It’s been nearly three years since 17-year-old DeShon Thomas has been sitting in the Leon County Jail charged with murdering his pregnant 20-year-old ex-girlfriend and her 17-year-old brother in their southwest Tallahassee residence. On Friday, October 18, 2013 after listening to four days of testimony, a guilty verdict was read in Leon County Courtroom 3G where Judge Jackie Fulford was presiding. The previous day, DeShon Thomas testified on his own behalf to explain why his DNA was a part of a mixture of DNA found on the backdoor to the victims’ residence—“When I was living there we used to put the trash on the back porch.” DeShon Thomas’ DNA on the backdoor is the only physical evidence the crime scene unit was able to connect to him—in which it was a part of a mixture of DNA.
As DeShon Thomas’ mother has listened to numerous hearings and testimonies of witnesses and those in authority during the trial, she found the conduct of the Leon County Sheriff’s Office and the 2nd District State Attorney’s Office to be sickening! Authorities are far from properly exercising the laws that have been set by the U.S. and Florida Constitution. The community needs to know that those within the judicial system are not out to just solve crimes—they are out plotting murders and rapes of vulnerable kids who have blemishes on their criminal record in order to solve crimes that they are too lazy to investigate.
On January 28, 2011 DeShon Thomas and his mother voluntarily walked into the Leon County Sheriff’s Office to give a statement about threats against Laqecia Herring that DeShon had read on Facebook leading up to the victims’ being murdered, official Leon County Sheriff’s deputies stood by and let DeShon Thomas and his mother’s civil rights get violated by a wanna-be-cop—former Reserve Deputy Don Odham. Don Odham refused DeShon Thomas’ mother the right to provide him an attorney before questioning him; used racist vulgar and acted as if he was the “head-honcho.” Official Leon County Sheriff’s deputies did nothing to intervene or protect DeShon Thomas or his mother from the verbal abuse of this non-deputy. Some kind of way Don Odham would eventually become lead detective on this double murder case—and that’s when DeShon Thomas was charged with the murders. Despite having paid Criminal Defense Attorney Gregory Cummings nearly $30,000 and having four court appointed attorneys, it wasn’t until former Reserve Deputy Don Odham testified at the trial as to when DeShon Thomas and his mother learned that Don Odham was not an official part of the Leon County Sheriff’s Office. DeShon Thomas and his mother had long asked about Don Odham’s capacity with the Leon County Sheriff’s Office—but to no avail.
DeShon Thomas was in jail for nearly two years before he was charged with solicitation to commit murder of Trentin Ross. That charge came long after DeShon’s trial had been reset 3 times. According to the probable cause report, the investigation into the solicitation to commit murder charge started in late June 2012. It was in June 2012 as to when DeShon Thomas’ mother began to pressure Gregory Cummings about not having yet taken the deposition of Trentin Ross. The following link is an email sent by DeShon Thomas’ mother to Gregory Cummings in an effort to get some type of reaction from Gregory Cummings—as he’d been repeatedly ignoring her emails and her and DeShon’s phone calls. Shortly after this email, the State Attorney and Leon County Sheriff’s Office launched the plot to charge DeShon Thomas with solicitation to commit murder all because Trentin Ross would not give a deposition to support their LIES. (click link) GC email 6 22 12
Nothing is a coincidence—Gregory Cummings, State Prosecutor Jack Campbell and Circuit Judge James Hankinson deliberately repeatedly stalled the trial of DeShon Thomas because they didn’t have enough evidence to go to trial. In this email sent by DeShon Thomas’ mother originally dated April 26, 2012 but was not responded to by Greg Cummings until July 18, 2012. (click link) GC email 4 26 12
