Court Reporting

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E-mail me at:</b></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="mailto:newsdude16@yahoo.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:newsdude16@yahoo.com"><U><B>newsdude16@yahoo.com</b></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="07b63850.jpg" border=0 width="99" height="133" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></b></div> <div> <B>Playing the blues, Walpole, MA, 1955.</b></div> </td> <td valign="top" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#666633" FACE="Arial" ><B>An Old-fashioned Reporter</b></FONT>     |     <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="An Oldfashioned Reporter"><U>home</U></A></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Background"><U>Background</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id40.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Latest"><U>The Latest</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Government Reporting"><U>Government Reporting</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id21.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Cops Crime Coverage"><U>Cops & Crime Coverage</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id23.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Investigative Reporting"><U>Investigative Reporting</U></A>   |   <B>Court Reporting</b>   |   <A HREF="id24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Environment"><U>The Environment</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id25.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Features"><U>Features</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Religion Reporting"><U>Religion Reporting</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id27.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Entertainment Reporting"><U>Entertainment Reporting</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id28.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Columns Editorials"><U>Columns & Editorials</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Photography"><U>Photography</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id30.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sports Reporting "><U>Sports Reporting </U></A>   |   <A HREF="id37.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Prep Sports"><U>Prep Sports</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id38.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="NASCAR"><U>NASCAR</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id31.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sports Columns"><U>Sports Columns</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id39.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="College Sports"><U>College Sports</U></A></div> <div> <I><B>Court Reporting</b></I><I><B>      <embed src="HTMLobj-242/honestp.wav" autostart="true" hidden="true">  </b></I></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>Insanity plea rejected;</b></div> <div> <B>Linn found guilty</b></div> <bR> <div> <B>By JERRY M. GUTLON</b></div> <div> <B>Daily Commercial Staff Writer </b></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>TAVARES</b></div> <div> Rejecting a defense bid for an acquittal by reason of insanity, a Lake County jury on Friday found 69-year-old Major Lewis Linn guilty of attempted first-degree murder and arson to a dwelling. </div> <bR> <div> The six-member jury handed down the verdict following about 90 minutes of deliberations after the week-long trial concluded about noontime on Friday. </div> <div> Circuit Judge G. Richard Singeltary postponed sentencing the Eustis resident until a presentencing investigation is completed. </div> <bR> <div> Linn, a former electrical engineer from Ohio, was stoic as the jury foreman read the verdicts. </div> <bR> <div> Assistant State Attorney Dan Mosley left the courtroom immediately following the announcement of the verdicts to telephone Linn's former girlfriend, 64-year-old Elizabeth Nora Cockman, who was paralyzed from the single .38-caliber bullet fired from the man's revolver. </div> <bR> <div> Cockman testified Tuesday via satellite from Hamilton, Ontario, through a computer/video hookup. The Canadian native was shot in the back by Linn the night of Feb. 21, after Linn became enraged when he found the woman dancing with another man. </div> <bR> <div> Mosley said the varied opinions offered by the three doctors who testified about Linn's mental state were just that -- opinions. </div> <bR> <div> "The bottom line is the doctors are simply offering opinions," Mosley said softly. </div> <div> He said the so-called strange behavior exhibited by Linn prior to the shooting had rational explanations. </div> <bR> <div> Linn's attorneys tried to convince the jury that the man didn't know right from wrong when he gunned down Cockman and torched his own mobile home after he treated the woman so badly she walked out on him. </div> <bR> <div> Assistant public defenders Michael McDermott and Jeff Higgins were disappointed with the jury's decisions. </div> <bR> <div> "We thought there was a lot of evidence to show the jury how Major didn't know right from wrong at the time of the shooting," McDermott said. "The jury had a very sympathetic victim (Cockman), and the insanity defense is an extremely difficult defense to sell to a jury." </div> <bR> <div> But it wasn't for lack of trying on the part of McDermott and Higgins, who mounted a concerted effort to convince the panel that Linn suffered from a psychiatric condition know