The judge is a piece of work. Instead of dismissing the case outright because of police misconduct he allowed the prosecution to suborn perjured testimony and let the jury decide. Truly a corrupt act of cowardice. It’s very telling he had the sentence ready when the verdict was read (almost as if he rigged the outcome) and made sure he got his pound of flesh from Riley for making him, the cops, and the jury look bad.

To all you arm chair quarterbacks out there, cops see drunk drivers daily and there was nothing on the edited body cam that was suspicious so everyone calling the cops corrupt or wrong and accusing them of “planting” evidence, the next time you are the victim of a crime you are still going to call them so STFU about it. You aren’t out there so you know nothing and therefore are wholly unqualified to comment at all. (yes I have law enforcement experience)

First, DUI in FL is comprised of 3 things-
1. Driving a motor vehicle
2. Within the State of Florida, and
3. Under the influence of an alcoholic beverage or controlled substance to a point where normal faculties are impaired.

Unless at a checkpoint, police can’t stop a driver w/o cause. In this case, he was in violation of FS 316.217, driving w/o headlights at night, specifically after 2:00 AM, which is when bars close. The officer spoke of witnessing unsafe speed. So there was in fact cause for the stop.

The fact he could not over time produce a driver license upon demand of an officer supports his impairment. He shuffled through a number of papers, dropping some, and never said his “ID” was at work until after being arrested. BTW, a “seize tag” memo on his registration means he’s also uninsured- his registration has been canceled. After refusing field sobriety tests as required by law (and no, police cannot get a warrant to make him walk a line, etc.), he kept asking the same thing about his phone. The other officer answered it each time. Repeating the same question that has been answered is another sign of impairment. Then there’s “Wow he reeks of alcohol”. Later on, arguing with the officer about smelling marijuana also are the actions of an impaired person. Repeated “I ain’t doing nothing until I talk to a lawyer” is heard from the back of the police car after the other officer asked him to submit to a breath test, so there’s the answer to that. He talked over the officer while she was reading implied consent to him. Again, sober people don’t do that. Finally, people that aren’t drunk have no problem taking a breath test- it would actually bolster a case for a bad arrest.

Pursuant to newer case law in Arizona vs Gant, police are generally not authorized to make a search of a vehicle incident to arrest unless there is evidence of a related crime (such as drugs when drugs were found on the driver). If they’re towing it, they can make an inventory search to protect the department from liability for claimed missing valuable items, so that’s why they legally went into his car.

Let’s say he had a valid license. The officer faced a decision point here. Do you let him continue to drive given the above known information? What happens when a mile down the road he crashes into a family and kills someone? A warrant for a blood sample is obtained and his blood alcohol content is twice the legal limit. Refusing sobriety tests in addition to having a suspended license and no insurance put him in the back of that police car. I’m glad the officer took him off the road.

The fact the officer opened a bottle and poured it out is irrelevant to both the DUI and the other criminal charges. There was no evidence planted- the bottle came out of the car, and again, it is irrelevant. I don’t know why so many people, to include his public defender, are so hung up on that.

After arrest, the next step in this does not involve a bottle, it involves a breath, blood, or urine test. The most common and least intrusive of these is the breathalyzer. Why didn’t he submit? On a traffic stop, contrary to internet lawyers police again cannot get a warrant to force a blood draw. That’s only for serious injury or fatal crashes (FS 316.1933).

What’s amazing to me are so many uninformed comments about this situation. I hope his jury is not likewise uninformed.

This calls into question any cases she may have worked over the years. Is it possible this was her first time planting evidence and she got caught? Maybe, but not likely. Can any testimony she may have given over the years be credible? Can any evidence she may have vouchered be trusted? How can any convictions she contributed to withstand scrutiny?

Oliver’s actions are not debatable – the video settles that. The big question is what will come from this?

Secondly, the body camera footage is literally *our property*, it wasn’t ‘stolen’ and ‘leaked’. Someone asked for it, because that is their right.

Here’s the thing; when TPD had a few shootings a while ago, they had a full bodycam footage, with accompanying narration, released nearly immediately. This debacle was on the front page of Reddit since Thursday, and TPD has yet to find the oxygen to release the supposedly exculpatory, non edited footage with narration. Why not? Because it doesn’t do what they say it does.

For that matter, why hasn’t TallahasseeReports asked for the entire video so *they* can post the it to expose how the ‘left leaning’ OurTallahassee has nefariously edited the videos instead of a “sloppy hit piece”?

End qualified immunity of have payouts for this kind of thing come from the TPD pension fund and we might see it stop. This is a damn shame but this is the kind of thing that makes people not trust the police.