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Correctional Compass November 2004

DOC in the News

Friday, November 05, 2004
ABC Action News: Slain officer's widow vows to keep husband's killer in prison.
This week marks the 29th anniversary of the slaying of Tampa police officer Anthony Williams. Next week, his imprisoned killer goes before the parole board. Williams' widow will be there to make sure he stays behind bars. The 7-Eleven where Officer Williams was fatally shot is still open today. Back in 1975, Williams went in for milk and was shot when he interrupted a robbery in progress. Williams' wife Ann and 4-year-old son were watching from the car as the shooting happened; Williams died in Ann's arms. "And then I felt him just release and I knew that he was dead. I could feel his soul leave his body," she recalled. At the time, Ann Williams was Tampa's first police officer. Not only did she comfort her dying husband, she shot and subdued his killer; Mark Mikenas was sentenced to death.

Florida Times-Union: High court topples prison slaying death penalty. A St. Johns County man convicted of killing a prison inmate in 2000 had his death sentence thrown out Thursday by the state Supreme Court because the jury included a former Death Row prison guard. Andrew D. Busby, 26, was convicted of strangling his cellmate in Columbia Correction Institution in what he called "a deadly game of twister." A judge sentenced Busby to death in 2002 for the slaying of 40-year-old inmate Elton Ard based on the 11-1 vote in favor of it from the jury. A co-defendant, Charles Globe, also was sentenced to death.

Sarasota Herald Tribune: Sex offender sentenced to house arrest for probation violation. A convicted sex offender charged with violating his probation in September for viewing sex-themed Japanese cartoons was sentenced Thursday to a year of house arrest and five years of probation. Authorities first arrested Nokomis resident Damien Lee Holland, 26, in August 1997 on charges of having sex with a minor.

Monday, November 08, 2004
Tampa Tribune: Sheriff's sting snags man in stolen car, 11 unlicensed drivers.
Jesus Rosendo had an appointment with his probation officer Friday afternoon. So he drove himself to the Florida Department of Corrections office on Florida Avenue, despite not having a valid driver's license and driving a stolen car. Turns out Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office deputies were watching Rosendo and other habitual traffic offenders who didn't seem to understand that revoked or suspended licenses make driving illegal.

Palm Beach Post: Convicted lawyer rejoining workforce. It took Robert Eisen decades to turn a gambling habit into an addiction that led him to steal money, ruin his law career and deprive him of his freedom. But it's taken only one year for Eisen to get through the worst of his punishment. Eisen, you may recall, is the once-prominent Boca Raton lawyer who last year admitted to stealing $843,000 from a trust account to fuel his gambling addiction. He was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for grand theft. Now, barely a year after starting his sentence, Eisen's already out of the Everglades CI.

Miami Herald: The long road to clemency. They file into the basement of the Capitol with speeches scribbled on scrap paper, dozens of Florida felons, coming to win back their civil rights. Most have waited years for this chance. Soon, it will all come down to this: three minutes at the microphone to appeal to four of the most influential men in the state. The most important is Gov. Jeb Bush, whose lone objection means instant denial, a trip home with nothing gained. So they've skipped work and traveled long distances to be here. They've cleaned and pressed their Sunday best and asked friends, family, bosses and pastors to support them. "I'm so nervous. I feel like I'm going to throw up," says David Crawford, who drove from Houston, a 700-mile, 12-hour road trip. Crawford is among tens of thousands of felons left with one shot at regaining civil rights -- a direct appeal to the Florida Clemency Board at a formal hearing.

Miami Herald: Victims have say before the board. Chere Myers was 18 years old and nearly nine months pregnant when she died in a head-on collision caused by a drunk driver on New Year's Day 1989. Her baby did not survive. Fifteen years later, the man responsible for the accident, Andrew James Wheeler, appeared before the Clemency Board hoping to regain his civil rights. As part of a push to include victims in the clemency process -- a policy spearheaded by Gov. Jeb Bush -- clemency officials every year notify dozens of people who suffered at the hands of felons seeking to regain civil rights. Myers' mother, Susan Zackowski, was one of them. "When I got the letter saying Andrew Wheeler was trying to get his rights back, I started weeping and sobbing because it brought it all back," Zackowski told The Herald. "The pain of losing my daughter is always there."

Miami Herald: Custody fight won by felon. The mother of Bradley McGee, the 2-year-old Lakeland boy killed when he was plunged head first into a toilet in 1989, has been granted custody of a second child. Sheryl Hardy, who served nine years of a 30-year sentence in Florida in connection with Bradley's death -- which turned her son into the poster child for all of the state's child-protection failures -- has been fighting Illinois for custody of 3-year-old Billy Hardy, born after she moved back home. On Friday, the state Supreme Court refused to hear her case, upholding a ruling by the Illinois 4th District Appellate Court in March that she and her husband, Randy Hardy, should regain full custody of Billy.

