Bi-Partisan Criminal Justice Reform is Gaining Momentum

Criminal justice reform has been a growing topic of late, and has been garnering more and more support from both sides of the aisle. Recently, even President Trump has signaled his support for such reform. It makes sense from a lot of standpoints: more efficient justice, less recidivism and less expense, while reuniting families: especially those separated by excessively long prison sentences for non-violent offenses. The growing movement has finally gained enough steam that the Senate appears poised to vote on a justice-bill, albeit a ‘slimmed-down’ version, before the end of the year. This is a good thing, though as the name of the bill, the “First Step Act”, implies, it should be merely the beginning of positive reforms.

Bar President Michelle Suskauer

Florida also has a need for criminal justice reform. Florida has a very draconian sentencing structure, in many cases imposing decades-long mandatory minimum sentences on non-violent offenses that far exceed the federal sentences that are being reconsidered. Florida Bar President Michelle Suskauer, who has spent many years in the justice system as a defense attorney and is acutely aware of the issues has made a push for consideration of the issue to raise awareness. The Florida Bar recently held a Criminal Justice summit to discuss the issue (the Bar cannot take a position), and Suskauer wrote an informative update in an OpEd published in the News-Press this week, and elsewhere. You should definitely check out her more detailed article, here.

Proposed Amendment 6 does not make sense for Florida

The polls are open tomorrow, and another round of misleading advertisements from supporters of Amendment 6, the so-called “Victim’s Rights” Amendment have hit the airwaves and social media. Proposed Amendment 6 on the upcoming Florida ballot, which includes the language known as ‘Marsy’s Law’, does not make sense for Florida. It’s being touted as the victim’s rights amendment, but Florida already has one of the robust victim’s rights protections in the country. And because of the bundling of proposed Amendments, it also does some things that are completely unrelated to victim’s rights: adjusting the retirement ages of judges, and a provision modifying administrative rulings.

Henry Nicholas’ most recent mug shot

The supporters of Amendment 6 are well-funded by the billionaire co-founder of Broadcom, Henry Nicholas. Nicholas, himself an accused drug trafficker, has purportedly put up most of the $36 million ($36.95 million, at last report) for the misleading advertising that promotes the proposal. The ads are deliberately misleading about the rights that Amendment 6 will and will not create. One of the claims is that Amendment 6 will give the victim’s and their families a right to be heard. However, those specific rights are already granted by the Florida Constitution. In addition, Florida already has victim notification for courts dates, inmate release, and a state’s right to speedy trial. The campaign for is a charade under the guise of victim’s rights, when several of the ads are outright lying to make Amendment 6 look like it will create rights that are already enshrined at the constitutional level.

The Florida Constitution, Section 16, “Rights of accused and of victims,” reads in relevant part:

“Victims of crime or their lawful representatives, including the next of kin of homicide victims, are entitled to the right to be informed, to be present, and to be heard when relevant, at all crucial stages of criminal proceedings, to the extent that these rights do not interfere with the constitutional rights of the accused.”

Florida’s Constitution grants Florida victims more rights than under the Federal Constitution yet preserves the rights of those accused to due process and trial by jury. Additional victims’ rights are already codified in the Florida Statutes, Chapter 960 which specifically provides for “Victim Assistance”. The commercials are misleading about Florida law.

What the ad campaigns neglect to mention is that the Amendment will impede on the rights of the accused, and likely run into conflict with the U.S. Constitution. The ads neglect to mention that Amendment 6 is an unfunded mandate that will create a burden on law enforcement. The ads neglect to mention that the Amendment is vague and unenforceable: not only does the proposal fail to allocate financial resources to implement the changes, it will also likely cost a great deal more when it is challenged in the courts.

