Month: September 2012

First things first—in this article dated 12/18/2011 http://tallahasseeo.com/2011/12/18/a-letter-from-our-reader-carissa-chambers-regarding-corruption-of-leon-county-sheriff-larry-campbell/ I stated that my son, DeShon Rashard Thomas, was “Neutral” about his ex-girlfriend, Laqecia Herring (deceased) being pregnant with his child. It was the LEON COUNTY SHERIFF’S DETECTIVES—NOT Laqecia Herring and Sterling Conner Jr’s FAMILY MEMBERS who assumed that there was hostility between my son and Ms. Herring. According to reports, this BOLDFACED LIE about the VICTIMS FAMILY MEMBERS stating that there was hostility between DeShon Thomas and Laqecia Herring was presented to judges, the media, and the Grand Jury which led to signatures on search warrants, arrest warrants, and an indictment by the Grand jury.

With friends like Assistant State Attorney Jack Campbell, who needs enemies?

After my son was charged with 2 counts of 1st Degree Murder, he sat in jail for over 30 days without a public defender. I called and visited the Public Defender’s office on several occasions trying to find out what public defender was assigned to my son’s case. Each time I was told that it was still in the Conflict Counsel’s Office and had not yet been assigned to anyone. Acting on a referral, I met and eventually retained Mr. Gregory Cummings on March 12, 2011 to represent my son. According to the Docket Report on Case Process, the public defender who was assigned my son’s case– name doesn’t appear until March 21, 2011. He then withdraws from the case on March 23, 2011. Coincidence or… Oh it gets deeper, but I’m going to leave that part right there for now.

Fast forward to July 18, 2012, I finally “smelled” the stink with my son’s attorney and I told him to fire him. I’ll also leave that right there for now.

Now as far as Assistant State Attorney Jack Campbell and my son’s ex-attorney, (shaking my head). My son’s trial date has been reset 3 or more times in 2012—all State’s Motion for Continuance. What defense attorney who tells his client and his client’s family that he’s prepared to go to trial– allows his client to catch another charge, especially a charge such as Conspiracy to Commit Murder against a witness. That Conspiracy to Commit Murder charge against my son alone just super strengthened my complaint. When I hired this attorney to represent my 17-year-old son on two counts of 1st Degree Murder, I thought that he’d at least hire a private investigator, interview some character witnesses, verbally open up the Discovery Report more with my son—you know build a strong defense case or at least act like it. Because as an experienced attorney, he should know that a 17-year-old won’t know exactly what he’d be reading if the Discovery Report was handed to him. Oops!!! That’s where I came into play at. Well, at least up until I told my son to fire his attorney. So now Assistant State Attorney Jack Campbell throws my son’s ex-attorney under the bus. Then he keeps it in the family with his dad Sheriff Larry Campbell, by preventing me (my son’s only source of real truth and BS detector) from visiting him. So now my son who is now 19-years-old has no way of contacting me or anyone else as far as learning who’s his new attorney. On Friday when my son called me to tell me about this Conspiracy charge, when I mention the words “the attorney that I spoke with”, the phone went dead. My son didn’t call me back. Since my son has fired his attorney (shaking my head), he’s been charged with Conspiracy to Commit Murder against a witness, placed in confinement (where he can’t receive any visits from anyone other than an attorney. The majority of his family lives over 300 miles away). I mean seriously, what next? Whose idea was it to tell wctv.tv to leave my son’s mug shot up on their website for 2 days? Whoever, recommended it to wctv.tv, please tell wctv.tv to post the original Probable Cause Report for the 2 counts of 1st Degree Murder charges that is dated February 7, 2011. For whatever reason, wctv.tv started posting the Probable Cause Reports online a month or so after February. Will you please ask them if they can retro back?