as borderline personality disorder. Ultimately, the defense lawyers insisted, Cockman's perceived rejection of Linn caused the man to snap. </div> <bR> <div> "The impending breakup with Nora was the last straw," Higgins said following the verdict. </div> <bR> <div> In a stroke of inspiration, Higgins utilized a set of building blocks to illustrate what he termed as the crumbling world of Major Linn. </div> <bR> <div> Known as "Genga," the game consists of around 100 rectangular blocks which are stacked in layers of four. Players take turns removing the blocks one-by-one, with the player who ultimately causes the one-and-one-half-foot stack to topple losing the contest. </div> <bR> <div> Speaking in quiet undertones to the jury, Higgins -- who handled all the medical and psychiatric examinations -- recounted all of Linn's strange behavior in the days and hours leading up to Cockman's shooting. </div> <bR> <div> As he made each point, Higgins deftly removed blocks from the stack. </div> <bR> <div> Linn, who sat quietly through most of the trial, began loudly weeping during the defense's final arguments. McDermott reached out, putting his left arm around Linn's quaking shoulders. </div> <bR> <div> After Linn had driven the woman from the home they'd shared for several months, Higgins said Linn was desperate to win her back. </div> <bR> <div> The night of the crime Linn found Cockman dancing with an 82-year-old man at the Eustis Moose Lodge, where the two had been a fixture for months. He then asked the woman to dance. She rejected his overtures. That was the straw that broke the camel's back, said Higgins. </div> <bR> <div> "He wasn't asking her for their last dance," Higgins asserted. "He was asking for his last dance. He was going to kill himself." </div> <bR> <div> Higgins slid one, final block from the stack, and the entire neatly stacked pile crumbled, knocking dozens of the wooden blocks to the courtroom floor. </div> <bR> <div> Following the verdict, Higgins said he felt the blocks were the perfect example of Linn's disintegrating life. </div> <bR> <div> "The doctors pretty much agreed that Major had a long history (of mental illness), and we thought the blocks were a perfect representation," Higgins explained. "When you get pinned in the corner, you pull out all the stops." </div> <bR> <div> Mosley, as prosecuting attorney, had the final word, telling the jury that the testimony offered by the doctors were rife with the words, "perhaps, possible, assume, maybe and could." </div> <bR> <div> In other words, said Mosley, nothing definitive was elicited from the mental health professionals to prove Linn was actually insane. He was play-acting in an attempt to avoid the consequences of his actions. </div> <bR> <div> After Linn shot Cockman Feb. 21, he returned to his own trailer, doused the mobile home with gasoline and torched the structure. The revolver was on Linn's kitchen table when he lit the blaze. </div> <bR> <div> "He didn't try to kill himself," Mosley insisted to the jury. "His actions have been completely self-centered. When the police drove up (after he shot Cockman), he put his hands up in the air, as if to say, 'Don't shoot me!' </div> <bR> <div> "Isn't that convenient?" posed Mosley. "The insanity defense was insanity by necessity." </div> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>Boykin found unfit</b></div> <div> <B>to stand trial</b></div> <bR> <div> <B>TAVARES</b></div> <div> Family and friends of 12-year-old Patrick "P.J." Boykin Jr. shed tears of relief Friday as County Judge Richard Boylston ruled the youngster isn't competent to stand trial on charges that he murdered his 13-year-old sister. </div> <bR> <div> Boylston ruled Friday afternoon that Boykin doesn't have the capacity to assist his attorneys in defending him on first-degree murder charges. </div> <bR> <div> The judge said he'd research the question of where the child should go for psychiatric help, asserting that he wanted to make a decision where to send Boykin for treatment by the end of next week. </div> <bR> <div> The seventh-grader admitted to shooting his sister, Constance, on the morning of Jan. 25 in the kitchen of the family's Minneola home. Boykin was an 11-year-old sixth-grader when he allegedly committed the crime. </div> <bR> <div> Boykin was indicted by a Lake County Grand Jury on first-degree murder charges Feb. 5, although the indictment was tempered with a request that prosecution and defense attorneys work with the court to find an appropriate, reasonable and rational sentence for the child. </div> <bR> <div> The state Legislature recently amended the statute concerning first-degree murder, making it an adult-level crime for children as young as 11. As a result, young Boykin could receive a life term in prison if he is convicted of the crime. </div> <bR> <div> The youngster, who later said he was angry after having a disagreement with his sister, and in the wake of a spanking administered by his mother, took a .22-caliber revolver from his parents' bedroom, loaded it and gunned down his sister with it, shooting her four times. </div> <bR> <div> He then called 911 to report the shooting. </div> <bR> <div> P.J.'s parents, Patrick Sr. and Michelle, feared they would lose not only their daughter but their son, too. </div> <bR> <div> "The family's quite relieved," said Clermont attorney George Hovis, a lifelong friend of the Boykins. "It's the first daylight they've seen in the whole mess." Hovis said he's know Michelle Boykin "since she was 5 years old." </div> <bR> <div> By committing Boykin to a mental hospital, Boylston's