DeShon Thomas was 17-years-old when he was thrust into the Leon County adult judicial system looking for nothing but a fair and just trial. Instead, he was preyed upon by those in authority and their perverse plot to have him introduced to Dawaun Williams, a much older inmate, who immediately wanted to kill Trentin Ross, the states’ key witness against DeShon. Dawaun Williams, who is a career criminal, was in the Leon County Jail for bank robbery at the time. Some kind of way, immediately after making contact with DeShon Thomas, someone posted Dawaun Williams $15,000 bond. Within 24 hours of posting bond, Dawaun Williams, Det. Jason Newlin with the State Attorney’s Office and Deputy Ronald O’Brien with the Leon County Sheriff’s Office were sitting in an interview room at the Leon County Sheriff’s Office assisting Dawaun Williams as he composed a coded letter to send to DeShon Thomas. Dawaun Williams had taught DeShon Thomas how to read and write in code. Dawaun Williams then taught Det. Newlin and Deputy O’Brien how to read and write in code. Det. Newlin told Dawaun Williams to tell DeShon Thomas that he “loved him.” Clearly, Det. Newlin was desperate to get DeShon Thomas to trust Dawaun Williams. Which raises the question—if DeShon Thomas had asked Dawaun Williams to kill Trentin Ross—then wouldn’t DeShon already have established that level of trust in Dawaun Williams? The desperation and perversion of Det. Newlin’s need to have Dawaun Williams get DeShon Thomas to trust him is very clear on the video that was played during the trial.
More desperate to get Dawaun Williams’ letter to DeShon Thomas without tipping DeShon off, a team of authorities with the Leon County Sheriff and the State Attorney’s Office decided that they’d provide Dawaun Williams with an envelope, tell him the mailing address to the jail. And then authorities put a stamp on the envelope, forged a copy of a post mark date onto the envelope to make it look like it had gone through the regular mailing process and then had Deputy O’Brien walk the letter into the jail.
A few days later, the State Attorney’s Office provided Dawaun Williams with a cell phone, set it up for DeShon Thomas to make jailhouse calls to the cell phone and gave him money. There is no conversation of DeShon Thomas asking Dawaun Williams to kill Trentin Ross. The State Attorney and the Leon County Sheriff’s Office desperation in plotting to have DeShon Thomas charged with solicitation to commit murder was a reminder of the desperate actions taken by the Tallahassee Police department that ended in the murder of 23-year-old Rachel Hoffman.
Whereas, in order to make a drug bust, a police officer flirted with Rachel Hoffman to gain her trust—and then provided her with drugs and a gun—in which that investigation ended in her murder. Det. Newlin promoted a much older adult male inmate (Dawaun Williams) to make sexual/mental predatory advances towards a male teenage inmate (DeShon Thomas) all in an effort to build a solicitation to commit murder case against DeShon Thomas because Trentin Ross wouldn’t come to court and LIE. Even though the State Attorney and the Leon County Sheriff’s Office provided two open lines of communications for Dawaun Williams and DeShon Thomas—Trentin Ross’ life was never in any danger. Dawaun Williams testified that he never “loved” DeShon, as he’d written in the one letter. Who wrote the second letter is unknown? What was never discussed —is how and when the investigation of the solicitation to commit murder came to an end. Obviously, this was not important for anyone—State Prosecutor Jack Campbell or Regional Counsel Daren Shippy to discuss because they too knew that this entire solicitation to commit murder plot was hatched by the State Attorney and the Leon County Sheriff’s Office. The investigation into the solicitation to commit murder came to an end simultaneous to DeShon Thomas and his mother firing Gregory Cummings.
During the trial was the first time DeShon Thomas and his mother had seen or heard from Trentin Ross. The testimony given was not that of Trentin Ross—it was that of State Prosecutor Jack Campbell. Trentin Ross was merely agreeing with what Jack Campbell was saying.
The jury may have spoken—who knows for sure–guilty is the verdict. But Trentin Ross is just another young victim of the State Attorney and the Leon County Sheriff’s Office predatory schemes.
Mothers Against Unethical Laws (MAUL) 