Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / OUTRAGE! ARMED METH HEAD BURGLARIZES OLD COUPLE IN BROAD DAYLIGHT, GETS $1 BOND PER COUNT TO WALK FREE!
Transcript
- 0:05Speaker 1: Crime stories with Nancy Grace. These days, two dollars might
- 0:12Speaker 1: not get you too far, but recently two dollars did
- 0:15Speaker 1: bind a Franklin County man out of jail. Sheriff's officials say.
- 0:18Speaker 1: On June sixth, John Dean was out of jail on
- 0:21Speaker 1: pre trial release when he broke into an elderly couple's
- 0:24Speaker 1: home in the middle of the day while they were
- 0:26Speaker 1: in it. He was charged with burglary and larcening, and
- 0:29Speaker 1: according to the Sheriff's office, Dean's bond was set at
- 0:32Speaker 1: two dollars. Now, Sheriff Ag Smith wants locals to know
- 0:36Speaker 1: it's not his choice for Dean to be back on
- 0:38Speaker 1: the streets. Sheriff Smith says there is now extra patrol
- 0:41Speaker 1: around the couple's home. We reached out of FDA's second
- 0:44Speaker 1: Judicial Court and we're told under the Code of Judicial Conduct,
- 0:48Speaker 1: the judge cannot make a public statement about any pending
- 0:51Speaker 1: or impending case. He doesn't have to make a public
- 0:54Speaker 1: statement granting this guy a two dollar bond, which means
- 1:01Speaker 1: all he has to put up is tim percent of that.
- 1:02Speaker 1: What is that twenty cents to get out of jail.
- 1:06Speaker 1: I don't need the judge who, by the way, is
- 1:09Speaker 1: named circuit judge and Martin Fitzpatrick out of the Leon
- 1:14Speaker 1: County jurisdiction in Florida. He doesn't have to say a
- 1:19Speaker 1: thing because that bond says it all to me. And
- 1:23Speaker 1: let me tell you something, Judge, Martin Fitzpatrick. I got
- 1:26Speaker 1: an eighty seven year old mother soon to be eighty eight,
- 1:29Speaker 1: who was often at home where she lives with me,
- 1:32Speaker 1: by herself. And the last thing I want my mother
- 1:36Speaker 1: to see is this jackass putting his foot through her
- 1:41Speaker 1: bedroom window in the middle of the day. You know what,
- 1:46Speaker 1: you would let it out on, Bond, Fitzpatrick. You bring
- 1:49Speaker 1: him home to your house with You're a wife and
- 1:52Speaker 1: you're a family. Don't set him loose out in the
- 1:55Speaker 1: public with me. Don't. But you did, didn't you? And
- 1:58Speaker 1: now you're all wrapped up in judicial pomposity saying you
- 2:03Speaker 1: can't give a statement. Well, you know what, your bond
- 2:06Speaker 1: speaks for itself. You know what, Keep the two dollars,
- 2:09Speaker 1: Just keep it, judge, because God willing, you're gonna need
- 2:13Speaker 1: it when you're off the bench. I'm Nancy Grace. This
- 2:16Speaker 1: is crime Stories. Thank you for being with us. You know,
- 2:18Speaker 1: every day I think I've seen it all till right now.
- 2:22Speaker 1: I want to go out to Dave Matt Crime online
- 2:24Speaker 1: dot Com investigative reporter joining me. You know what I'm
- 2:27Speaker 1: looking at this guy? I don't even know what to
- 2:31Speaker 1: call him. He looks stoned and his mugshot to me,
- 2:34Speaker 1: this John Dene and certainly not the John Dene of
- 2:39Speaker 1: the Watergate fame. The Franklin County Sheriff's office is saying
- 2:43Speaker 1: it's not on them. They arrested the guy, put him
- 2:46Speaker 1: in jail, and then this judge comes along lets him
- 2:49Speaker 1: out with a two dollar bond. And this is what
- 2:53Speaker 1: I'm learning, and I want to make sure if you
- 2:55Speaker 1: know anything about it, this guy has already been in
- 2:58Speaker 1: jail once on suspicion of meth anthet amine. You know,
- 3:02Speaker 1: if you're a meth head, you don't know what you're doing.
