Cold Case Clown-Killer Pleads Guilty

After 27 years, authorities arrested Sheila Keen-Warren for the 1990 killing of Marlene Warren by an assailant disguised as a clown. Warren answered the door to someone dressed as a clown who handed her balloons and flowers, then pulled out a gun and shot her in the face. Marlene Warren died at the hospital 2 days later.

Sheila Keen became a suspect when authorities found out she was having an affair with Marlene’s husband, Michael. She eventually married him, but no arrest was made for decades.

Sheila Keen-Warren now

In 2014, new DNA evidence was uncovered by modern technology that tied Sheila Keen-Warren to the crime. She was arrested in Virginia in 2017, still married to Michael Keen. The case has been pending since then, but was scheduled to go to trial in the coming weeks.

Sheila Keen-Warren arrest

Mrs. Keen-Warren will be sentenced to 12 years in prison, with some 6 years of credit since her arrest. The charge was under the old guidelines, and before the rule that requires prisoners to serve 85% of their sentences, so she has completed a substantial portion of her sentence. She will likely be out in less than 2 years. Her attorneys insist that she still claims innocence, but accepted the deal to avoid the risk of trial. With as much credit, and imminent release, the plea agreement makes a lot of sense for her. While she may protest her innocence, she has now plead guilty and been convicted of the offense. The family finally has closure.

press clipping from 1990

Former Assistant Prosecutor Blows Whistle on Racist Policy

A former prosecutor has revealed that the Office of the State Attorney of the Second Judicial Circuit had an explicitly racist policy published to assistant prosecutors there. The policy, which was printed in a memo and posted in the Jefferson County prosecutor’s office, explicitly directed prosecutors to seek harsher penalties when the Defendants for No Valid Driver’s License charges were “Hispanic.”

It’s shocking for the office to have such a policy, and even more shocking they actually wrote it up and printed it out. The elected prosecutor likely did not know about it, this was posted in one of the branch offices of a 6-county circuit, but it is still appalling that such a document existed. The optics are particularly bad where the prosecutors in the office are all white.

The article does not contain a direct response from the prosecutors office regarding the allegations, though elected State Attorney Jack Campbell has argued against stereotyping. Sadly, the actions of his office to not match his words on the matter.

A clip from the policy from the picture taken by former prosecutor Mackenzie Hayes.

Former ASA Mackenzie Hayes, who revealed the policy, shortly left the 2nd Circuit SAO.

Tweets from Our Tallahassee include a video: https://twitter.com/OurTallahassee/status/1648744747895250961

Wisner Desmaret Trial to Start on Charges of Killing FMPD Officer

Wisner Desmaret

Jury selection is set to start today for Wisner Desmaret, who is charged with First Degree Murder in the killing of Fort Myers Police Officer Adam Jobbers-Miller in 2018. Jobbers-Miller was responding to a complaint, when he was allegedly tackled by Desmaret, who took his firearm and fatally shot him. The State is seeking the Death Penalty on the case. Desmaret fired his attorney, and will be representing himself at the trial. Desmaret has a documented mental health history — he’s had prior criminal cases in which he was found incompetent to stand trial, and subsequently received treatment. His competency has been evaluated in this case, but he has been found competent to stand trial.

It should be noted that competency, his ability to appreciate the charges and comport himself in court, is different from the defense of insanity. Insanity is a mental disease defect so extreme that at the time of the offense, the defendant could not understand what he was doing or could not understand that what he’s doing was wrong. It’s a difficult defense, as individuals are presumed innocent, and as an affirmative defense, the burden is on the Defense to prove the insanity by clear and convincing evidence.

While prior counsel filed a notice that they intended to use insanity as a defense, citing schizophrenia and abnormal brain scans, Desmaret may not use that defense now that he’s representing himself for the trial. At a pretrial conference last week, Desmaret in discussing the case raised some issues that he may argue at trial, and they were kind of all over the place. At one point he discussed a lack of certain DNA evidence, suggesting an identification defense, at other times talking about police violence, suggesting a justifiable use of force defense. Then he made some comments suggesting a conspiracy theory about them wanting to harvest his blood. It won’t be clear what he argues as his defense until the trial gets going, and with his addled brain, it may not become clear.

