Though the charging of a conspiracy has earlier roots in history, the modern use began with the War on Drugs and drug conspiracy charges. It is an available statute that is frequently misused and abused by state and federal prosecutors. I know this for fact as I was charged and tried for the Florida statutes: Racketeering (RICO), F.S. 895.03(3) and Conspiracy to Commit Racketeering (RICO), F.S. 895.03 (4).
Florida Statute 895.03(3) states:
“It is unlawful for any person employed by, or associated with, any enterprise to conduct or participate, directly or indirectly, in such enterprise through a pattern of racketeering activity or the collection of an unlawful debt.”
Florida Statute 895.03 (4) states:
“It is unlawful for any person to conspire or endeavor to violate any of the provisions of subsection (1), subsection (2), or subsection (3).”
I did rip apart the "racketeering" basis of the charge in Memoirs, but never really gutted the "conspiracy" allegations. I had 2 co-defendants – Rocky and Beth – and each pled guilty to the conspiracy charge (F.S. 895.04(4)). One part of the plea agreement that each entered into was to testify against me in court concerning our alleged conspiracy. The other parts involved helping agents and prosecutors develop other cases (setting other people up). Prosecutors never did call Rocky to testify for a variety of reasons, but while sitting in jail with "no bond" after our arrest, he made a lengthy and wild statement. The day that he made his statement, after spending almost 3 months in jail without a bond, he was given a $20K bond and released, a violation of the United States Constitution. The bond was an undocumented part of his plea deal.
At the base of Rocky's jailhouse statement was that he was my partner and we were in business together. The root of the entire case was an informant's statement (Theresa Isaacs/Ryssdal/Raines) that she knew that Rocky and I were in business together, and even a claim that Rocky had introduced her to me. So what agents and prosecutors did was have Rocky confirm the informant's statement after our arrest. Indeed it was a baseless allegation, but then informants make-up crap for prosecutors and agents every minute of every day in this country. It is how the system works.
Ironically, the truth as to where I met Theresa was far worse to me at that point in time. But guess what? When I testified in my defense, prosecutors did not ask the question. They knew better than to go there. By the time we reached trial, time limitations had set in and I couldn't possibly be included in the federal mess – it was too late to turn back that clock and have their informant (Theresa) and my co-defendant change their statements. When they directed Theresa to make the statement that she did to begin with, they had already reached the point of no return, and that was ten months before my arrest.
I actually met Theresa through a woman named Judy (Kathy in Memoirs) in Miami. The evil part of this is that agents and prosecutors were all too aware of exactly how Theresa met me, but chose to charge me as they did because it was more of a case than it would have been to try and include me in the federal mess. So Theresa lied and they all knew it. Florida's Office of Statewide Prosecution was working with feds prosecuting "the Circuit" case with its Miami roots. "The Circuit" case was a huge federal mess, and Theresa was at the center, though none of the defendants ever knew that as each pleaded guilty to one charge or another.
So there was my poor drugged co-defendant in the Orange County, Florida jail unknowingly cementing his own conspiracy conviction. Yes, he was on a lengthy list of psychotropic drugs while in the jail, prescribed by the State's psychiatrist.
We all know that they couldn't have all of that come out in a courtroom during trial, so prosecutors never called Rocky to testify. The next irony was that prosecutors claimed at his sentencing hearing that he didn't complete his plea deal by testifying against me and requested, and received, a 36 month prison sentence and 10 years of felony probation upon release. Of course they also received the fines and costs of $26K and poor Rocky still has 5 more years of felony probation and is still making his monthly payments.
When a conspiracy is charged alleging that 2 parties are in business together, any acts committed by one of the parties is attributed to the other. So what I got in the end was a bunch of idiotic escorts that worked for Rocky's business simply testifying as to how he did business, things he stated to them, and specific situations between each of the escorts and Rocky. I never knew any of them, but in a charged conspiracy this is entirely immaterial.
That is what a conspiracy charge can do for prosecutors, and in my case, the basis of the charge was false to begin with; a fact known by all agents and prosecutors.
Do you get it? Apply this concept to War on Drugs and War on Terror cases for the complete picture.
No comments:
Post a Comment