decision doesn't exclude the possibility that the youngster won't face the charges sometime in the future. </div> <bR> <div> "They're going to find out what good (psychiatric) facilities are available and take it from there," Hovis said. "The case could still go to trial, but I would doubt that an agreement won't be worked out." </div> <bR> <div> Assistant Public Defender Bill Stone was visibly relieved after Boylston issued his findings. </div> <bR> <div> "(Boykin) has been raised in a very protective family, and sheltered from a lot of things that ... streetwise kids his own age would know," Stone said. "I hope that the diagnostic aspect (of Boykin's mental health) will come into focus, and we can get on with (treatment)." </div> <bR> <div> Stone said he's confident a plea bargain can be hammered out with Assistant State Attorney Bill Gross to avoid a trial. </div> <bR> <div> "This family has been through enough," Stone declared. </div> <bR> <div> Gross, who specifically handles Lake County homicide cases for the office, declined comment after Boylston announced his decision. </div> <bR> <div> Hovis praised the other lawyers involved in the case. </div> <bR> <div> "If it wasn't for a benevolent state attorney's office, we wouldn't be here today," Hovis said. Fifth District State Attorney Brad King has publicly stated he wanted to avoid causing the Boykin family any further heartbreak. </div> <bR> <div> Friday's ruling was handed down in the wake of about three hours of testimony from mental health experts concerning the youngster's ability to assist his attorneys in defending himself. </div> <bR> <div> Forensic psychologist Dr. Elizabeth McMahon took the witness stand first Friday, testifying that she found Boykin didn't really comprehend the magnitude of his actions -- and the magnitude of the potential consequences. </div> <bR> <div> "My clinical opinion is that he is not competent," asserted McMahon. She cited Boykin's "lack of cognitive understanding," adding, "He doesn't understand the concepts (of the legal proceedings), and lacks the ability to reason." </div> <bR> <div> Basically, said McMahon, Boykin is simply immature, although she said he was of average intelligence. </div> <bR> <div> "He can learn to say the words back, (but) he doesn't know what is relevant in order to assist his attorneys," McMahon said. "He tends to do what he thinks adults want him to do -- the correct answer is what the adults want." </div> <bR> <div> McMahon added that she didn't see Boykin's desire to please as deceptive. </div> <div> Under Gross's cross examination, McMahon said she believed the youngster is "severely disturbed." </div> <bR> <div> "Does he understand he's charged with murder?" asked Gross sharply. </div> <bR> <div> "He understands the words," retorted McMahon. "But when I asked him what that means, he said he didn't know." </div> <bR> <div> Gross pressed the doctor. </div> <bR> <div> "Did he appreciate the potential penalty he was facing?' Gross asked. </div> <bR> <div> "No," McMahon said. "At one point ... he thought he might get five years, (or) ... maybe as much as 25-years-to-life. He told me he felt he should get one year, not four or five." </div> <bR> <div> In response to a query from Boylston, McMahon said Boykin's lack of understanding could, to a large extent, be overcome through the maturation process. </div> <bR> <div> As the attorneys elicited testimony from the doctors, young Boykin sat quietly, looking down and rarely watching the witnesses as they testified. The youngster maintained a blank look throughout the proceedings. Even after the judge announced his decision, the child really didn't respond to his father calling to him from the spectators' section of the courtroom. </div> <bR> <div> Ocala-based psychologist Rodney Petter told the court Boykin gave him simplistic answers concerning the function of each of the major players in a criminal trial -- the prosecutor, defense attorney and judge. </div> <bR> <div> Petter said Boykin admitted to having suicidal thoughts in the wake of the shooting. He specified that the youngster understood he did something wrong by shooting Constance. </div> <bR> <div> Dr. Robert Berland of Tampa testified that he found Boykin was both immature and mentally ill. </div> <bR> <div> "I don't believe he has the rational ability to assist counsel," Berland said. </div> <bR> <div> Psychiatrist Dr. Wayne Meyers, who said he believed Boykin was competent, testified to a number of what he termed "paranoid delusions" P.J. suffered from, attesting that Boykin "thought he had a small microchip in his brain." </div> <bR> <div> Meyers added that Boykin had "a propensity to manufacture delusions." </div> <bR> <div> Boylston assured both defense and prosecution attorneys that he wanted to have a specific treatment center lined up for the child within a week.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>Coach's bond</b></div> <div> <B>set at $250,000</b></div> <bR> <div> <B>By Jerry M. Gutlon</b></div> <div> <B>of the News staff</b></div> <bR> <div> FORT PIERCE -- A federal magistrate set a $250,000 personal surety bond for an Okeechobee High School assistant football coach who is being held on charges of distributing crack cocaine.</div> <bR> <div> United States Magistrate Judge Frank J. Lynch, Jr., sent 23-year-old Chaka T. Smith back to the Indian River County Jail Friday morning after Smith's family could only offer the court about $100,000 worth of property to secure the young man's freedom.</div> <bR> <div> "That's not enough," declared Lynch. "I'm not willing to release the defendant based on (the property offered by Smith's) mother and aunt."