INSULT TO INJURY COURTESY OF MR. SATZ
"The law is the law I tell you!"
Remember Kevin Bradley, the Defendant who was zapped with a Taser in open court back in 2007? Reported in these pages on 3/28/07, and in the Sun Sentinel on 3/29/07?
If you can't remember, he was on probation for two non-violent charges, Grand Theft, and Driving on a Suspended License. Bradley was accused of violating his probation with two new charges, felony Aggravated Assault with a Knife, and a misdemeanor count of Disorderly Conduct, stemming from a single incident.
After a bench trial/probation hearing on the new charges, Judge Siegel found him in violation of his probation, and sentenced him to forty-eight (48) months in Florida State Prison. The Transcript of the hearing when he received the prison time contains the play by play of the tasering. Bradley's arms and legs were shackled when he got the voltage, all the while proclaiming his innocence on the knife charge.
Subsequent to the sentencing and tasering, Bradley was offered concurrent time on the new charges. Out of principle, he refused. He opted for jury trial instead, despite the obvious risk of a consecutive prison sentence.
The case was then tried before Judge Weinstein, resulting in a not guilty on the felony knife charge, and a guilty on the Disorderly Conduct count, a second degree misdemeanor carrying a maximum penalty of sixty days in jail. Judge Weinstein sentenced Bradley to time served, having already been incarcerated in the Broward County Jail for many, many months. Then he was shipped off to prison for the 48 months on the probation violation (minus his considerable time served).
It's already a pretty strange case, but in the grand Broward tradition, it gets weirder.
Jump ahead to January 8, 2009. Bradley is released from prison. We don't know whether he had a tearful reunion with family members greeting him at the gates, but we do know it was not long before he was served with a Not In Custody Warrant and a Notice To Appear in Broward County Court.
Those of you familiar with the methodology of the Broward County State Attorney's Office may know where this is going, but we'll explain for the laypeople out there. It seems Mister Satz decided to file charges against Bradley for the in-court tasering incident, charging him by Information with a single count of misdemeanor Battery (07-9179MM10A). Click here for the PC Affidavit.
So what's going on? Another example of Satz and company needlessly extracting yet another pound of flesh, or is something even more sinister going on? Is it, as whispered around courthouse circles this afternoon, a cynical cover your ass maneuver to preclude possible civil liability on BSO's part by making Bradley responsible for BSO's gross overreaction? Or is it simply another example of one bureaucratic hand not having any clue what the other is doing? (Click for BSO's response to the tasering incident)
We don't know, but we think it's a shame. After all this guy has been through, is this really necessary or just? We read in the papers nearly every day how the rich, powerful, and connected get away with murder in Broward, while this guy gets 48 months prison after a not guilty, tasered while shackled in open court, and a new charge to boot?
Anything can happen. Hopefully the Public Defender and BACDL will pick up Mr. Bradley's cause and get this piece of inhumane and resource wasting trash dropped. In the meantime, we can only amuse ourselves thinking of the witnesses at trial. Will Judge Siegel be called? Will APDs, ASAs, and Private Lawyers take the stand? Will members of Mr. Forman's office and BSO be called? We'll let you know as soon as the State and Defense file Witness Lists, or if the State sees the light and drops the case or recuses itself as the prosecuting authority.
ONLY IN BROWARD
Bradley has an excellent motion to dismiss based on post-indictment (information)delay. The seminal case is Doggett v. United States which holds that after the filing of the information if the person is not arrested or notified of the charges within one year, there is a presumption of prejudice.
The information against Bradley was filed on April 24, 2007. He was not arrested until after January 9, 2009, which is over 17 months. He was not notified of the charges until despite being available in the Broward County Jail and in prison for service of the arrest warrant.
I do not think we will ever get to witness lists.
I read your article with an increasing outrage over an apparent travesty of justice.
Then, I read the P/C.
I concluded that the defendant was a jerk, deserved to get juiced (warned 3xs) and that he scratched the hell out of the deputy's arm.
Nothing sinister here.
Battery is appropriate under the circumstances. Perhaps the deputy deserves resitution for out of pocket med. attention.
It's the SOL that governs here. 2 Years. It appears he was never arrested. Whether any hold or detainer was placed on him is irrelevant. It's pretty lousy but that's the law.
Hmm, the PC couldn't have been "crafted" from the police point of view?
TheSOL is not the exclusive remedy. Doggett provides an additional 6th Amendment remedy.
Good job Mark Horn. Keep up the great work. Thank you for keeping the streets of Broward a safe place. (yeah right).
