Appeal from mayor little help

Man sentenced to prison despite official's protest of officers' actions.

It's not often a mayor comes to the defense of a man accused of assaulting the city's police officers.

But then, many things involving Pahokee police antagonist and community activist Robert Love are unconventional.
"There is an ongoing criminal investigation with some of these officers in this room today," Pahokee Mayor J.P. Sasser told a Palm Beach County judge Wednesday before Love was sentenced, suggesting some of the officers who testified against Love were corrupt.

"I'm not comparing Robert to a Boy Scout," Sasser said of his friend, a former drug dealer and convicted felon who has recast himself as a community activist. "But his love for his community you cannot argue."

The mayor's support did not shield Love from prison time. Circuit Judge Richard Wennet sentenced Love to 31/2 years in prison for four felonies stemming from a Feb. 25 traffic stop that left Love's face severely bloodied and his body bruised.

Love, 49, had faced up to 20 years for two counts of battery on a police officer, resisting an officer with violence and possessing more than 20 grams of marijuana after he allegedly fought with officers trying to arrest him for driving with a suspended license. Love also was sentenced to time served for driving without a license. He was initially stopped for driving without lights.

Love contends corrupt cops beat him, planted drugs in his SUV and fabricated the charges to silence his criticism of the department -- a scenario prosecutor Sam Guelli said was physically impossible given the evidence.

"There's no way this was a set-up," Guelli said.

Love's arrest that night led to Police Chief Rafael Duran's departure and an officer's resignation amid allegations of police corruption and racism. The City Commission voted last week -- a day after a jury convicted Love on all counts -- to have the Sheriff's Office take over policing.

"We have one of the lowest-paid departments in the state of Florida," Sasser said. "Well, you get what you pay for."

Defense attorney Michael O'Rourke had sought to frame Love's case against a backdrop of police corruption, but Wennet didn't allow the jury to hear testimony about officers' discipline records. O'Rourke said he would appeal.

"Based on the testimony the jury heard, they could not deliver any other kind of verdict," Sasser said outside court. "The judge did not allow any testimony pertaining to the credibility of the law officers who were involved in this incident."

One officer was fired from a previous job for tampering with evidence, Sasser said. Two others, he said, were under investigation for what the mayor described as threats to Love and himself anonymously posted a month ago on the police department's online message board.

One posting called Love "cow dung" and said: "Hey Love your [sic] a big shot right? How about some street justice bang ... bang ... bang ... bang!"

Several officers said Love's accusations had unfairly tarnished them.

James Levey, who resigned after being one of the officers who arrested Love, blasted Love for likening him to "a new millennium Ku Klux Klan" member.

"Robert Love is a drug dealer," said Levey, who is Jewish.

Love acknowledged dealing cocaine in 1990, but maintained his innocence here, and said he had dedicated his life to community service after being released from prison in 1995.

"When I was out selling drugs, I destroyed a lot of families," Love told Wennet in an animated address in the packed courtroom. "When I got out, I promised the Lord I was going to do something about that. ... Pahokee is my family."

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Sun-Sentinel.com - Fort Lauder19 January 2006

Appeal from mayor little help

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Sun-Sentinel.com - Fort Lauder
19 January 2006