Tampa Tribune: Former inmate alleges rape by male nurse. A former Orient Road Jail inmate is suing the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office and the jail's provider of medical services, saying a male nurse raped her while she was incarcerated in 2000. Latasha Callens, 26, said in a civil complaint filed Friday that the sheriff's office and Correctional Medical Services Inc. were negligent by "failing to hire law-abiding individuals to work as male nurses" and failing to supervise them. Records show Callens was held at the jail on armed robbery and other charges between June 14, 2000, and Feb. 27, 2001, when she was sentenced to state prison. She is currently incarcerated at Hillsborough Correctional Institution in Riverview and scheduled for release in November 2005, records show.

Tuesday, November 09, 2004
Daytona Beach News Journal: Victorino attorneys make expert witness request. Attorneys for the accused ringleader in the Deltona mass murders asked the court on Monday to be allowed to hire expert witnesses, without telling prosecutors in advance. Appearing for Troy Victorino before Circuit Judge William Parsons, court appointed defense attorneys Jeff Dowdy and Michael Nielson asked the court permission to have private hearings to discuss expert witnesses they might want to use.

Orlando Sentinel: Freed dad Yurko awaits hearing in prison. Alan Yurko, the man released from a Florida prison in August after winning a new trial in the 1999 death of his baby son, will remain incarcerated at an Ohio prison following a parole hearing Monday. The Ohio Parole Authority determined Yurko violated parole stemming from an aggravated burglary dating back to the 1980s. Yurko was convicted in December 1989 in Ohio on four counts of aggravated burglary. He was sentenced to 10 to 25 years and served eight years. But he later left the state, which was a violation of his parole.

Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Bradenton Herald: Molestation suspect dies in car crash. A 60-year-old state probation officer facing trial next month on child fondling charges died Tuesday afternoon after his car smashed into a palm tree, authorities said. R. Steven Quesenberry was traveling south along 75th Street West when his 1997 Chevrolet veered across the northbound lane and onto the east shoulder until it struck a palm tree, according to a report from the Florida Highway Patrol. West Manatee firefighters, paramedics and troopers responded to the scene of the crash, which happened at 11:55 a.m. Tuesday. Quesenberry died at the scene, the report stated.

Sumter County Times: Smokin' it up for United Way. There was no getting away from it. Things were smokin' at Sumter Correctional Institution last Friday. The front walkway of the institution was filled with smoke and along with it the mingling aromas from about a dozen different smokers and barbecue grills. The equipment was in place as Sumter Correctional Institution (SCI) employees cooked up a variety of foods to help raise money for the United Way.

Friday, November 12, 2004
Sun-Herald: Convicted killer asks for end to probation. A former Orange County sheriff's deputy convicted of the 1986 shooting death of a reserve Brevard County deputy will ask a judge today to end his probation so he can become a nurse. Russell Calamia, 57, who now lives in Englewood with his parents, pleaded no contest to second-degree murder and was sentenced in 1988 to 20 years in prison and 20 years probation for the slayings of Gary Smith, a reserve deputy and Brevard County Community College teacher. Calamia's probation isn't set to expire until 2017, but he is seeking full restoration of his civil rights so he can become a registered nurse, according to court records.

Lakeland Ledger: Central Florida teen who killed sister re-sentenced to probation. A 17-year-old who shot and killed his older sister when he was 11, saying the devil told him to do it, pleaded guilty Wednesday to violating probation by missing meetings and leaving home. Patrick Boykin was re-sentenced to probation after being scolded by a judge, a prosecutor, and his public defender.

Monday, November 15, 2004
Palm Beach Post: State corrections chief focus of civil trial in prison death. Two years ago, four defendants at Florida State Prison the home of Death Row and Florida's most dangerous prisoners were acquitted of kicking and stomping an inmate to death. The outcome was so decisive that charges were dropped against other guards, leaving the death of Frank Valdes unpunished. Now, in a quiet courtroom overlooking downtown Jacksonville, Frank Valdes' case is back, this time in the form of a civil suit filed by his father, Mario Valdes. And while the eight officers who faced criminal charges are again facing trial along with several others, the former warden at Florida State Prison is the new focus.

Ocala Star-Banner: Probation director charged with battery. The parole and probation director for Florida's 8th Judicial Circuit, which includes Alachua County, was charged with misdemeanor battery Thursday. Adam L. Thomas, 49, of Gainesville, was accused of grabbing his girlfriend Betty Gail Worsham, 46, by the neck during an argument outside her Ocala home in Libra Oaks and choking her, according to a Marion County Sheriff's Office report.

