The number of DUI cases under review which involved controversial ex Tampa police officer, Sergeant Ray Fernandez, has now been extended to 40. This is in addition to the 12 cases which were yet to go to trial and have now been dismissed.
This extraordinary turn of events is all due to the fact that Sergeant Fernandez had been fired because of his conduct in the arrest of the lawyer who was representing “M.J.” Schnitt in his recent legal action against another radio personality, Bubba the Love Sponge Clem.
The details about Fernandez’s part in the arrest of the lawyer, Phil Campbell, after he had shared a few drinks with a female paralegal at a Tampa bar, have been released little by little over the last few months.
According to the Tampa Police Chief, Jane Caster, Fernandez had ‘lied and destroyed evidence which could have implicated him in an alleged set up for the arrest of Mr. Campbell’.
Sergeant Fernandez had been working as a police officer for the Tampa Police Department for a total of 19 years. It is this period that is now being reviewed because of the potential unreliability of Fernandez as a witness.
The 12 outstanding DUI cases which involved Fernandez as the investigating officer at the scene of the arrests have all been dropped and will no longer go to trial. Fernandez has been accused of breaking the Police Department’s code of conduct by liaising with one of the lawyers who was working for the legal firm representing Bubba and then not telling the whole truth about what he had known before the arrest. This means that every one of the arrests that involved Fernandez as a key witness may now be subject to review. Some of these cases involve not just DUI, but DUI manslaughter and other serious charges.
The State Attorney’s Office action has predictably been controversial throughout Florida. Vocal commentators have lined up supporting and opposing the dropping of the 12 cases of DUI and the possible review of the other 40 people who have already been convicted. Those who support the action cite the fact that few prosecutors, if any, would wish to use Sergeant Fernandez as a witness in a DUI case, considering his alleged involvement in a set up for an arrest.
Opponents say that some of the 12 people whose cases have been dismissed do not deserve to be let off simply because of the actions of one man. A Tampa Police spokesperson has said that these 12 suspects should think twice about drinking and driving again, simply because of their time in handcuffs and living with a charge of DUI.
There were over 61,000 DUI arrests made last year alone in Florida, which means that there have probably been over 2 million arrests across the state in the period that Sergeant Fernandez was working for the Tampa Police Department. Set against that number, the fact that only 40 of these arrests have been put into question seems to be relatively minor.
While the Tampa Police Department, as well as the State Attorney’s Office, has been quick to take decisive action against one of their officers, it may have taken an unusually well publicized case to bring the whole story to a head. One might wonder just how many other police officers routinely deal with some of their DUI arrests in a manner similar to that alleged to have been carried out by Sergeant Fernandez.
So many cases are being reviewed simply because of the actions of one man. This is a reminder of why every person who is arrested for DUI deserves an experienced and dedicated defense attorney to help them defend themselves against the charge laid against them. The consequences of being convicted for DUI in Florida are too serious to be affected by a witness who is unreliable and lies about evidence that is crucial to a decision about a conviction.
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