This one ranks right up there with the jailhouse masturbators and duck killer prosecutions.
To Zap'm good. Whther you are trying to be funny or are twisted for real I suggest you read the transcript. The police report reads like BS. The transcript reads exactly the opposite.
Shocking
Time for a new state attorney. Everyone knows it. No one will run though. Too many cowards.
Maybe I didn't read this article correctly or misunderstood the sarcasm. Is it permitted for in-custody defendants to be Violent, disruptive and injure others trying to keep order in the court room and not be charged ? The way I interpeted, You think that behavior from in-custody defendants should not only be allowed but no new charges should be filed against him when he breaks the law (causing injury to the baliff). If that was the case, there would never be any order during court proceedings.
mr broward resident, try to understand, to most of these bloggers the criminals are merely poor .miunderstood, etc etc people who are being trashed by a cruel and inhumane system. they can do no wrong, and if one tries to apply the laws or rules we all supposedly live by, well than he is a tyrant or worse. by the way good work gary, do not justify this mans actions but as lawyers try to use the system, aka mr kolin to win his case, i have never seen a bailiff willfully or for fun stun a criminal or accused, come on......
Well is it possible the cops went too far? That NEVER happens in the real world, right? Police brutality is all nonsense. Never happens. People never get smacked around by the cops. These guys went too far and did it in plain view. That was their mistake.
umm, Police brutality ? I think if the police officer would of put his hands on the inmate instead of using the taser, the inmate would of suffered some injuries. By using the taser to prevent the inmate from causing further harm to others, the inmate only suffered seconds of being uncomfortable. That might of not been the case if the Police officer chose to subdue the inmate by his hands. The inmate or police officer could have suffered permanent injuries. Not to mention, I'm pretty sure the Police officer had a firearm on at the time, if the police officer used his hands on the inmate and the inmate was able to take his firearm this blog would be singing a different tune.
Jimmy should know all about them dirty defendants after working on Satzie's railroad for so long. No one is ever innocent. Never happpened, not once.
Coward #1 - Kevin Kulik
To 2:22pm
You obviously never had a case with Jimmy.
http://justicebuilding.blogspot.com/2009/01/ignoring-lessons-of-history.html
UPDATE. (And at 7:20 am, perhaps the earliest update in our history.) This you gotta read. The Broward blog recounts the long sad tale of a defendant who stood up to the SAO. To make a long story short, after losing a PVH, winning a jury trial on the same charges, and doing 48 months in prison, the SAO waits until the defendant is released from prison before filing a one count misdemeanor battery charge related to the defendant being tased in court during his PVH sentencing. They just don't get the concept of justice in Broward, do they. The blog article is here.
BTW- how they get away with tasering a defendant whose arms and legs are in chains is beyond me.
Anyone who was in Siegel around that time knows that Dep. Vargas is a bit of a psycho and was bound to go overboard on someone eventually.
Dirty rotten bastid--stole all those volts from a public officer and never returned them--shoulda been charged with stealing a charge-public property, too. Whas rong with this Satz guy--too weak to trow the hole book at em?
come on - this is an outrage. Rather than taser - they should have just asked nicely or maybe offered a cupcake to entice him back to his cell.
Whoever wrote this article, did you look at the statute? Are the elements met? If so, then shut up. Rather than bitch here maybe you should meet up with the defendant and tell him to just go to the holding cell next time. While your there, let everyone know that they record jail phone calls and that when the deputy says move your ass - you should probably hustle it up to to the door. As if they don't know these matters before hand.
p.s. - the reason that high price attorneys "always" get a better deal is most likely because they come up with legitimate reasons for second chances rather than your nonsensical blabbering about prison sentences for nonviolent and drug offenders.
I was in the courtroom when Mr Bradley got tased, and I can tell you that it was insane! The court deputy, Juan, was completely manhandling the guy when all he wanted to do was speak. Judge Siegel never told him to take him out of the courtroom, and Kevin was doing NOTHING violent. In fact, Judge Siegel was still pronouncing the sentence. Kevin was completely shackled. It was so pathetic, and really pretty horrible to see. Kevin was actually trying to sit back down while Juan was trying to pull him out of his seat. Kevin was tased while pretty much sitting down and he lit up like a Christmas tree. Horrible.
Sounds to me that you hve an ethical and moral duty to NOT remain anonymous.
I heard a couple witnesses started crying it was so gross.
From the news report I watched this morning, and what I read on the sunsentinel, it looks like the community, particularly Broward County takes the killing of ducks seriously. There goes your theory.