- 3:06Speaker 1: You just as well shooting raped somebody. You don't even
- 3:10Speaker 1: know what happened. You wake up and go what what
- 3:14Speaker 1: I mean? This guy is a meth head? Okay, hit me,
- 3:17Speaker 1: Dave mac what happened John Deane? Actually, Nancy, when you
- 3:21Speaker 1: were talking about how he looked kind of stoned in
- 3:22Speaker 1: his in his pictures and things well man. John Deane
- 3:25Speaker 1: is a guy who actually has a running with the
- 3:28Speaker 1: law on a fairly regular basis. He was actually out
- 3:32Speaker 1: on pretrial release on another crime when he committed this crime. Okay, okay, stop,
- 3:38Speaker 1: stop stop. Let me just take it in. Let me
- 3:40Speaker 1: just take that in. He's already out on bond or
- 3:44Speaker 1: you'd say pre trial release, which is bond or no bond,
- 3:50Speaker 1: and he breaks into this elderly couples home in the
- 3:55Speaker 1: middle of the day. Guy's joining me in about one
- 3:58Speaker 1: minute is the elected sheriff, A. J. Smith in Franklin County, Florida.
- 4:04Speaker 1: Now he's a gentleman. He's not gonna he's not going
- 4:07Speaker 1: to attack the judge. You know what I'll be. I'll
- 4:11Speaker 1: be the attacker here. He doesn't have to. I'll do
- 4:14Speaker 1: that for him. He's too much of a gentleman, you know,
- 4:17Speaker 1: Dave Mack, I'm just sick. I didn't know this guy
- 4:20Speaker 1: was already on bond when he broke into this old
- 4:22Speaker 1: couple's house. That's the part that actually bothered me more
- 4:24Speaker 1: than anything else, Nancy. He was out on a thousand
- 4:26Speaker 1: dollars bond after he was busted a month and a
- 4:30Speaker 1: half earlier than this at a drug house in East Point,
- 4:34Speaker 1: which is an area in Franklin County. So you got
- 4:36Speaker 1: on that head who's busted at a drug house and
- 4:39Speaker 1: has bonded out on a thousand dollars bond when he
- 4:42Speaker 1: decides to break into an elderly couple's home in the
- 4:46Speaker 1: middle of the day. The shocking part about all that
- 4:50Speaker 1: is that he's out on bond at the time that
- 4:52Speaker 1: crime takes place. When he shows up in front of
- 4:54Speaker 1: a judge, again as a judge has all this in
- 4:57Speaker 1: front of him, going Okay, this guy's a druggie. He's
- 4:59Speaker 1: waking into another he's out on bob. Here's the thing.
- 5:01Speaker 1: According to documents that we've gotten from the FCSO, the
- 5:07Speaker 1: Sheriff's office, this guy, John Dene has been arrested for
- 5:11Speaker 1: meth in the past and was most recently arrested for
- 5:15Speaker 1: meth after attending rehab, which means he's got more than
- 5:19Speaker 1: one meth incident. And I guarantee the state paid for
- 5:23Speaker 1: him to go to rehab. That's me and you pay
- 5:25Speaker 1: for his rehab and now he's breaking into this couple's home. Now,
- 5:29Speaker 1: here's the thing, aske you Wilcot judge, trial lawyer you
- 5:32Speaker 1: can find her at asked You Wilcot dot com. Here's
- 5:34Speaker 1: the thing about meth. I'm telling you, I think it's
- 5:37Speaker 1: as bad as heroin, a cocaine, easily easily as bad,
- 5:43Speaker 1: if not worse. One hit a meth and it's over you.
- 5:47Speaker 1: Have you ever seen those pictures where the person's young, youthful, attractive, vibrant,
- 5:52Speaker 1: and the end of just like one or two years,
- 5:55Speaker 1: they're covered in sores on their face. They look like
- 5:57Speaker 1: they're about seventy years old. I do trainings with those pictures,
- 6:00Speaker 1: and I train eighth graders. I talked to eighth graders
- 6:03Speaker 1: around the state about meth one hint and you're addicted. Yes,
- 6:07Speaker 1: that's what it makes them look like. But it makes
- 6:09Speaker 1: people out of their mind. It can keep them up
- 6:11Speaker 1: for three to four or five days on end, and
- 6:14Speaker 1: they are out of their mind. It is one of
- 6:16Speaker 1: the scariest, most addictive drugs to me, and I think
- 6:19Speaker 1: it's the scourge of where we are with our drug
- 6:22Speaker 1: use in America. And the thing about it is a
- 6:25Speaker 1: meth head will do anything from math and he can
- 6:28Speaker 1: bludge in this sole couple in the head, eat out
- 6:30Speaker 1: of their fridge and walk out in an hour, not
- 6:33Speaker 1: remember one bit of it. Okay, hold on, stop everything.
