL] [Re: ray40cal]
#9032521 - 10/05/08 01:41 PM (1 month, 29 days ago) |
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Quote:
ray40cal said:
Such a lowlife snitch he's not even worth a bullet.
chainsaw
vroom vroom vroom 
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SkekTek
Lurker
Registered: 03/21/08
Posts: 287
Loc: South Florida
Last seen: 5 days, 11 hours
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Re: Drug sting stirs legal questions [FL] [Re: CptnGarden]
#9032575 - 10/05/08 01:55 PM (1 month, 29 days ago) |
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He may not have to worry about going to court over his bag of weed, but he'll have to watch his back from now on after snitching out so many people like that.
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EntheogenicPeace
Scholar
Registered: 10/04/05
Posts: 2,329
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Re: Drug sting stirs legal questions [FL] [Re: ray40cal]
#9041311 - 10/07/08 09:44 AM (1 month, 27 days ago) |
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Quote:
What? Weed is illegal. There's nothing police officers can do about it...
Yeah, police officers just hate making drug arrests. They personally don't want to exercise coercive authority over their subjects; they just regrettably do it because the state tells them to. They also hate stealing from people who haven't even committed a real crime, but they do it anyways.
Edited by EntheogenicPeace (10/08/08 09:13 PM)
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Adamist
Hiptilian Being
Registered: 11/23/01
Posts: 4,789
Loc: Grand Canyon
Last seen: 14 days, 19 hours
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such bullshit
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There is nothing independent. All beings and things are residents in your awareness.
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EntheogenicPeace
Scholar
Registered: 10/04/05
Posts: 2,329
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Re: Drug sting stirs legal questions [FL] [Re: Adamist]
#9050612 - 10/08/08 09:14 PM (1 month, 26 days ago) |
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Word.
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ToiletDuk
BORG9 Crew
Registered: 05/16/03
Posts: 38,505
Loc: EarthFarm 1
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Re: Drug sting stirs legal questions [FL] [Re: veggie]
#9052670 - 10/09/08 09:22 AM (1 month, 25 days ago) |
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What an old snitch! I hope they throw out all the cases of the people he's gotten busted. 
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durian_2008
Cornucopian
Registered: 04/02/08
Posts: 324
Last seen: 1 day, 3 hours
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Re: Drug sting stirs legal questions [FL] [Re: ToiletDuk]
#9053743 - 10/09/08 01:44 PM (1 month, 25 days ago) |
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The job description existed before the applicant decided to work in that capacity. Yes, he is morally responsible.
If it was the only job opening left in the entire universe, he could choose not to accept it. He is not a programmable robot. Noone forces him to do anything. He forces others to comply with his career choice.
If anyone disagrees, I won't help him understand. I'm not the one with the save-the-world complex, such that I must force my opinions on others.
You're free to think whatever you like, as far as I'm concerned. After all, there's no law against it.
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A SHORT HISTORY OF MEDICINE:
"Doctor, I have an ear ache."
500 A.D. - "Here, eat this root."
1000 A.D. - "That root is heathen, say this prayer."
1850 A.D. - "That prayer is superstition, drink this potion."
1940 A.D. - "That potion is snake oil, swallow this pill."
1985 A.D. - "That pill is ineffective, take this antibiotic."
2000 A.D. - "That antibiotic is artificial. Here, eat this root!"
~Ron Lawrence, MD
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