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In his infamous Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln orated “that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom….and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth”.
It’s time for the people of the State of Florida to enforce that these words are as strong today as they were 140 years ago. Government is of the people, by the people and for the people—not the political powers that be.
Nearly 45 years ago a unanimous Supreme Court declared: "The historic phrase 'a government of laws and not of men' epitomizes the distinguishing character of our political society....[L]aw alone saves a society from being...ruled by mere brute power however disguised."
According to an announcement on the website of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, a team of assessors from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies Inc. (CALEA) will arrive in Tallahassee April 23 to examine all aspects of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s (FDLE) policy and procedures, management, operations and support services.
In our view, FDLE has some tough questions to answer and quite frankly, considering the alleged handling of the Terri Schiavo case and most recently FDLE commissioner Guy Tunnell’s actions in the Martin Lee Anderson boot camp death, we don’t believe that accreditation should be awarded to the FDLE because we believe that professional excellence is seriously lacking within that agency.
In the Anderson death, from the very getgo, it appears that Bay County and state officials attempted to cover up the beating death of a black teenager with Tunnell allegedly sending an e-mail to the Bay County Sheriff stating FDLE’s intention to withheld the video which showed Bay County sheriff’s officer beating a defenseless individual. There is also reportedly an e-mail by Tunnell to the Bay County Sheriff stated that FDLE would oppose the release of the video to media organizations. How can the public have any confidence in the FDLE and its commissioner?
Let’s consider the cover-up in the Schiavo case which would lead us to question how many other cover-ups and scuttling of warranted investigations into politically sensitive alleged criminal activity have there been by the FDLE and its supervisors.
Considering that public comments about the performance and professionalism of the FDLE are being solicited, now is the time for Florida citizens---who FDLE officers take an oath to serve and protect, express their concerns. According to the FDLE website, if an individual would like to provide comments regarding the accreditation of the FDLE and its operations to the assessment team, he/she may do so by telephone by calling 1-866-392-2532 on Monday, April 24 between the hours of 1 p.m. and 5 p.m.
Persons wishing to offer written comments about the FDLE’s ability to meet the standards for accreditation or needing more information regarding CALEA are requested to write: Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA), 10302 Eaton Place, Suite 100, Fairfax, Virginia, 22030-2215 or call (800) 368-3757 or (703) 352-4225.
Mark Dubina, special agent and supervisor with the FDLE asserts that he was told to “shut down” his investigation into the Terri Schiavo case in 2003, to close his file and turn it in. If that’s the case, that is an obstruction of justice, contrary to the purposes of the FDLE. Dubina has alleged that Pinellas County state attorney Bernie McCabe allegedly ordered that all criminal investigations in regard to the Schiavo matter, including the FDLE investigation, be shut down. Such an alleged obstruction of justice would appear to be grounds for a federal investigation of McCabe and the Pinellas County state attorney’s office---- and definitely grounds to reject any reaccreditation of the FDLE.
Florida’s Gov. Jeb Bush had appointed Dubina to his post as the primary FDLE investigator and director for the Tampa Bay Region Domestic Security Task Force after the 9-11 terrorist attacks. Dubina, a certified fraud examiner, would supervise all security operations for the Governor upon any visits to the Tampa Bay area and as such, would have direct contact with the Governor.
Incredibly, after Dubina made his accusations about McCabe’s alleged cover-up in the Schiavo case, instead of appointing a special prosecutor as he is empowered to do when there is a conflict of interest in a matter, following the autopsy of Terri Schindler Schiavo and the continuing unanswered questions of Michael Schiavo’s delay in summoning emergency assistance, Bush unbelievably directed his request for an investigation of the matter to McCabe. It was a foregone conclusion that McCabe would claim, as he had for years, that there was no reason to open a criminal investigation into Michael Schiavo or the circumstances surrounding what became the judicial homicide of Terri Schiavo.