- 6:35Speaker 1: Joining me right now out of Franklin County, Florida is
- 6:39Speaker 1: Sheriff A. J. Smith, the elected sheriff in that jurisdiction. Now,
- 6:44Speaker 1: as I was saying, Sheriff before you joined us, number one,
- 6:47Speaker 1: welcome number two. You're too much of a gentleman to
- 6:50Speaker 1: trash to judge. But I'm okay with that. I got
- 6:52Speaker 1: a long history of trash and judges, especially when they
- 6:55Speaker 1: deserve it. So Sheriff A. J. Smith, just tell me,
- 6:59Speaker 1: to your knowledge, what happened. We'll leave the judge out
- 7:01Speaker 1: of this for now. Well, what happened was John Dene
- 7:06Speaker 1: and codefendant were arrested for the burglary. And that was
- 7:11Speaker 1: a Friday afternoon. They went, we arrested him, They went
- 7:14Speaker 1: to jail within twenty four hours. Of course, they're entitled
- 7:17Speaker 1: to the first appearance, which they received by an on
- 7:21Speaker 1: call judge. And as you said previously, he was on
- 7:25Speaker 1: pre trial release, which means he'd gotten in trouble, and
- 7:29Speaker 1: he was released with certain conditions. But of course he
- 7:33Speaker 1: didn't abide by those conditions. He committed another crowd of well,
- 7:35Speaker 1: well whoa wait, wait, a minute, judge is excuse me,
- 7:38Speaker 1: wait a minute, sheriff. It's easier for me to interrupt
- 7:41Speaker 1: a sheriff when I'm long distance in not in the
- 7:43Speaker 1: same room with them. But sheriff, now just hold on
- 7:46Speaker 1: a minute. What you know about meth heads and what
- 7:48Speaker 1: I know about meth addicts. Did you just say that
- 7:51Speaker 1: they released him on conditions like a meth addict is
- 7:55Speaker 1: going to follow conditions. They're completely out of their mind.
- 8:00Speaker 1: It's just you and I know that. But apparently some
- 8:05Speaker 1: of our judges don't realize that yet. And of course
- 8:08Speaker 1: there's there's another thing that falls into this equation. There's
- 8:11Speaker 1: a there was a federal court judge who issued a
- 8:13Speaker 1: ruling that said, and that applied to the circuit court
- 8:18Speaker 1: judges in our circuit, that said that no one should
- 8:23Speaker 1: be held on bond or they should be The basis
- 8:27Speaker 1: of this order was you can't hold somebody on bond
- 8:30Speaker 1: more than what they can afford, which is almost an oxymoron.
- 8:35Speaker 1: So well, then why even have bond. That's the whole
- 8:38Speaker 1: point that you don't want him out right. But I
- 8:42Speaker 1: think also that part of that order said that if
- 8:43Speaker 1: they were a danger to the community, then those rules
- 8:47Speaker 1: don't apply. And of course this guy, when you're breaking
- 8:49Speaker 1: someone's home, that's one of the most serious things you
- 8:52Speaker 1: can do. And they are a danger to the community.
- 8:56Speaker 1: And this person, no doubt, is a danger to our community.
- 8:59Speaker 1: And now he is in our community, and you know,
- 9:03Speaker 1: so we're certainly not happy about that. The community's not
- 9:07Speaker 1: happy about it. And you know, a lot of people
- 9:09Speaker 1: think the sheriff is the one that well, let me
- 9:10Speaker 1: ask you a question. Everybody's everybody's all unhappy. Well, who
- 9:14Speaker 1: elected the judge? Yeah, the circuit does people from the
- 9:17Speaker 1: six account Yeah, okay, So the people, the people that
- 9:20Speaker 1: are all mad about this guy, you know, they're the
- 9:23Speaker 1: one that elected judge Martin Fitzpatrick. Correct. You know, you
- 9:29Speaker 1: know that really weighed heavy on me, sheriff when I
- 9:34Speaker 1: was prosecuting, because, as you know, I'm a victim of
- 9:37Speaker 1: gun violence. My fiance was murdered right before our wedding.
