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| NEWS > 26 July 2007 |
Other related articles:
Police 'threat' to frail Afgha
BADLY trained police in Afghanistan are spreading fear on behalf of political masters instead of protecting the community, the International Crisis Group has warned.
The independent group set up to resolve conflict said in a report released yesterday the Afghan police had become a "coercive tool" of the governing elite. It said the exploding narcotics trade was a major corrupting influence and factional networks and drug alliances were competing for positions in the police, particularly lucrative ones that oversaw drug-smuggling routes.
The group, headed by former Austral... Read more
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Sarasota Herald-Tribune - Sara
26 July 2007
This article appeared in the above title/site.
To view it in its entirity click this link.
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Bradenton Police Department, F
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Police sex inquiry spills into
BRADENTON -- A defense attorney is fighting for a new trial in a drug case here, saying the credibility of the state's key witness is in doubt amid a police misconduct investigation that cost the officer and two others on the force their jobs.
The misconduct charges, which have roiled the Bradenton Police Department, are spilling into the criminal justice arena as defense attorneys examine old cases involving the officers and look for possible deals on pending charges.
For the first time since the Herald-Tribune published the allegations this month, a judge in Bradenton who is deciding a defendant's punishment read in court part of the Bradenton Police Department investigative report that details claims lodged by a convicted prostitute.
"This is the tip of the iceberg," said the defendant's attorney, Steve Michaels, addressing Circuit Judge Diana Moreland. Michaels called the allegations alarming and said he would not be surprised to hear additional claims -- such as evidence planting -- materialize.
Three officers resigned after the prostitute, Dawn Marie Gibson, told investigators she had oral sex with an officer for cash and traded sex with another officer for money and drugs.
A third officer, William Anderson, who was the subject of Thursday's court action, is accused of having sex in a police substation with another prostitute.
Two former supervisors of the department's now-defunct Safe Streets Unit, where the three officers once worked, are under investigation as administrators conduct a management review.
Police Chief Michael Radzilowski met with prosecutors Thursday; the state is expected to review the allegations to determine whether criminal charges apply.
"We'll see what we have and go from there," said Dennis Nales, the chief assistant state attorney in Manatee and Sarasota counties.
Proving the allegations without physical evidence will be challenging, prosecutors say. An officer with direct knowledge of the allegations could be essential to prosecution.
A misdemeanor prostitution charge can be brought up to two years after the crime.
Former officer Pete Biddlecome, who admitted receiving oral sex from Gibson, says he made a personal mistake, not a criminal one.
The sex act happened in late 2005 or early last year, police reported.
Biddlecome, once the department's officer of the year, gave Gibson $10, but he said the money was not for sex. He said he bought food for Gibson at a local Taco Bell. Gibson, however, says the money was for sex.
Larry Pritchett, the former police officer accused of giving money and crack cocaine to Gibson, could not be reached for comment.
It was not immediately known Thursday how many cases are still in the court system that include Pritchett, Biddlecome and Anderson as state witnesses.
Prosecutors say they were compelled to accept a plea bargain for a reduced prison sentence in a drug case after Anderson resigned and could not be reached on the eve of a trial.
But he was in court recently for an unrelated criminal hearing. Anderson, the state's key witness in the cocaine trafficking case against a Palmetto man named Johnnie Lang, could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Police reports show Anderson stopped the 27-year-old man last summer for having tinted windows and reportedly found crack cocaine and marijuana in Lang's car. Lang denied the drugs were his.
Lang was convicted May 30 at trial on a cocaine trafficking charge. Anderson resigned a week later, citing "personal reasons."
But the jury did not know Anderson was named in a misconduct investigation.
That probe -- police called it an "informal inquiry" -- began with a complaint filed May 22. Anderson was formally told of the allegation on May 31, a day after Lang's trial, according to police reports.
"His words should mean nothing," Lang's mother, Lelia Lang Marshall, told the Herald-Tribune after her son's court hearing. "It's not right. Police officers are supposed to be upholding the law."
Defense attorneys routinely challenge officers' credibility at trial, trying to shake loose the public's steadfast belief that officers should be trusted without question.
But there are limits on what attorneys are allowed to tell jurors.
Whether an open internal affairs investigation would have been allowed to be mentioned at Lang's trial remains to be seen.
Police say internal affairs investigations are confidential until they are completed. And it is not known whether Anderson knew he was under investigation when he testified in Lang's case.
Assistant state attorney Lauren Berns said Thursday in court that the sexual misconduct allegation against Anderson has nothing to do with Lang's drug case.
Berns urged the court to sentence Lang, but Moreland gave Michaels several more weeks to put together a court brief saying why Lang should get a new trial.
Discarding a jury's verdict is rare.
At one point, Moreland said she was "perplexed" and questioned how Michaels plans to pitch for a new trial.
"We need to get this done, and we are not going to spend any more time fishing," Moreland said in court.
Among other things, Michaels wants to find out whether there are any e-mails, memos and other correspondence tied to the police sex investigation.
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