Tag Archives: miami legal news

Blog, Criminal, Legal News

To fight crime, Miami-Dade may deploy blanket surveillance from the air

BY DOUGLAS HANKS

dhanks@miamiherald.com

Miami-Dade police may deploy sophisticated aerial surveillance capable of photographing everyone outside for 32 square miles in an effort to track vehicles and individuals involved in crimes.

The proposal, first reported by the Miami New Times, would send a surveillance plane high above high-crime neighborhoods to film everything below, according to Lt. Juan Villalba Jr. Already used in Baltimore, the technology lets police pull footage after a crime occurs and try to recreate where the perpetrators came from on their way to the scene and where they fled to afterward.

“It’s kind of like a DVR,” Villalba said, referring to playing back television shows hours after they air. “This will allow us to go back and look at what happened.”

Already used in Baltimore and other cities, the technology has helped spark a national debate on civil liberties as it pushes the edge of what’s possible now in mass surveillance. The camera system tracks how the U.S. pursued suicide bombers in Iraq, and the American Civil Liberties Union has called it “terrifying” for the potential to record every citizen’s movement when he or she is visible from the sky.”

“This is not the way to adopt public policy — no system of surveillance should be put into place until it is first established that there is a need which this system addresses, and that there are protections in place for the privacy of the people of Miami-Dade County,” the ACLU’s Florida said in a statement Thursday from executive director Howard Simon. “Until these protections for the rights and privacy of the people of Miami-Dade County are put into place, the grant request should be withdrawn.”

With increasingly cheaper surveillance cameras already mounted on lampposts, buildings, traffic lights and homes throughout Miami-Dade — not to mention the prevalence of cellphone footage — the sophisticated aerial surveillance arrives at a time when people are used to being recorded when they leave home.

Full Read – http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/miami-dade/article153901379.html

Blog, Criminal, Organized Crime, Supreme Court

Drug dealers as murderers? Proposed Florida law targets sellers fueling overdose crisis

Cindy Dodds 24-year-old son, Kyle, was found dead of a lethal drug overdose on the streets of Overtown in Sept. 2016. Kyle had a mix of fentanyl, carfentanil, cocaine and heroin in his system. Cindy is hoping to raise awareness about opioid abuse, and that lawmakers strengthen the Florida law punishing dealers who give out fatal doses of the drugs. Emily Michot Miami Herald

After years of battling addiction, Kyle Dodds collapsed on an Overtown street corner on an early morning, victim of an illegal drug usually used for tranquilizing elephants.

For Miami homicide detectives, holding a drug dealer accountable for Dodds’ death has proven a familiarly futile task.

His cell phone disappeared from the scene, so investigators found no text messages or calls that might lead to the possible drug source. No witnesses surfaced to say they saw Dodds buying at a particular dope hole. Detectives didn’t even find a baggie of drugs on Dodds, which might offer a clue to a distinct seller.

Blog, Criminal, Legal News

Rick Ross Indicted In Pistol Whipping Case, Lawyer Claims Self Defense: Report

The Miami rapper’s lawyer issues a statement to REVOLT.

Ralph Bristout Mar 1, 2016

Rick Ross has been indicted in the alleged pistol whipping incident with his groundskeeper last summer.

Last June, the Miami rapper was arrested on charges of assault, battery and kidnapping for an incident that took place at his Atlanta home and culminated with his groundskeeper allegedly getting pistol whipped.

According to TMZ, Ross claims Jonathan Zamudio, the groundskeeper, threw a party at the guest house of the Georgia estate with cocaine and drug paraphernalia involved. In response, the rapper’s lawyer, Steve Sadow, says he will make the case that Ross was “acting in self-defense and in defense of his property when he encountered trespassers.”

In a statement to REVOLT, Sadow, Ross’s lead defense counsel, said the following, “As soon as we became aware the prosecutor brought formal charges, we filed a preliminary motion for immunity from criminal prosecution, which ultimately would terminate the case if the Judge agrees with us.”

“Essentially what we will show at a pretrial hearing is Rick Ross acted in self-defense and in defense of his property when he encountered felonious trespassers inside his guest house. Of course, we continue to deny all of the allegations made by the so-called “victims.””

Ross’ indictment this week are for charges of kidnapping, aggravated assault, aggravated battery and possession of a firearm while committing a crime.

As of this writing, no trial date has been set in the case.

Source from – https://revolt.tv/stories/2016/03/01/rick-ross-indicted-pistol-whipping-case-lawyer-claims-defense-report-5953b6737f