Gov. Bush was to claim that he had no prior knowledge of the discrepancies and allegations surrounding the incidents of Feb. 25, 1990. Are we to believe that he didn’t consult with his own advisor who claimed that he was coerced into shutting down his investigation into the Schiavo case?
The North Country Gazette had learned in March, 2005, a short time before Terri’s untimely death, that Dubina and another FDLE agent had stated that if they were served with subpoenas ordering them to give the information know to them regarding alleged corruption and collusion in the Schiavo case, including the alleged obstructionst tactics employed by McCabe, that they would inform the Court about the order from their superiors and allegedly McCabe which stifled their attempted investigation in 2003. According to informed sources, Dubina had reportedly given a statement about the case to the Schindler family attorneys after Patricia Anderson left the case but reportedly the document was not presented to the court. Why not?
According to police reports obtained by The North Country Gazette, Dubina had determined that there was sufficient probable cause that crimes had been committed in the Schiavo case. So why didn’t Gov. Bush ask the U.S. Department of Justice to intervene in the case? He certainly has an in at the White House.
In addition to a well-documented complaint in the case submitted by attorney Patricia Fields Anderson to the FDLE in 2003, a complaint had also been presented to the state attorney’s office in 2003 with over 20 pages of supporting documentation verifying the need for an investigation. Assistant attorney general Robert Lewis, a contributor to the reelection campaign of Schiavo judge George Greer, claimed there were no crimes to investigate in the Schiavo case.
Copies of the investigative reports prepared by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement were obtained by the newspaper which indicated that criminal complaints in the Schiavo case were received by FDLE duty supervisor Dubina in August, 2003, from St. Petersburg attorney Anderson, then the lead attorney for Mary and Robert Schindler Sr.,Terri’s parents. Anderson left the case in September, 2004 and was replaced by the Gibbs Firm of Seminole, Fla.
Reliable sources say that when Dubina opened a file into the case, he was called into his supervisor’s office and told to shut down the investigation not once, but twice.
The newspaper obtained copies of what FDLE special agent supervisor Norman T. Walker of the Clearwater FDLE field office maintains are “copies of all investigative reports authored by FDLE agents in the Schiavo case.
The reports indicate that Special Agent Terrell L. Rhodes of the Clearwater FDLE office opened a jacket (file) in the case on Aug. 10, 2003 but that the file was also closed out on Aug. 10, 2003, as approved by Walker.
According to the report filed by Special Agent Rhodes report on Aug. 10, 2003, the investigative report pertained to a citizen reporting….evidence of a criminal complaint of assault and battery”.
“On Thursday, July 17, 2003, Special Agent Terry Rhodes was contacted by TBROC Special agent Supervisor (SAS) Mark Dubina in regards to a duty call he had taken. Dubina stated that St. Petersburg attorney…….Anderson had contacted him and requested FDLE look into a complaint that she had regarding an individual by the name of Michael R. Schiavo. Schiavo is the estranged husband of Theresa R. (Terri) Schiavo of St. Petersburg. Terri Schiavo collapsed in her home on February 25, 1990, and was taken to Humana Hospital-Northside in an unresponsive state. Terri Schiavo has basically remained incapacitated and unable to function since that date and has been unable to speak or survive without full time nursing care.
“SAS Dubina and SA Rhodes met with Anderson at her St. Petersburg office on Friday, July 18, 2003, to discuss this matter with her. Anderson stated that she currently represents the parents and family of Terri Schiavo (she has since left the case). There is an ongoing civil dispute between Terri Schiavo’s parents and her husband, Michael Schiavo over his intention to disconnect his wife’s feeding tube (that would eventually cause her death). Michael Schiavo claims that Terri Schiavo is in an unresponsive or comatose state and that she should be allowed to die to end her suffering. Her parents contest that she is not brain dead and can communicate and that removing her feeding tube would be killing her. The reason for her collapse and eventual condition is not clear and is still being disputed”, the report states.
