Friday Fun: Florida Woman Blames Wind for Cocaine in her Car

Kenneshia Posey

A Fort Pierce woman had a unique excuse for the cocaine officers found in her car last week. Officers found Marijuana and Cocaine in the vehicle Kenneshia Posey was riding in with another person. When they asked her, she admitted the marijuana was hers, but denied knowing anything about the baggie of cocaine. When the officer asked how it got in her purse, she replied, “I don’t know anything about any cocaine. It’s a windy day. It must have flown through the window and into my purse.”

Officers were apparently unimpressed, as she was arrested and charged for both the marijuana and the cocaine.

Man Gets $37,000 after Doughnut Arrest

Daniel Rushing

Daniel Rushing was arrested in 2015 when an officer mistook the glaze from his Krispy Kreme doughnut for Crystal Meth. He bonded out after 10 hours, even though he should not have been locked up at all. He sued the maker of the field test kit, as well as the city, who failed to properly train their officer on how to use the field test. They settled this week for $37,500. That’ll buy Mr. Rushing a lot of doughnuts!

This kind of thing happens more often than you would think. I saw a guy get arrested for patchouli that the officer said tested positive for heroin. A man in Ovideo was recently held for 90 days until a lab test proved that his drywall was not cocaine. He may be seeking an even more substantial lawsuit, that the taxpayers are going to end up footing. And to compound his problems, he may not be able to get the arrest record expunged because he has a prior history, which prohibits expungement under current Florida law.

News of this settlement comes as the City of Fort Myers seeks to finalize a settlement for wrongly arresting football star Nate Allen: which crimcourts will be following closely.

Pablo Escobar’s Hippos are still Running Wild

Hippos

Pablo Escobar, notorious kingpin of the Medellin drug cartel in Columbia in the 1980’s, was known for this extravagances in that poor country. In addition to giving money, housing, and soccer fields to the poor, he own vast estates on which he built palaces, and imported wild animals for his personal zoo. Most of the animals were captured and disbursed to zoos after his death, but apparently they couldn’t handle the Hippos, and left a small, but viable breeding population in a pond.

Fast forward three decades, and the four Hippos have bred into a population of more than 60, and with no natural predators in South America, they are beginning to become a problem. Locals are somewhat enamored with them, and protested when one was shot a while back, but now a drought has forced them into closer contact with populated areas. Scientists are working on a program to sterilize them, but are waiting on the special dart guns needed to sedate them.

In the meantime… stay away. While vegetarian, Hippos are extremely defensive and dangerous to humans.

Wait, what’s this got to do with a criminal law blog? Well, Pablo Escobar was probably the biggest criminal of the 20th century– sorry Al Capone. But really, I just wanted to talk about Hippos. Also, check out the amusement park they made out of Escobar’s old ranch, Hacienda Napoles… I guess featuring Hippos.

Florida Couple Gave their Kids Drugs, to Get Them to do Chores

Chad Mudd

Police allege Chad and Joey Mudd gave their 13 and 14-year-old daughters drugs as a “bargaining tool” to entice them to do chores and go to school. Apparently, marijuana and even cocaine were involved. They face Child Abuse charges, and the father also faces cocaine possession, they have been released from the St. Petersburg jail on bond.

And now I have Primus in my head…

Joey Mudd

Florida Man Lists “Drug Dealer” as his Occupation on Booking Sheet

Robert Phillips Mug Shot

Robert Phillips was booked in on an array of 13 different charges a couple days ago in Palm Beach County. He’s no stranger to the law, having been arrested several times before. He’s also no stranger to a life of crime, as he actually listed “drug dealer” as his occupation on his arrest report. No surprise, as deputies indicate they saw him perform a hand-to-hand transaction. He then fled at a high rate of speed, ran into a Michael’s craft store, dropped a loaded handgun, and was apprehended with the help of a police dog when he ran out the back door! Deputies found 22 grams of heroin on him, and several more grams of cocaine in his vehicle.

Robert Phillips Prison Photo

He’s in deep trouble, not just because he has so many charges. If he is convicted of trafficking as charged: that is possessing more than 14 grams of heroin, he is facing a minimum mandatory sentence of 15 years, and up to 30 on that charge alone. Looks like he is going to be forced into a career change. He’s been to prison before on drug and weapons offenses. Some people just aren’t cut out for a life of crime.

via Palm Beach Post

NBC-2 to do a Story Tonight on Sentence Reform

• NBC-2 to do a story on a man who got 60 years for possession, according to the teaser

Well, I guess the story is on sentence reform: it’s about a man who was apparently arrested for possession of a half-an-ounce of cocaine and who was then sentenced to 60 years incarceration. The NBC teaser doesn’t give much in the way of details: what were the aggravating factors, was it a state or federal case? I expect it must have been federal charges, because state charges would not allow that great of a sentence for such a small amount. Even if it was possession with intent to sell, that wouldn’t be sufficient to warrant a 60 year sentence without other charges in Florida state court.

The teaser talks about the war on drugs, and shows a clip of President Clinton talking tough, but it also shows a clip of Governor Scott, so I don’t know if the situation deals with federal or state charges. While the state does have some severe sanctions: minimum mandatory sentences for an ounce or more of cocaine, for instance, federal laws are generally more harsh. The federal government has actually looked to recede from some of their overly-harsh, drug war-era initiatives, including the Fair Sentencing Act, which reduced disproportionate sentences for cocaine offenses that involved crack cocaine. Even Florida, which has an extremely harsh sentencing structure, is considering some exceptions to its sentencing policy.

Hopefully I’ll have time to do a follow up post after the story! It’s on tonight, around 6 pm: http://youtu.be/WXCB0VlDHWE