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What's the Deal with Florida in 2011?

Edgy DC Jan 13 2011 10:59 AM

The thread where we question the goings on in the Sunshine State Florida police chief charged with thwarting rape case against friend By John Couwels, CNN January 13, 2011 11:12 a.m. EST Orlando, Florida (CNN) -- A central Florida police chief has been arrested and charged with derailing an investigation into the alleged rape of a minor in order to protect a friend. Windermere, Florida, Police Chief Daniel Saylor, 44, was arrested Wednesday morning on felony charges of official misconduct and unlawful compensation for official behavior, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Windermere is a small central Florida town adjacent to the exclusive gated community where Tiger Woods lives. Saylor was in the news after the car accident that precipitated news of the golf star's infidelity. Saylor was one of the few officials who would give reporters details about the November 2009 incident. Saylor's friend Scott F. Bush, 50, also was arrested Wednesday and charged with sexual battery of a minor under 12, a capital offense, along with lewd and lascivious acts upon a minor, a third-degree felony. The alleged sexual battery occurred on a young girl between 2000 and 2003. "We received information that Chief Saylor terminated an investigation by his department of a sexual battery of a child to keep a friend from going to jail," said Joyce Dawley, special agent in charge for the FDLE, at a news conference Wednesday in Orlando. Orange County State Attorney Lawson Lamar said the chief offered benefits from time off with pay, promotions, letters of recommendation and transfers for destroying material evidence, such as investigation notes, and for giving false information to the FDLE. In the second count, Lamar said the chief is accused of changing the time card for an officer "to pay them off." Saylor, who joined the Windermere Police Department in 2002, has been suspended without pay, said Mayor Gary Bruhn. An Orange County Sheriff's officer will temporary sit in as Windermere's chief. No other Windermere officers have been charged, but FDLE's Joyce Dawley said it's still an ongoing investigation. If convicted, Saylor could face 15 years in prison. Scott Bush, if convicted, could face life in prison. A bond hearing for both is scheduled for Thursday in Orlando. Now, forgive my naivete, and I don't want to be seen as suggesting that sexual battery of a minor is anything less heinous than it is, but I had no idea there were laws out there that designated anything was a "capital offense" besides murder and some forms of espionage.

Frayed Knot Jan 13 2011 11:11 AM Re: What's the Deal with Flordia in 2011?

Personally, before making up my mind here, I'm going to wait to see if Whoopie Goldberg and various other assorted celebrities pronounce this case of sexual assault against a minor as one worthy of prosecution or whether, like at least one other, it qualifies as 'not really rape' and only a 'so-called crime'.

TheOldMole Jan 13 2011 11:14 AM Re: What's the Deal with Flordia in 2011?

Other capital crimes include: the use of a weapon of mass destruction resulting in death, espionage, terrorism, certain violations of the Geneva Conventions that result in the death of one or more persons, and treason at the federal level; aggravated rape in Louisiana, Florida,[24] and Oklahoma; extortionate kidnapping in Oklahoma; aggravated kidnapping in Georgia, Idaho, Kentucky and South Carolina; aircraft hijacking in Alabama; drug trafficking resulting in a person's death in Connecticut and Florida;[25] train wrecking which leads to a person's death, and perjury which leads to a person's death in California.[23][26][27] I think rape has been a capital crime in various states (Georgia? CA?) in the past, but is not now. Memo to self: Don't hijack a plane in Alabama.

Edgy DC Jan 13 2011 11:14 AM Re: What's the Deal with Flordia in 2011?

Is there confusion here by the writer? In one paragraph, it's described as a capital offense, but later, it says that the perpetrator "could face life in prison."

TheOldMole Jan 13 2011 11:36 AM Re: What's the Deal with Flordia in 2011?

In Florida, punishment for sexual battery of a minor under 12 is described as "a capital offense, life without parole." So the reporter isn't being sloppy, the statute is oddly worded. I think. I always thought "capital" meant death, as in you'd have your head cut off.

Edgy DC Jan 13 2011 11:45 AM Re: What's the Deal with Florida in 2011?

Exactly. Capital comes from "caput." I guess the confusion is then on the part of the legislators.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Jan 13 2011 11:46 AM Re: What's the Deal with Florida in 2011?

Grim details of this particular case aside, I'm glad that my suspicion of/confusion regarding all things Floridian has been semi-institutionalized. Thanks for being so durned f'ed up, America's Appendix!

Willets Point Jan 13 2011 11:59 AM Re: What's the Deal with Florida in 2011?

In other news, there's no snow in Florida. Weirdos.

Ashie62 Jan 13 2011 12:12 PM Re: What's the Deal with Florida in 2011?

I thought this was a thread with Florida winter vacation deals, ratz.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Jan 30 2011 08:56 PM Re: What's the Deal with Florida in 2011?

The Florida-people stories tend to go 1 of 2 ways: supertragic or supercomic. The Florida parents stories? They just go the one way, mostly. TAMPA — Julie Schenecker was sick of her teenage children talking back to her, police say, so last week she bought a .38-caliber pistol and planned their murder and her suicide. She shot her 13-year-old son Thursday evening after driving him home from soccer practice. Then she walked upstairs and shot her 16-year-old daughter in the back of the head as she did homework, an arrest affidavit states. With their blood on her clothing, the 50-year-old mother remained at the Tampa Palms house all night. Police didn't arrive until the next morning, after Schenecker's mother called them from Texas, worried because she couldn't reach her daughter, whom she believed was depressed. Schenecker admitted to killing her children, Calyx Schenecker, 16, and Powers Beau Schenecker, 13, police said. She showed no remorse. Though Schenecker cooperated Friday, police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said no explanation could help people truly understand why it happened. "She did tell us that they talked back and they were mouthy," she said. The children's father, Army Col. Parker Schenecker, 48, was informed Friday that his wife killed their children, McElroy said. He is stationed at Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base and was in the Middle East.

Fman99 Jan 30 2011 09:43 PM Re: What's the Deal with Florida in 2011?

Florida still be crazy.