Jury selection is slated to start today. The trial should take several weeks, possibly two or three, but maybe several, depending on how things go.

2 Strikes and You’re Out, Florida’s Harsh Career Criminal Sentencing

A recent article took a look at Florida’s Prison Releasee Reoffender statute, which mandates a maximum penalty for designated offenders. The problem with sentencing strictures that take discretion away, is that imbalanced sentences can follow. The man discussed in this article, Steve Brana, was sentenced to life for robbery, except the robber with the gun got less time. Brana’s only prior offenses were juvenile burglaries. It’s appropriate to take a violent offender off the streets for a time to ensure the safety of the community, but life in prison for an accomplice (or principle) who has no violent history may not be necessary.

Florida Legislator wants to Pass a Law to Make Bloggers Register

Some chucklehead needs to read the Constitution. A Florida State Senator, Jason Brodeur, wants bloggers who write about Florida officials, and he includes himself and the legislature under this umbrella, to register with the state or potentially face fines. This is patently unconstitutional.

The First Amendment prohibits any law that would abridge the freedom of speech, or of the press. This law is so offensive to the freedoms granted, I can’t believe the idea made it far enough for the bill to be filed. The registration requirements, and potential penalties, create what’s called a “chilling effect” that would run afoul of our right to free expression.

This country was founded on the principle of being permitted to critique the government. I do have a personal interest as a blogger, albeit occasionally, who sometimes writes about the government. But this bill is offensive to the First Amendment regardless of which side you are on. If we had a “woke” government that he disagreed with, would we not be allowed to criticize it? Of course we would, and it’s preposterous to try to restrict comment on the government.

The Florida Constitution also provides that no law shall be passed that restrains or abridges the liberty of speech or of the press. So this law would violate the U.S. Constitution and the Florida Constitution. It’s a double-unconstitutional law — Jason Brodeur would restrict our rights under both Constitutions. I hope the citizens of Lake Mary found out what he is trying to do and find someone to primary him.

This is supposed to be the Free State of Florida. If this pinhead Jason Brodeur doesn’t respect the Constitutional rights of Floridians, he does not deserve to to represent us in the legislature. It will obviously get laughed out of court when it gets challenged, but it should never get passed into law. Brodeur should talk to a lawyer, a law student, even, and withdraw this clearly unconstitutional bill. It’s appalling that a lawmaker would try to impede our Constitutional rights.

Massage Worker Accused of Unwanted Sex Act

A Port Charlotte man went into a Charlotte County massage parlor, sorry, “spa,” and requested a massage from the ‘masseuse’ there, Ms. Dong. That’s really her name, though I won’t list her first name. He took off all his clothes and laid down on the table, where the worker started rubbing his shoulders. She asked him to flip over, and he did so, fully naked and without a covering towel. He says he was surprised when the massage worker grabbed his genitals. Shocked, I’m sure!

The alleged victim told deputies he paid $100, when massages were only listed for $70. He told the cops he called after she refused to give him his money back. That’s probably about the end of the truth in his story.

She told deputies that she was giving him a massage when he started asking for sexual favors. She says she refused, and he became angry, and gave him $50 back hoping he would leave so she went to the back room.

So, either the guy had NO IDEA that this strip mall ‘massage parlor’ was a haven for sexual favors -OR- he knew it was and asked her to do things she didn’t want to do. Which situation is more likely? Generally, when stories differ, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. The more plausible story is probably nearer the truth. However, the cop arrested her for Battery and for Unnatural and Lascivious Act, because the dude was the one who called the cops. Good luck proving that one.