Clemente Aguirre gets the good news, via Florida Innocence Project

A news item that just came out highlights another problem with Amendment 6. The Amendment also contains a provision that limits how long collateral attacks can challenge a conviction (such as appeals, and motions for newly discovered evidence). Today the Florida Innocence Project announced the exoneration and release of another wrongly convicted individual. Clemente Aguirre had been on death row for 12 years, even though DNA evidence pointed to another person, and that person had admitted committing the crime. Aguirre’s appointed attorney failed to test any of the blood evidence that eventually exonerated Aguirre, scoffing at the idea of hiring a “CSI Las Vegas blood whisperer”. Florida very nearly executed an innocent man, and the error could not have been corrected if Amendment 6 was in place as written.

The News-Press recommends voting no on Amendment 6, saying most of the proposed amendments are a “train wreck.” The Naples Daily News is against it, as are several Florida papers. Opposition runs the gamut, from the ACLU and the Florida Association of Defense Lawyers, to the Florida Bar’s Criminal Law Section, to Save My Constitution, a group of republican former lawmakers including Connie Mack and former Lt. Governor Jeff Kottkamp, who has also written in opposition to the CRC bundled proposals. Unifying the fight is the principle that legislating at the Constitutional level is generally a bad way to govern. Others who have spoken out against Amendment 6 include the State Board of the League of Women Voters of Florida, Eighth Circuit State Attorney William Cervone and Public Defender Stacy Scott, and respected Board Certified Criminal Law attorneys such as David Redfearn and Denis deVlaming.

Henry Nicholas has spent tens of millions of dollars to mislead Florida voters about the need for Amendment 6. The slick commercials suggest that victims don’t have equal rights in Florida, but they are not telling the truth. The proposed amendment does not make sense, it is unnecessary, and does not have a place in Florida’s Constitution.

FMPD Sergeant Fired for Lying: More Details Emerge

The News-Press published a thorough article detailing the latest corruption concerns at the Fort Myers Police Department. Former FMPD Sergeant Eric Gutridge was fired last week, having been suspended since February. He was fired for lying on official documents and lying under oath during court proceedings. Although lying in court proceedings is perjury, and giving false information in a police report is also a crime, there are no indications that charges are being considered. Gutridge was also accused of planting evidence, but there was not enough evidence to prove that allegation. Gutridge reported, and reiterated, that the 911 caller in a case was unknown, when in fact it was a confidential informant he had worked with before, and approached him for financial compensation for sending the tip.

The city has not released information about other officers that were suspended earlier this year in light of discoveries made by the Freeh group in their review of FMPD. The News-Press and several criminal defendants have been trying to get the City to release additional information regarding police corruption, and the city has spent thousands of dollars on outside attorneys to fight the release of the appendixes of the Freeh Report. The city also appeared in the criminal case to fight the release of the additional pages, and the court has not yet ruled on that. The city may end up being on the hook for a lot more money, as the suspect in the case that led to the Gutridge firing was held incarcerated for about a year and a half before the US attorney’s office dropped the case, and to their credit, reported his misdeeds to city authorities. This comes on the heels of another FMPD officer Detective Donald Weathers, being fired for lying and misusing informants. And there may be residual effects as attorneys review their files and look at other cases in which Weathers and Gutridge may have handled.

More on the Nate Allen / FMPD Fiasco

The News-Press has additional info up in their continuing online coverage, including raw video from the press conference, and a transcript of FMPD’s interview with Mr. Allen. I am disheartened that the time log shows that Mr. Allen was not interviewed by a Detective on the case until 9:30 p.m. that night. By then, he had been sitting in police custody since around 5:00 p.m. Not only did the FMPD use an unduly suggestive show up to falsely implicate him… they did not bother to even get his side of the story for more than four hours. Also, NBC-2 has some of the surveillance footage related to the event, and interviewed Allen’s friend that he had met with. It sounds like the police didn’t get around to interview her for three days after the incident (possibly only after the State Attorney’s office made their request for follow-up investigation.)

The poor guy, he did not even know why he had been detained until several pages into the interview when the detective told him. And she had already made her mind up, asking him questions under the assumption he had done it, telling him that multiple people had identified him. Check it out, it is kind of sad, in light of the fact that we know Mr. Allen to be completely innocent.