Tallahassee, FL—In February 2001, the Confederate Flag was removed from the Florida State Capitol. At the time, Governor Jeb Bush (Republican) was serving in office. According to the St. Petersburg Times and the Tampa Bay Times, Katie Baur spokeswoman for Bush, in part stated, “…the governor is confident…as we begin a new century…Florida’s past should not be displayed in a manner that may divide Florida today.”
For more than three decades, former 2nd Judicial State Attorney Willie Meggs (Democrat) who served Leon County, Wakulla County, Jefferson County, Gadsden County, Liberty County and Franklin County, has for the most part of his career been viewed by local citizens as a racist, ‘Good Ol’ Boy’ prosecutor. For more than a decade local citizens feared him, along with Leon County Sheriff Larry Campbell (Democrat). And with two of Meggs’ children working for Sheriff Campbell and with Sheriff Campbell’s son, Jack Campbell (Democrat) working as Meggs’ lead prosecutor—many innocent people including law enforcement officials and attorneys—both private and public defenders—lived in fear. Meggs and Sheriff Campbell colluded to pave the way for Jack Campbell to succeed Meggs upon Meggs’ retirement. In doing so, Meggs overlooked nearly forty of his prosecutors and assigned Jack Campbell to prosecute criminal high-profile cases that were being investigated by Sheriff Campbell’s agency. It is believed that most of the former Leon County Jail inmates that Jack Campbell convicted and sent to prison were Black.
In 2012, under Meggs, Jack Campbell charged two Black male juveniles (14 and 15 year-old) as adults. The juveniles were arrested by Leon County Sheriff Larry Campbell for allegedly raping a classmate in a dugout on the campus of Godby High School.
In 2011, under Meggs, Jack Campbell charged a 17-year-old Black male juvenile as an adult. The juvenile was arrested by Leon County Sheriff Larry Campbell for allegedly possession of drug paraphernalia, cultivation of marijuana, two counts of 1st degree murder, possession of a firearm by a juvenile delinquent, and conspiracy to commit 1st degree murder. These are just a few criminal cases that Meggs, Sheriff Campbell, and Jack Campbell colluded.
In the 2011 case, it is factually known that Sheriff Larry Campbell assigned his wealthy personal friend, who had no law enforcement credentials, to interrogate a minor, to commit fraud on government official documents—to that which certified law enforcement officials were ordered to notarize. Jack Campbell had those same fraudulent documents signed by judges and then filed into the Leon County Clerk of Courts. In order for Meggs’ office to obtain a grand jury indictment against this Black male juvenile, fraudulent documents and testimonies that identified Sheriff Campbell’s wealthy friend as a “Leon County Sheriff’s Detective” had to be presented.
Under Meggs, Jack Campbell charged a 17-year-old White male juvenile as an adult with manslaughter. The juvenile was arrested by Leon County Sheriff Larry Campbell for shooting and killing a Black male teenager—who was in the comfort of his own home. The White male was convicted (withholding adjudication) and sent to a juvenile facility.
In 2010, Under Meggs, Jack Campbell charged a 19-year-old White male with 2nd degree manslaughter. The White male teenager had been arrested by Leon County Sheriff Larry Campbell for the brutal cold-blooded murder of his White teenage girlfriend. Meggs, Sheriff Larry Campbell, Jack Campbell and Criminal Defense Attorney Greg Cummings sought to soften the defendant’s charges for his brutal cold-blooded murderous rage. They all allowed ‘Restorative Justice’ to play a role in his criminal proceedings. Thus, treating his heinous act of violence against another human being as though he’d vandalized a piece of church property.
During the 2016 campaign for Florida State Attorneys, many incoming candidates vowed to reform Office of State Attorney for their circuit. For instance, 4th Judicial Circuit State Attorney Melissa Nelson (Republican), in Jacksonville, according to Jacksonville.com, has already released a White man from a Jacksonville jail. The man had been in jail for nearly 3 years accused of arson and murder. Melissa Nelson admitted that the case against him was weak. She’d inherited the case from the former State Attorney Angela Corey. Melissa Nelson has also begun putting into motion a Wrongful Conviction Unit—it would be the first in Florida. The Wrongful Conviction Unit will require prosecutors to sift through cold cases to find compelling claims of innocence, and then re-investigate them.
Current 2nd Judicial State Attorney Jack Campbell has not vowed to any type of reform in regards wrongful convictions. For Jack Campbell to make such a vow, he would have to display the collusion committed by Willie Meggs, his daddy, the late Leon County Sheriff Larry Campbell, and himself. And all of the other criminal acts and cover ups involving other law enforcement officials, judges, attorneys, local government agencies, such as the Leon County Clerk of Courts, the Office of Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel, District Two Medical Examiner’s Office, and former Florida Department of Law Enforcement Commissioner Gerald Bailey, the Florida Bar and Florida Commission on Ethics.
For nearly a decade, a Black male has been sitting in the Leon County Jail awaiting trial on quadruple murder charges—where a young mother and her three children were brutally murdered in their home. From the start of the judicial process, the case was weak. Nearly, five years after his incarceration—after Gerald Bailey resigned—a DNA analyst with Florida Department of Law Enforcement came forward with crucial information that she’d been given by the FBI—she’d been withholding the information. Jack Campbell has failed to admit that the quadruple murder case against the Black male is weak—because he would be undercutting Meggs’ decision to charge him. So, instead, Jack Campbell has moved forward in prosecuting the death penalty case—win or lose—which is costing taxpayers a lot of money.
The citizens of Tallahassee/ Leon County know that Willie Meggs, Larry Campbell, and Gerald Bailey are all lifelong friends. These 3 men were all top judicial/law enforcement officials whose friendships toppled morals and ethics—that produced State Attorney Jack Campbell—which means that in spite of being in a new century, top officials in Leon County, Florida remain on keeping citizens divided and the roots of racism and bigotry continues on in Leon County Judicial Circuit Courts.
#FREEDESHONTHOMASNOW #FSU #FAMU #TCC #WFTV #REPRESENTUS #CHANGE.ORG #WRONGFULCONVICTIONS #EMBRACETALLAHASSEE #ENVISIONCU #CHARLOTTESVILLE #ONEORLANDOPULSE
Mothers Against Unethical Laws (MAUL) 