Polk Jury blasts PCSO for flubbed investigation

Hey Guest that is in Kansas not Florida! If you want to slam the sheriff's office then make sure you have the right one!! :devil:

That was the point of the post. The ONLY judgement like that was in Polk County KANSAS, not FLORIDA. And it involved a HELICOPTER CRASH.

Any local award of that size would be in the news for days or weeks.

This story appears to be someones attempt to slam the Polk County Sheriff's Office, and the Traffic Unit. Obviously the writer doesn't know much about law enforcement procedures and the collection of evidence. His ignorance was noted when he said PCSO obtained a subpeona for the hospital blood, but did not take it to the lab. First, when an Investigative subpeona is obtained for hospital blood, we do not pick up the actual blood, you idiot, we pick up the medical records relating to the blood. Why would we send the blood to the FDLE lab, when the hospital has already processed it.

If you really have something that indicates a member of the Sheriff's Traffic Unit failed to do their job, bring it to one of the supervisors.... By the way, stop throwing out peoples initials. If you got something to say, man up and say it. Otherwise, shut up.

So you are telling us that your procedure is to get the medical records from the hospital and those records have the amount of drugs (QA) in the def's blood? Not true! Anyone that does this knows it has to be sent to UF toxicology dept to get the QA.

This story appears to be someones attempt to slam the Polk County Sheriff's Office, and the Traffic Unit. Obviously the writer doesn't know much about law enforcement procedures and the collection of evidence. His ignorance was noted when he said PCSO obtained a subpeona for the hospital blood, but did not take it to the lab. First, when an Investigative subpeona is obtained for hospital blood, we do not pick up the actual blood, you idiot, we pick up the medical records relating to the blood. Why would we send the blood to the FDLE lab, when the hospital has already processed it.

If you really have something that indicates a member of the Sheriff's Traffic Unit failed to do their job, bring it to one of the supervisors.... By the way, stop throwing out peoples initials. If you got something to say, man up and say it. Otherwise, shut up.

So you are telling us that your procedure is to get the medical records from the hospital and those records have the amount of drugs (QA) in the def's blood? Not true! Anyone that does this knows it has to be sent to UF toxicology dept to get the QA.

Apples and oranges. If you do a blood kit request and they draw it for you, it goes through normal procedures. If you wait a week or more to subpeona the blood test results that the hospital has, you get a copy of the paper results with whatever tests they ran (BAC / tox screen).

Unless you have a set up at your local hospital, I've never seen one store vials of blood, hoping Law Enforcement will someday subpeona it.

Hospitals test the blood for medical purposes and then discard it. If you don't submit a blood draw request, there is no blood kept to test.

A subpeona gets a copy of the results on paper, nothing else.

This story appears to be someones attempt to slam the Polk County Sheriff's Office, and the Traffic Unit. Obviously the writer doesn't know much about law enforcement procedures and the collection of evidence. His ignorance was noted when he said PCSO obtained a subpeona for the hospital blood, but did not take it to the lab. First, when an Investigative subpeona is obtained for hospital blood, we do not pick up the actual blood, you idiot, we pick up the medical records relating to the blood. Why would we send the blood to the FDLE lab, when the hospital has already processed it.

If you really have something that indicates a member of the Sheriff's Traffic Unit failed to do their job, bring it to one of the supervisors.... By the way, stop throwing out peoples initials. If you got something to say, man up and say it. Otherwise, shut up.

I have to agree! This does not make any sense, and is not the correct way to collect blood. Unfortunatley, that is exactly what one of our Deputy's did. Lucky for PCSO the Law Firm is a BIG Judd supporter and is not putting this "dirt" on the street.

Trial was last Monday thru Wed in Civil Division - Judge McCarthy.

More BS. No Law Firm would suppress a large judgement like that, It would be free publicity plastered all over the media, local and national.

To quash all the rumors I asked the bailiff and he told me the law firm was Burnetti, PA - on their web site is the following story. The above writer was correct - they would never keep this quiet.

PERSONAL INJURY LAWYERS WIN $7.25 MILLION VERDICT

David C. Dismuke and John P. Berke of Burnetti, P.A recover damages for plaintiff killed by driver under the influence of methamphetamine

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 9, 2011

CONTACT:
Lisa McLain
Marketing & Public Relations, Burnetti, P.A.
863.688.8288


LAKELAND, April 5, 2011 – Personal injury attorneys David C. Dismuke and John P. Berke of Burnetti, P.A. (http://www.burnetti.com) received a $7.25 million jury verdict for compensatory and punitive damages on April 5, 2011. The verdict was in favor of the family of Jay Gillespie of Lakeland, Florida, against the defendant, Brent Hutchinson.

