Here we are at the end of another week with the end of another year rapidly approaching. Earlier this month we discussed the nuances of preparing a defense once you've been charged with a crime, first problems with the police and the prosecutor turning over police reports and then the problems with the state turning over witness statements. I'm no lawyer, but it seems to me that having access to these documents is essential to preparing an adequate defense, yet throughout the course of the Bernardo Barrera mortgage fraud case, we've seen instances of the state (either through the PD or the state attorneys office) frustrating any meaningful attempts at creating an adequate defense for the defendants. Let's refresh our memories, we have instances of the lead detective ducking depositions, the prosecutor telling the detective what to say then answering for him during depositions, the same prosecutor telling a states witness not to answer the defense attorneys questions during a deposition, the defendants having to file at FOUR motions to compel to try to get the state to produce documents and statements to help prepare a defense, etc...
You get the picture, based on what we've seen it's safe to conclude that the prosecutor is doing everything he possibly can to stop the person who he's charged from preparing a meaningful defense. So what happens when the state finally turns over some documents to the defendants? Let's take a look at one such document that prosecutor Bill Kostrzewski turned over to the defendants in the Barrera mortgage fraud case, here we have part of the first page of former codefendant, now cooperating states witness Michael Martinez's statement to the police...
Good luck with that! The statement is so heavily redacted that it's damn near useless. Even worse, it clearly states that the statement was given on March 4, 2009 yet the prosecutor didn't turn it over to the defendants until October 8, 2009! Are we to believe it took over seven months to prepare this statement that's just a little over one page? Any idiot with a modicum of common sense can figure out what the prosecutors game plan was here, sit on the statements as long as possible in order to frustrate the defendant into cutting some sort of deal. That's bullshit if you ask me.
We'll take a closer look at this highly suspicious statement in it's entirety next week, till then have a great weekend.
The state needs to force Mr.K to resign!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteThere is so much wrong in this case that even Romneys case is easily beatable. I keep telling you, subpoena emails between the lead detective and the prosecutor from the last few months of '09, there's plenty to write about there.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip 9:12 but there are no "blogger subpoena" powers.
ReplyDeleteCorrect, you have no subpoena power but under Florida Statute Chapter 119.01 you can gain access to any of these records or emails through a public information request.
ReplyDeleteYou may also want to investigate the relationship between Mr Romney's attorney and the prosecutor.