“The basis of Anderson’s request to FDLE to investigate a possible criminal complaint stems for the allegation that Michael Schiavo was an abusive husband and that he had battered Terri Schiavo prior to her collapse and hospitalization in 1990. Anderson bases this on a report of a bone scan performed on Terri Schiavo by Dr. W. Campbell Walker at Manatee Memorial Hospital on March 3, 1991. This was 13 months after Terri Schiavo was initially hospitalized. . Anderson states that Dr. Walker noted several compression fractures and that they were consistent with trauma”.
A summary of Walker’s nuclear imaging report was redacted from the police report.
“Anderson provided SAS Dubina and SA Rhodes with several documents and reports pertaining to Terri Schiavo’s condition and Michael Schiavo’s actions since 1990”, Rhodes’ report which is said to be the file of the report, continues. “She requested FDLE review these documents to determine if there could be sufficient evidence of a criminal violation regarding Michael Schiavo battering Terri Schiavo. Anderson was advised by SAS Dubina that due to the date of the alleged incident, the apparent lack of any real physical evidence, and the jurisdiction of the incident, that the information would be reviewed but that it was doubtful a criminal investigation could be substantiated”.
The report which now constitutes the formal file released to the public says that “SA Rhodes reviewed the information provided by Attorney Anderson, along with video and audio clips from a CD-Rom disc that related to her allegation. No indisputable evidence was identified that could justify a case for charging Michael Schiavo with physical domestic abuse. In fact, a report of a cervical X-Ray taken of Terri Schiavo on Feb. 25, 1990, by Dr. Nathan Hameroff at Humana Hospital-Northside seems to cloud the issue more.
That imaging report too has also been redacted from the police report.
The undated final page of the unsigned FDLE report which contains no officer’s name consists only of a typed statement that “It should be noted that due to the length of time that Terri Schiavo has been in a non-responsive state (over 13 years) it would not be possible to prosecute Michael Schiavo of a crime if the allegation could be proven due to the statute of limitations of criminal proceedings under Florida State Statute 775.15”.
What the report fails to state is that there is no statute of limitations for homicide if the victim of the alleged abuse, assault and domestic violence dies.
“These findings were reviewed by Regional Director Lance Newman, Investigative Chief; Moses Jordan, special agent supervisor Troy Walker as well as SAS Dubina. A final decision was made that FDLE would not continue to investigate this allegation based on the previously stated information, but primarily due to the single jurisdictional issue that any criminal violation that might have occurred would have been within the City of St. Petersburg”.
Moses is chief of investigations of the Tampa FDLE office.
The FDLE has to comply with 446 standards in order to gain accredited status. A copy of the standards is available at the FDLE Headquarters by calling (850) 410-7001.
“Since becoming accredited in 1990, the department has undergone rigorous inspections which ensure compliance with critical national standards for police agencies,” FDLE Commissioner Guy Tunnell said. “This process provides confidence for department management, as well as the citizens of Florida, that the FDLE has achieved and is maintaining the high standards required to retain accredited status.”
Based on the actions of Tunnell in the boot camp death which caused the FDLE’s removal from the case, and the established shutdown of any investigation in the Schiavo case, the FDLE shouldn’t be reaccredited and the confidence of the public in the FDLE is questionable, particularly in its handling of the Schiavo case and the boot camp death.
Persons wishing to offer written comments about the FDLE’s ability to meet the standards for accreditation or needing more information regarding CALEA are requested to write: Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. (CALEA), 10302 Eaton Place, Suite 100, Fairfax, Virginia, 22030-2215 or call (800) 368-3757 or (703) 352-4225.
After all, government is still by the people, of the people and for the people and now is the time for the people to speak out and emphatically state that cover-ups and protection of certain politically connected people in the state of Florida cannot and will not be tolerated. 4-4-06
© 2006 North
Country Gazette
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