Orlando Sentinel: Convicted molester gets longer sentence. A housekeeper who molested the young daughter of prominent lobbyist Ron Book was sentenced to an additional 10 years of prison Friday for violating her probation by writing letters from behind bars to Lauren Book. Court records show it was Lauren Book who started the correspondence. But Circuit Judge Michael Gates ruled Oct. 4 it didn't matter Lauren Book started writing first because she was just a teenager at the time and Waldina Flores knew she was prohibited from contacting the Books after her sentencing.

Tampa Tribune: Escaping the death penalty. On a Sunday afternoon in August 1984, Joe Elton Nixon kidnapped Jeanne Bickner from a Tallahassee mall. He drove her to a wooded area outside the city, tied her to a tree with jumper cables and set her afire. He told police she begged for her life, then he burned her alive. Last year, nearly two decades after the murder, the Florida Supreme Court ordered a new trial, saying Nixon had not affirmatively agreed to his lawyer's trial strategy. Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court heard Florida's appeal. The justices should reverse Florida's high court.

Florida Today: Push on to compensate Dedge. A former legislator and retired college president has asked the state's top lobbyist to help him answer an impossible question: What are 22 years worth? 'I don't have a number, I don't think anyone has a number,' said Sandy D'Alemberte, a former state legislator and once president of Florida State University, who is now working on a special claims bill to compensate Brevard County resident Wilton Dedge. Eight years after he requested post conviction DNA testing, Wilton Dedge was exonerated and released from Florida prison. In 1982, Dedge was convicted in Brevard County, Florida, of sexual battery, aggravated battery, and burglary. He was sentenced to two concurrent life sentences.

Orlando Sentinel: Death sentences plummet. David Sylvester Frances will learn within the next two months whether he is condemned to die for strangling an Orlando woman and her teenage niece four years ago. If he is, the decision will buck a surprising trend in which death sentences in Florida have dropped dramatically since the late 1980s and by 50 percent nationally during the past decade.

New York Times: Justice Department reports a 30-year low in death sentences and fewer inmates on death row. The number of people sentenced to death reached a 30-year low in 2003, when the death row population fell for the third year in a row, the Justice Department reported Sunday. The department said that 144 inmates in 25 states were given the death penalty last year, 24 fewer than in 2002 and less than half the average of 297 from 1994 to 2000.

Florida Today: Judge halts killer's try to be nurse. A former Indialantic police officer convicted of killing a reserve sheriff's deputy had his motion to end his probation rejected Friday morning. Russell Calamia, a former officer and Brevard Community College criminal justice instructor, pleaded no contest to the execution-style killing of Gary Smith -- a former reserve Brevard County sheriff's deputy -- in 1988. Police suspected Smith and Calamia were linked romantically to the same woman. In exchange for the plea, Calamia received 20 years in prison and 20 years of probation.

Southwest Florida News-Press: Ministry helps prisoners grow. Ministry helps prisoners grow doctors, lawyers, carpenters, bricklayers and those from professions all across the board are taking the time to share their faith with convicted criminals in state prisons in Southwest Florida. Their ministry is called Kairos, a Greek term that mean's God's special time. Founded in 1976 in the United States, the ministry is now active in Australia, Germany, Mexico and Canada. Ministry members travel every six months to prisons in Charlotte, Glades and DeSoto counties, bringing awareness that Jesus loves them.

Miami Herald: For felons, time in county jails carries price: life without rights. Tens of thousands of felons who should have the best shot at regaining their civil rights after paying for their crimes still can't vote in Florida because of a glaring oversight in state law: They did time in county jail, not state prison. The law requires the Department of Corrections to assist felons leaving state prison or supervision with the restoration of their rights. Their names are automatically forwarded to the Florida Clemency Board for consideration. But the law ignores felons sentenced to dozens of local jails statewide, dismissing thousands of potential voters in a state that already bans more people from the polls than any other.

Tuesday, November 16, 2004
St. Petersburg Times: Zephyrhills prison accused of more abuse. Another abuse incident has surfaced at the Zephyrhills Correctional Institution, barely a month after six top officials were forced to leave when a female inmate was discovered being kept naked in her cell. Department of Corrections spokesman Sterling Ivey said Monday evening that the inspector general's office was investigating a case of 'alleged inmate abuse' but provided no other details. He said one officer, Capt. Michael Adkins, resigned Monday morning but did not give a reason for leaving. Meanwhile, a Seminole woman told the St. Petersburg Times on Monday that her father was beaten severely by another inmate last week and did not receive medical treatment for several days.

Orlando Sentinel: Psychologist doubts killer was psychotic. Despite reports that death-row prisoner Allen Cox has a history of mental illness, a psychologist Monday said she does not believe he was psychotic in 1998 when he killed a fellow inmate at Lake Correctional Institution over the theft of about $500 in contraband cash. Cox, 42, said his trial lawyers did not represent him well and he should be granted a new trial.