Here’s to a Great New Year for 2023

Greetings and salutations for a great new year from Crimcourts. This year is exciting for me, as I take over as President of the Lee County Bar Association. Hence the cover of our magazine, Res Gestae. To save you the need to ask or look it up, res gestae is latin for “things done.” Pretty clever!

We’ve been pretty busy around the Law Office of Spencer Cordell, which has cut back on my blogging lately, but I’m going to try to keep it up whenever I can get things posted. Be sure to follow on Twitter @crimcourts and Facebook, sometimes I share articles quicklyon there when I don’t have a chance to write something up myself. Good fortune to everyone this year, and good luck on your New Year’s resolutions!

DUI on a Golf Cart (and Fleeing!)

Alex Acevedo via CCSO

This week a Collier County man from Immokalee was arrested for drunk driving in a golf cart when deputies tried to pull him over. According to reports, Alex Acevedo saw the cops, pulled over, tossed a can out the side of his cart, and then sped off. He got to a nearby residence, tossed his cell phone to someone before being detained. Deputies indicate he smelled strongly of alcohol, had trouble maintaining his balance, and refused to do exercises. He was arrested and charged with DUI and Resisting an Officer.

Notably, Mr. Acevedo actually got lucky. He could have been charged with Fleeing, which is a felony. The golf cart is technically a vehicle, and he left the stop– fleeing does not require high speeds– so he could have been charged with a felony in addition to the misdemeanor resisting charge. That’s probably some fair discretion to leave it at DUI, it’s not like he was on a high speed frolic! Again, the attempt to get away from the original charge was worse than the underlying offense.

Apparently, fleeing in a golf cart is not that unusual. A couple years ago in Martin County, several men fled a stop. One of them ran onto a golf course, stole a cart from some golfers as they played, and continued to flee. As golf carts are not very fast, he was “immediately” captured by deputies and taken into custody. Newsweek covered that case, and cited several other recent occurrences. So, fleeing on a golf cart is not that rare, but I suspect escaping on one doesn’t happen very often.

Charlotte County Teacher Charged with Harboring a Runaway Minor in her Home

Charlotte County teacher Kelly Simpson, 31, has been charged with Interference with Custody of a Minor. Charlotte deputies allege that she picked up the minor from an unknown location, and knowing his missing/endangered status, concealed him inside her home. That’s all the details available right now. It’s important not to jump to conclusions of guilt, perhaps the minor had fled an unsafe circumstance (or convinced her as much), and she was acting in the child’s interest. She is innocent until proven guilty.

10-Year Anniversary for my Crimcourts Blog

10 years ago I posted my first blog on here. 1,322 posts later we’re still going strong. Not as strong as I used to- I post much less frequently nowadays between keeping busy with the job and growing kids that have gotten involved in all kinds of activity. Thanks to everyone that has sent me post ideas over the years, I wish I could have written a post for all of them. WordPress tells me I’ve had over 285,000 page views and over 180,000 unique visitors, which is kind of crazy.

I thought the anniversary might be a good time for a little trip down memory lane.

My all time most viewed post was a legal update: “”Important Changes to Florida’s DUI Laws: Legistlative Update 2013“

Some of the more popular subjects over the years were Zimmerman, Amanda Knox, NFL Cheerleaders, and Ashley Toye (of the Cash Feenz cases). Also, the Sievers case got a lot of attention, though it didn’t seem to have the national appeal that drove up numbers on the others.

One of my favorite subjects was the shark trial, where a man claimed self-defense for taking a shark: “The Shark Trial Recap“

Self-defense has been one of the more interesting repeat topics we’ve discussed on crimcourts, probably in part due to timing. I started writing this not too long after the Stand Your Ground Law has been enacted, and the Florida courts have been a trying ground for that policy. Also, being Florida, we’ve seen self-defense claimed for Bears, the aforementioned shark, and even an iguana.

Sometimes I like to think it would be fun to do videos, but I really don’t have the time. I don’t have as much time as I’d like to spend on the blog, as it has been fun, but I’ll keep posting whenever I can find time so follow me here and on Twitter.