Tallahassee citizens, this is why you all need to dismantle this “jagged, Good Ol Boy Network”. The Leon County Sheriff’s Office and the State Attorney’s Office will maliciously and childishly go after you and/or your loved one if you don’t go along with what they want you to do. And from what I’ve been reading on the TallahasseeO, it doesn’t matter if you’re an inmate, a Leon County Sheriff’s employee, a State Attorney’s employee or just an ordinary citizen, if you don’t do as you’re told by y’all “Daddy”, then you’re doomed. And, and– generations of your relatives behind you are doomed. Black and white people were slaves. We’re all too good to have to deal with this crap! I don’t live in Tallahassee anymore, but as far as I’m concerned, this Good Ol Boy Network will ‘PUT Y’ALL BACK IN CHAINS’ (in my Vice President Joe Biden voice)

DEMOCRATS VOTE OUTSIDE THE BOX—VOTE FOR LISA SPRAGUE!!! IT’S NOT ABOUT PARTY AFFILIATION—IT’S ALL ABOUT WHO IS GOING TO DO THE RIGHT THING!!!

HIDE:
In April 2012, Attorney David Chester of Tallahassee filed a lawsuit against Sheriff Larry Campbell and Sgt. Brian Pearson. The lawsuit alleges that Sgt. Pearson, the lead detective in the shooting death of David Mays, kept a “secret” file on the Mays investigation. The “secret file” was to have included personal case notes and other documents. It was reported that after receiving a public-records request, Sgt. Pearson ran the materials, including compact discs through a paper shredder. All and all, at the time of the request—nothing was handed over.

GO—SEEK :
David Chester’s lawsuit was covered by Circuit Judge Kevin J. Carroll, who issued an order of the Sheriff’s Office to show cause as to why the requests in the lawsuit should not be granted. The judge gave them 60 days to comply.

HIDE:
On February 7, 2011, my 17-year-old son, DeShon Thomas was charged with 2 counts of 1st Degree Premeditated Murder (narrowly missing a 3rd count of murder because the female victim in this case (his 20-year-old ex-girlfriend) was about 21 weeks pregnant at the time). Through interviews of people close to the victims, eyewitness accounts, my son’s employer (alibis), law enforcement officer’s statements and other crucial information—the victims’ time of death is essential to this case. My son, who is now 18-years-old, has been in the Leon County Jail for approximately 458 days. From day one, I’d always inquired about the time of death of the victims. Only to be told that the 2 victims autopsy reports are “confidential” information.

Not long after George Zimmerman’s arrest for the shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, Discovery documents, including his autopsy report, were released to the public. Soon Trayvon Martin’s Autopsy Report was all over the Internet and on the front page of newspapers. Seeing all of this reignited the fact that I still did not know what the time of death was of the victims in my son’s case. Now, I wanted to know how to go about getting a copy of the victims’ autopsy report.

SEEK:
I called the Leon County Clerk of Courts—they did not have it. They referred me to the State Attorney’s Office. Well, to me—that’s like a woman asking an abusive husband to put a steak over the black eye that he gave her. I was reluctant to call the State Attorney’s Office. Instead I called the District Two Medical Examiner’s Office. The person whom I spoke with over the phone was very, very nice and helpful. The person told me that I could in fact get a copy of the victims’ autopsy report but only after their case is closed. Huh–? The person told me that the case status showed “on-going investigation”. I explained that there had been an arrest in the case. I asked why does it say that it’s an “on-going investigation”? Unfortunately, the person couldn’t answer that question. However, the person was able to answer a few of my questions successfully. But in the end, I was referred back to the State Attorney’s Office. I called the State Attorney’s Office being vague but also letting them know what I was looking for in the Discovery. I felt like I would be more successful if I just put in the request in person. When I arrived in Tallahassee, the second place I went was to the courthouse. Yes—I went to the State Attorney’s Office. I explained to the woman what I was looking for—a copy of the Medical Examiner’s Report. She pulled the victims information up on the computer. She seemed to be stunned to see that although there was an arrest on the case, the status of the case stated “on-going investigation”. When I asked her who was responsible for closing investigations so that these records can be accessed by the public, she told me that the secretaries were responsible for closing the case. Then she told me that, if I wanted to know why the case had not been closed, then I needed to speak with Jack Campbell—not his secretary. She told me that he was the only one who could tell me—why the case has not been closed. She then pointed out the directions to his office. I didn’t bother to go to his office. Simply because they seem to have sealed my son’s cell phone records and now they’ve left this case file open so that no one can access their autopsy report.

Hide-and-Go-Seek 101—players conceal themselves in the environment, to be found by one or more seekers.

I can’t begin to imagine how many other cases are out there fighting really hard for access to public records.