Ch. 10 News (St. Pete/Tampa): EXTRA: Murderers in the community. Lake Padgett Estates is a suburb of working families. Four years ago, Oscar Concepcion moved quietly into a home on Dover Drive. And according to many neighbors, he worked hard to slow traffic down on the streets where kids play. But very few in this neighborhood knew Concepcion was convicted in 1990 of killing a Tampa hairdresser, and spent eight years in prison before he was released and placed on community supervision.

Palm Beach Post: Death urged for man in strangling. A man convicted last week of murdering a local woman and leaving her body in a vacant lot a crime he committed only one month after his release from a prison for killing a 5-month-old baby should be put to death, a jury recommended Monday. Eddie Bigham, 47, has spent most of his adult life in prison, and the 12-member jury deliberated only 25 minutes before unanimously recommending he spend the rest of it on Death Row.

Miami Herald: Killing shocks two close families. As family members mourned the shooting death of Catherine "Cat" Lyles Monday, they said the three-year romance between her and her killer should never have happened. Lyles, 40, and Clarence Allen, the man who police say shot her to death in front of her two children, were part of a group who grew up together as kids. The two families celebrated holidays together and considered themselves blood relatives. Lyles' family lived on the south side of Hollywood's Fletcher Street and Allen's on the north side. But Allen's life took a bad turn. In his late teens, he went to jail on a robbery charge. He was behind bars for 23 years, convicted of crimes ranging from aggravated assault and burglary. When Allen, 48, got out of prison in 2000, after serving 19 years, he and Lyles got together in Lyles' Davie apartment. The family didn't approve.

Wednesday, November 17, 2004
St. Petersburg Times: Incidents put spotlight back on prison. The state Department of Corrections is investigating two recent incidents at Zephyrhills CI, one of them a fight between inmates and the other an allegation of abuse by the prison staff. The department's inspector general's office is looking into the abuse claim, spokesman Sterling Ivey said.

Naples Daily News: Probation violation sends man back to prison. As she did three years ago, Magdalena Guillen stood face to face Tuesday with the man who pleaded no contest in the hit-and-run death of her 6-year-old daughter. Yannibel Guillen was struck and killed as she played in the street in Golden Gate on New Year's Eve 1999. Rodney Bruce Wimbish, Jr., 32, paid a price for that death already, serving just less than four years in prison. And he will pay again, agreeing Tuesday to serve a 12 year prison sentence.

Ch. 10 News (St. Pete/Tampa): Follow Up: Attorney General calls for law forcing convicted murderers to register with law enforcement. The numbers surprise those who do not work in Florida's criminal justice system. Computer records we received from the Florida Corrections Department show 2,201 men and women who've been released from state prisons in the last 10 years are living in our communities. 457 of them are living right here in Tampa Bay area. Citizens can track sex offenders on the Internet, and see their pictures, names, and addresses. But convicted murderers don't have to register, and can live anonymously among us.

Thursday, November 18, 2004
WESH: Inmate says prisoners filing fake tax returns. Floridians paid an average of $11,000 in federal income taxes last year. If you're lucky and you were one of those who got a refund, it averaged about $1,800. About 160 million tax returns were filed with the IRS last year alone, and if you have enough deductions, then you get a tax refund. But what if you cheat? That's why Kathy became suspicious when she found 10 tax returns stuffed in two large packets waiting in her mail. (Note: To protect her identity, we are not using her last name). Kathy received the packets unexpectedly. They had been mailed to her from a Florida prison inmate.

WESH: Who's helping inmates steal tax dollars. Florida prison inmates are trying to take your tax money and put it in their own pocket. In part 1 of our special report, WESH News Channel uncovered, for the first time, the scam that could be costing you millions. It's a scam so simple it ought to be criminal. In fact, IRS agents say it is. Florida prison inmates serving time for sexual battery, armed robbery and even first-degree murder filed 1040 EZ forms, addresses to an IRS collection center, asking for thousands of dollars in refunds. The inmates couldn't have done the work they claimed.

Miami Herald: Doctor's license suspended. Already jailed for violating probation, Michael Latterman of Miami Beach had his doctor's license suspended because a state investigator reported he treated six children at a time when the state had ordered him to avoid contact with minor patients. "I don't want to comment on these allegations without seeing them," Latterman's attorney, Richard Sharpstein, said Wednesday, "but I think the state's overreacting based on prior allegations." Latterman, 49, pleaded guilty in 2002 to three counts of lewd and lascivious behavior for having sex with a 14-year-old boy. He was given nine years' probation.

Gainesville Sun: Chemical castration is ordered for convict. A Mississippi man convicted of molesting several children became the second Suwannee County defendant ordered in recent weeks to undergo chemical castration, considered a rare sentence in Florida. On Monday, 3 rd Judicial Circuit Judge Thomas Kennon issued the sentence against Harold Ray Boone, 56, in addition to four consecutive life sentences, the State Attorney's Office in Live Oak reported.