</div> <bR> <div> Defense attorney Sam Montesino of West Palm Beach, representing Smith, told the magistrate that Peter Pulitzer, who has been publicly identified as a mentor of Mr. Smith's, offered to pledge at least part of Smith's bond.</div> <bR> <div> "If Mr. Pulitzer was willing to post (bond), he should have been here," Lynch snapped. "He won't be released until I talk with Mr. Pulitzer and anybody else (who may also hold title to Pulitzer's property) right here in open court."</div> <bR> <div> Earlier reports asserting that Pulitzer would be present in court on Friday were apparently erroneous.</div> <bR> <div> Smith, a substitute teacher and defensive backfield coach at OHS, was arrested Oct. 4 by a task force composed of agents for the Okeechobee County Sheriff's Office (OCSO), the Okeechobee City Police and the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).</div> <bR> <div> According to a criminal complaint filed in the United States Court for the Southern District of Florida, Smith allegedly sold 89.2 grams of crack-cocaine to an undercover agent for $5,000. The drug transaction allegedly was completed early on Sept. 23.</div> <bR> <div> The arrest of the former OHS football standout -- later a defensive back at Wayne State University in Wayne, Neb. -- culminated a hectic period of about a week which ended with Smith's arrest. He graduated Wayne State last May with a criminal justice degree.</div> <bR> <div> Smith became a target of the unofficial task force after a confidential informant offered an OCSO detective sergeant the opportunity to make a significant drug bust in return for reduced charges, according to Montesino, who also pointed out that Smith had no prior criminal record whatsoever.</div> <bR> <div> Facing a charge of possessing with intent to distribute cocaine base -- commonly called crack-cocaine -- in excess of 50 grams, Smith could be jailed from 10 to 40 years, and fined up to $4 million.</div> <bR> <div> DEA Special Agent Brendan D'Arcangelo, the partner of the federal agent who help set up Smith's arrest, testified that the informant was helping the authorities make the drug bust in order to either earn money, or secure a reduced charge in cases pending against the informant, himself.</div> <bR> <div> The arraignment and bond reduction hearing was held Friday morning at the federal courthouse in Fort Pierce. Lynch declined to arraign Smith because the prosecution didn't have all its preliminary work completed prior to Friday's session. However the magistrate did rule that he would free Smith once family and friends could guarantee that they could offer a cumulative amount of real property valued at $250,000 as bond.</div> <bR> <div> Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert H. Waters, Jr., agreed with the defense that Smith wouldn't be a flight risk if he was freed on bond, but argued that Smith could try to intimidate others in the community in an attempt to lessen his risk of being convicted of the charges.</div> <bR> <div> "The defendant is facing (a prison term of) 10 years to life," Waters said. "Granted the defendant has many local ties ... but 89 grams is a substantial amount, and I think that's where the problems lie." After Waters defended the investigation's integrity, he asserted, "The defendant does pose a danger to the community."</div> <bR> <div> Lynch said that should Smith be freed on bond he would issue very specific instructions about who Smith can see and where he can go. The magistrate added that he would require Smith to be monitored electronically if and when he is freed on bond.</div> <bR> <div> Smith worked for Pulitzer for a substantial period of time, according to information released by the Okeechobee County School District. Pulitzer owns a substantial amount of property in the county, much of it citrus groves. He is the grandson of newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer.</div> <bR> <div> The magistrate said that once Pulitzer agrees to appear in court, then the clerk of courts will immediately schedule another bond hearing.</div> <bR> <div> Following the conclusion of Friday's session, Magistrate Courtroom Deputy Colette Griffin-Arnold said that she could schedule another bond hearing within a day or so once Montesino lines up additional assistance. Meanwhile, Lynch also scheduled a case status conference for 9:30 a.m. on Nov. 13.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>Charges filed in</b></div> <div> <B>daring escape</b></div> <bR> <div> <I><B>Sex offender, man who briefly</b></I></div> <div> <I><B>freed him face felony charges</b></I></div> <bR> <bR> <div> STUART - The state attorney's office Thursday filed charges against two men involved in an attempted aerial escape from a western Martin County center for sex offenders.</div> <bR> <div> Assistant State Attorney Bob Belanger filed felony charges against 28-year-old Steven Whitsett and Clifford Burkhart, the 23-year-old student pilot who tried to fly Whitsett out of the facility in a rented helicopter.</div> <bR> <div> Whitsett faces felony charges of attempting an armed escape while in lawful custody and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Burkhart faces one count of attempting an armed escape and a second charge of reckless operation of an aircraft.</div> <bR> <div> Belanger couldn't predict when the men would be tried.</div> <bR> <div> "It depends on a lot of factors,'' Belanger said Thursday. "They could decide to plead.''