Joyce Wachter, 62 year old mother and Personal Representative of the Estate of Jay Gillespie, her 35 year old son, brought a civil action against Brent Hutchinson (Case No.: 08CA-0092). This matter was decided following a two-day civil jury trial in Polk County Circuit Court, before the Hon. J. Michael McCarthy.

The wrongful death lawsuit arose as a result of a traffic crash that occurred on State Road 33 in Polk City on March 8, 2006. The Plaintiff contended that Brent Hutchison was under the influence of methamphetamine when he crossed the centerline and collided head-on with Jay Gillespie, causing his death.

Despite the allegations and the proof presented at trial, as of today’s date, the Polk County Sheriff’s Department, who investigated this case, has failed to take any action against Brent Hutchinson by way of formal charges or even a traffic citation.

The jury issued an uncharacteristic, yet heartfelt statement with their verdict as follows:

"To the family, we acknowledge that no amount of award of damages will compensate you for your loss. We sympathize with you and grieve with you and for you. We hold the Polk County Sheriffs Office in contempt for not pursuing more earnest criminal charges and hope that they will. We hope this award is actually realized for you and for your family that your life and your grief might be eased because of it."

Attorney David Dismuke stated that the purpose of this trial was to give Joyce Wachter a voice, and to send a message to the community that driving while under the influence cannot be tolerated.

I went to their website, but this was all that was on there:

PERSONAL INJURY LAWYERS WIN $7.25 MILLION VERDICT

LAKELAND, April 5, 2011 – Personal injury attorneys David C. Dismuke and John P. Berke of Burnetti, P.A. (http://www.burnetti.com) received a $7.25 million jury verdict for compensatory and punitive damages on April 5, 2011. The verdict was in favor of the family of Jay Gillespie of Lakeland, Florida, against the defendant, Brent Hutchinson.

The wrongful death lawsuit arose as a result of a traffic crash that occurred on State Road 33 in Polk City on March 8, 2006. The Plaintiff contended that Brent Hutchison was under the influence of methamphetamine when he crossed the centerline and collided head-on with Jay Gillespie, causing his death.

Despite the allegations and the proof presented at trial, as of today’s date, the Polk County Sheriff’s Department, who investigated this case, has failed to take any action against Brent Hutchinson by way of formal charges or even a traffic citation.

Attorney David Dismuke stated that the purpose of this trial was to give Joyce Wachter a voice, and to send a message to the community that driving while under the influence cannot be tolerated.

No "Statement" from a jury of any type.

So, jurors decided this time to say drugs are bad, and people who use them should be arrested. Wow. A few months ago I sat in a courtroom and listened while two jurors said drugs should be legal and it was a waste of their time to be there for a trial of a subject arrested for poss of drugs and drug para. And guess what they found him innocent. Go figure. But regarding this case, we leo's know the defense blocks anything they feel with be detrimental to their case, which could have included the state declining to pursue charges against the defendant for 101 reasons. Of course the jurors wont hear that. So I am not going to lose sleep because of the opinion of jurors on this particular date, or any other date, as it changes by the minute. The jurors need to look at their neighbors when people are arrested and taken to jail, and have jury trials and they let them go. Wonder if jurors let this guy go before. Hmmm.

I went to their website, but this was all that was on there:

PERSONAL INJURY LAWYERS WIN $7.25 MILLION VERDICT

LAKELAND, April 5, 2011 – Personal injury attorneys David C. Dismuke and John P. Berke of Burnetti, P.A. (http://www.burnetti.com) received a $7.25 million jury verdict for compensatory and punitive damages on April 5, 2011. The verdict was in favor of the family of Jay Gillespie of Lakeland, Florida, against the defendant, Brent Hutchinson.

The wrongful death lawsuit arose as a result of a traffic crash that occurred on State Road 33 in Polk City on March 8, 2006. The Plaintiff contended that Brent Hutchison was under the influence of methamphetamine when he crossed the centerline and collided head-on with Jay Gillespie, causing his death.

Despite the allegations and the proof presented at trial, as of today’s date, the Polk County Sheriff’s Department, who investigated this case, has failed to take any action against Brent Hutchinson by way of formal charges or even a traffic citation.

Attorney David Dismuke stated that the purpose of this trial was to give Joyce Wachter a voice, and to send a message to the community that driving while under the influence cannot be tolerated.

No "Statement" from a jury of any type.

Look at the post above yours. You missed almost half the release. There was a jury statement.

The jury issued an uncharacteristic, yet heartfelt statement with their verdict as follows:

"To the family, we acknowledge that no amount of award of damages will compensate you for your loss. We sympathize with you and grieve with you and for you. We hold the Polk County Sheriffs Office in contempt for not pursuing more earnest criminal charges and hope that they will. We hope this award is actually realized for you and for your family that your life and your grief might be eased because of it."