- 9:40Speaker 1: And every time I take a plea, all right, I'd
- 9:43Speaker 1: agree to a bond, which was rare. I think, you know,
- 9:46Speaker 1: what if I go along with this, what if this
- 9:49Speaker 1: guy gets out and shoot somebody, it's gonna all be
- 9:52Speaker 1: on me. But apparently this judge wasn't concerned. Judge Martin
- 9:57Speaker 1: Fitzpatrick listened. John Deane was out of jail on pretrial
- 10:01Speaker 1: release when he broke into an elderly couple's home in
- 10:03Speaker 1: the middle of the day while they were in it.
- 10:05Speaker 1: He was charged with burglary and larcening, and according to
- 10:09Speaker 1: the Sheriff's office, Dean's bond was set at two dollars. Now,
- 10:13Speaker 1: Sheriff EG Smith wants locals to know it's not his
- 10:16Speaker 1: choice for Dean to be back on the streets. The
- 10:19Speaker 1: bond should should be suitable for that to keep that
- 10:23Speaker 1: person in jail because their danger, their danger to our community.
- 10:27Speaker 1: If somebody breaks into your home while you're there, it's
- 10:30Speaker 1: bad and those kinds of people should be held at
- 10:33Speaker 1: a high bond until the cases, until the cases resolved.
- 10:54Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. John Deane was out of
- 10:59Speaker 1: jail l on pretrial release when he broke into an
- 11:02Speaker 1: elderly couple's home in the middle of the day while
- 11:04Speaker 1: they were in it. It was charged with burglary and larceny,
- 11:08Speaker 1: and according to the Sheriff's office, Dean's bond was that
- 11:11Speaker 1: at two dollars. Now, Sheriff ag Smith wants locals to
- 11:15Speaker 1: know it's not his choice for Dean to be back
- 11:17Speaker 1: on the streets. The bond should should be suitable for
- 11:22Speaker 1: that to keep that person in jail because their danger,
- 11:26Speaker 1: their danger to our community. If somebody breaks into your
- 11:29Speaker 1: home while you're there, it's bad, and those kinds of
- 11:32Speaker 1: people should be held at a high bond until the cases,
- 11:37Speaker 1: until the cases resolved. You are hearing WGHGTV anchor Nissa Wilkins,
- 11:45Speaker 1: and you're also hearing the elected sheriff, A. J. Smith.
- 11:47Speaker 1: They're in Franklin County speaking and the sheriff is with us.
- 11:52Speaker 1: I Meancy Grace, this is crime Stories. Thank you for
- 11:54Speaker 1: being with us. Out on a two dollar bond. Okay.
- 11:57Speaker 1: Jackie Howard here in the studio, her head is spinning
- 11:59Speaker 1: around it just what what's your question? Isn't the whole
- 12:03Speaker 1: pot of given somebody a high bond is because you
- 12:05Speaker 1: know that you know what? That's what I always thought,
- 12:10Speaker 1: Jason Osans. She's saying, isn't the reason you give a
- 12:12Speaker 1: high bond is because you know they can't make it right?
- 12:16Speaker 1: Jason Oshan is joining me, criminal defense attorney out of
- 12:19Speaker 1: New York, New Jersey. Go ahead, Jason, I was gonna say, nanty,
- 12:22Speaker 1: we all know that at least from you know, the
- 12:25Speaker 1: Supreme Court, the bond is to ensure that you return
- 12:29Speaker 1: to court. Right, So, at least just on the record,
- 12:33Speaker 1: this guy was out on pretrial release when he got arrested.
- 12:38Speaker 1: That pre trial release was revoked and he had to
- 12:42Speaker 1: appear back on that charge. So when when this judge
- 12:47Speaker 1: here put the two dollars bond on, he was going
- 12:50Speaker 1: back to jail based on the revocation of the previous
- 12:53Speaker 1: pre trial release for the drug paraphernale. Since he is
- 12:57Speaker 1: I don't even know what you're saying. Can you just
- 12:59Speaker 1: speak you know what? This is not a law school tutorial.