</div> <bR> <div> Burkhart - who had several lengthy visits with Whitsett before the June 5 escape attempt - piloted a small helicopter into the prison yard, picked Whitsett up and flew off, only to crash the chopper 100 yards outside the facility's fences. The two men, armed with 9mm semiautomatic pistols, fled the crash site, leading law enforcement officials on a 25-hour manhunt before they were captured about six miles from the Martin Treatment Center.</div> <bR> <div> The escape attempt spurred widespread discussion of whether authorities could charge Whitsett with attempted escape, because the center is operated by the state Department of Children and Families, rather than the Department of Corrections.</div> <bR> <div> Belanger said he never doubted the state's right to file escape charges against Whitsett and Burkhart.</div> <bR> <div> "I think the law's very clear,'' Belanger said. "It was very easy to file against them.''</div> <bR> <div> Technically, Whitsett was no longer considered a state prisoner, having been released from jail after serving about four years of an eight-year sentence for molesting a 15-year-old boy he was interviewing for a research project.</div> <bR> <div> After his release from prison in 1999, Whitsett was transferred to the Martin Treatment Center under the Jimmy Ryce Act, which allowed him to be detained there until a judge determined whether he posed a threat to society. The Ryce Act was named after a child who was raped and murdered by a man with an extensive record of sex crimes.</div> <bR> <div> The law, which allows those deemed sexual predators to be held until they are considered rehabilitated, prohibits the use of deadly force. In addition, detainees cannot be physically punished for misdeeds and the center must resemble a treatment center as opposed to a prison.</div> <bR> <div> The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a similar law in Kansas was constitutional as long as the sex offenders are confined in "a true treatment program in a non-correctional, non-punitive environment,'' said Greg Venz, director of the DCF's sexual violent predator program.</div> <bR> <div> Palm Beach Assistant Public Defender Ken Johnson, who previously filed a suit challenging the Ryce Act and lost, said detainees at the treatment center had served their prison time, and the Martin facility must remain a civil facility.</div> <bR> <div> "The facility should not be used as ... a means to keep people locked up,'' said Johnson. "These people have served their sentence.''</div> <bR> <div> Belanger said the two men could get as much as 30 years for the escape attempt.</div> <bR> <div> According to records released by the Broward County Sheriff's Office, Whitsett, who lived in Pembroke Pines, was discharged from the Navy after he was charged with sexual misconduct. He was later charged with solicitation of sex from a 16-year-old, pleaded no contest and was sentenced to six months' probation, community service and psychotherapy.</div> <bR> <div> Officials at Nova University - where Whitsett was studying psychology - said they were unaware of the charge, and allowed Whitsett to participate in a study of male sex offenders between the ages of 10 and 15 years old. He received permission for the study in September 1994, and was arrested three months later for taking nude photographs and having sex with a 15-year-old boy at the center.</div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Background"><U>Background</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id40.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Latest"><U>The Latest</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id20.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Government Reporting"><U>Government Reporting</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id21.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Cops Crime Coverage"><U>Cops & Crime Coverage</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id23.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Investigative Reporting"><U>Investigative Reporting</U></A>   |   <B>Court Reporting</b>   |   <A HREF="id24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Environment"><U>The Environment</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id25.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Features"><U>Features</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Religion Reporting"><U>Religion Reporting</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id27.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Entertainment Reporting"><U>Entertainment Reporting</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id28.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Columns Editorials"><U>Columns & Editorials</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Photography"><U>Photography</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id30.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sports Reporting "><U>Sports Reporting </U></A>   |   <A HREF="id37.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Prep Sports"><U>Prep Sports</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id38.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="NASCAR"><U>NASCAR</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id31.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sports Columns"><U>Sports Columns</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id39.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="College Sports"><U>College Sports</U></A></div> <bR> <div> Like what you see? 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