Page 3 - Florida Sentinel 10-13-15 Edition

Features
City Council Approves Police Review Board
Court Upholds Conviction Of Woman Linked To Police Murders
BY IRIS B. HOLTON Sentinel City
Editor
On Thursday
during the evening
session of their reg-
ular meeting,
members of City
Council approved
the process to cre-
ate a Police Review
Board. The members voted 5-2 to draft an ordinance for the Police Review Board.
City Council Chairman Frank Reddick and Council member Yoli Capin voted against it.
Chairman Reddick said, “The Council voted 5-2 to support sending a draft to create an ordinance to legal. Councilwoman Capin and I voted against it.
“I was in favor of a 15-member board where the Mayor would ap- point 8 members and each Council member would appoint 1 member. But, Council voted to have the Mayor appoint 5 members and 2 alter- nates. And, Council appoints 1 from each single-member district.”
Chairman Reddick initially called for a Citizens Review Board concept in July because of the U. S. Justice Department’s investiga- tion.
However, in September, Mayor Buckhorn announced the cre- ation of the Citizens Review Board by Executive Order. Initially, Mayor Buckhorn wanted an 11-member board of which 7 members would be appointed by Mayor Buckhorn, and the Mayor would ap- point 2 members, and the other 2 would serve as alternates. City Council would appoint two members.
Mayor Buckhorn later amended the board to allow City Council to appoint 4 members to the board.
More than 100 applicants have applied to serve on the board. Those chosen will serve for a 4-year period.
Anyone wishing to be considered to serve on the board must apply by Thursday, October 15th.
MAYOR BOB BUCKHORN
FRANK REDDICK City Council Chairman
The Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the convic- tion of a Tampa woman charged with a seldom used federal crime. The ruling was released on Friday.
Ms. Cortnee Brantley
was found guilty of misprision of a felony in January 2013, by a federal jury in Tampa. A per- son commits misprision when he or she is aware that some- one committed a felony, fails to notify the authorities, and takes affirmative steps to con- ceal the felony.
Ms. Brantley was the driver of the vehicle in which Dontae Morris was riding when Tampa Police Officer David Curtis, 31, conducted a traffic stop during the early morning hours of June 29, 201. Officer Jeffrey Kocab, 31, served as Officer Curtis’ backup.
Both officers were fatally wounded. After the shooting, Morris, 30, surrendered after a nationwide manhunt and was charged with the double murder. He was convicted and sentenced to death.
According to a press release issued by the U. S. Attorney’s Office, “The jury found that Brantley had known that Morris was a convicted felon and that he had possessed the gun that night, that she had not reported the crime to au- thorities, and that she had taken affirmative steps to con- ceal Morris’s possession of the firearm from authorities.”
The evidence at trial showed that Ms. Brantley had left the scene immediately
CORTNEE BRANTLEY ... Loses appeal
after the shootings, had almost immediately begun texting with Morris and pledging her loyalty to him, and had back her car up against some bushes to conceal the car’s missing li- cense plate, several hundred feet from where she was stay- ing. The district court sen- tenced her to a year and a day of imprisonment, but allowed her to remain free on bond until the appeal was decided.
On appeal, Ms. Brantley argued that she was the victim of selective prosecution, that her prosecution violated her Fifth Amendment rights, and that the evidence was insuffi- cient to support the jury’s guilty verdict. The Court of Ap- peals rejected all of those argu- ments.
The Court ruled that Ms. Brantley had not shown that the decision to prosecute her was based on race or any other arbitrary reason, and the Court further recognized that her prosecution legitimately “pub- licized the fact that those who conceal evidence about the capital murder of a police offi-
cer will be prosecuted and that fact, without question, could have a deterrent effect on oth- ers.”
The Court also rejected her Fifth Amendment challenge, explaining that “she was not prosecuted for her silence. Rather, she was prosecuted be- cause she knowingly partici- pated in affirmative acts of concealment of Morris’s crime, i.e., (1) hiding herself and the car and (2) calling and texting Morris in an effort to conceal his crime.”
Finally, the Court held that the evidence including Ms. Brantley’s text messages and cell phone calls with Morris immediately following the shootings and her decision to conceal the car and herself provided “sufficient evidence of (her) acts of concealment to support the jury’s guilty ver- dict.”
Ms. Brantley, now 27, was arrested on July 2, 2010, and charged. Following her conviction, U. S. Federal Judge James Moody, Jr., sentenced her to one year and one day in federal prison. However, he allowed her to re- main free pending an appeal filed in the case.
2 Brothers Killed When 18-Wheeler Hits Their Dump Truck
Funeral service \held for 1 brother.
Two brothers died on September 25, 2015 following a 2-vehicle accident along State Road 60 in Lake Wales.
According to a report filed by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office that inves- tigated the accident, a 1997 Chevrolet dump truck had just pulled out onto State Road 60 from a driveway, heading westbound at a reduced rate of speed. A 2013 Freightliner semi-truck towing a 53-foot box trailer loaded with 42,000 pounds of bottled water struck the dump truck from behind.
GARY MIZELL
Gary Mizell, 57, driver of the dump truck, a Tampa resident, was declared dead at the scene. His passenger, who was his brother, Robert Walker of Pompano, was airlifted to Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center in critical condition. He died from those in- juries on Saturday, September 26th. Both men were wearing seat- belts.
The driver of the semi tractor trailer, Bobby Baldwin of Miami, received minor injuries and was treated at the scene. He, too, was wearing a seatbelt.
Funeral services for Mizell were held this past weekend with Harmon Funeral Home in charge. According to a family friend, Larry Wiggins, Mizell was a self employed home contractor.
Mizell was an active member of Elijah 596 of Tampa Interna- tional Free & Accepted Modern Masons.
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2015 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 3