- 13:02Speaker 1: Can you just break it down, Jason, you just lost
- 13:05Speaker 1: your jury. No, that's that's a good job of a
- 13:09Speaker 1: defense attorney. I got you spell down, so the jury
- 13:12Speaker 1: to sleep and no, I don't know. I think you're
- 13:14Speaker 1: like sleepy. He didn't. Wow, he did not get released
- 13:18Speaker 1: on the two dollars bond directly. He was keep two wall.
- 13:25Speaker 1: He was and that way and isn't it true when
- 13:28Speaker 1: you're granted a bond, you really only have to put
- 13:30Speaker 1: up ten percent of it? Right? But he went, no,
- 13:32Speaker 1: that's right, Jason, that's twenty cents, went back to jail.
- 13:36Speaker 1: His his pre trial release was revoked on the drug paraphernalia,
- 13:40Speaker 1: and then the judge sentenced him to time served on
- 13:43Speaker 1: the thirty five days that he was in. Once that
- 13:46Speaker 1: was done, he went the thirty five and time served.
- 13:51Speaker 1: Wa wait hold on, wait, wait wait, Sheriff A. J.
- 13:54Speaker 1: Smith out of Franklin County. When you hear somebody like
- 13:57Speaker 1: Jason Oceans, New York defense attor and he joining us
- 14:00Speaker 1: say things like time served, we know what time served mean, Sheriff,
- 14:06Speaker 1: what is time served? Well, I mean, Jason is telling
- 14:10Speaker 1: it like it is, but I think what the judge, well,
- 14:13Speaker 1: I'm glad you could understand him. Well, what he should
- 14:16Speaker 1: have taken into consideration was that another judge was gonna
- 14:21Speaker 1: hear the pre trial release violation is kind of two
- 14:23Speaker 1: separate things, and that would be resolved quickly, which to me,
- 14:28Speaker 1: he went back before the judge within thirty days, and
- 14:32Speaker 1: which is kind of normal for here. And then that
- 14:35Speaker 1: was resolved, and then all he had was two doctor
- 14:38Speaker 1: took was two dollars to get out of jail, and
- 14:40Speaker 1: he had two dollars in his pocket and he put
- 14:41Speaker 1: it up and he walked out the door, and that,
- 14:44Speaker 1: to me is what should have been taken into consideration.
- 14:47Speaker 1: Thank you for clarifying that two dollars he walked out
- 14:52Speaker 1: the door, I mean to me. Sheriff Smith A J.
- 14:55Speaker 1: Smith with me out of Franklin County, Florida, you say
- 14:59Speaker 1: the system is broken, and I could not agree more.
- 15:03Speaker 1: Hold on, Sheriff, I've got a psychologist joining me out
- 15:08Speaker 1: of New York right now. Karen, start, Karen, what does
- 15:11Speaker 1: this say to the family. I mean, think about it, Karen,
- 15:14Speaker 1: your mom that you have been taking care of for
- 15:17Speaker 1: so long, She's the most precious thing in the world
- 15:20Speaker 1: to you, just like my mom. We talk about it
- 15:23Speaker 1: all the time, our mom's. Think about your mom being
- 15:26Speaker 1: at home one day by herself and this meth head freak,
- 15:29Speaker 1: John Dene poking his foot through the kitchen window. And
- 15:33Speaker 1: by the way, I think he was armed. I think
- 15:35Speaker 1: he was armed. By the way he was armed. Jackie's saying, yes,
- 15:38Speaker 1: he was armed. Armed. Now what if your mother had
- 15:42Speaker 1: unwittingly walked into the kitchen and she got shot dead
- 15:46Speaker 1: by somebody that doesn't even know what he's doing. What
- 15:50Speaker 1: does that say to those victims? Karen a two dollar bond.
- 15:55Speaker 1: She doesn't even have to be shot dead, Nancy, as
- 15:58Speaker 1: we had we talked about a mother's and my mother's
- 16:02Speaker 1: ninety three. I mean, just the idea that someone would
- 16:05Speaker 1: break in could cause her to have a heart attack
- 16:09Speaker 1: or suffer stroke. I mean, this is such an outrageous
- 16:14Speaker 1: story that he is addicted to myth and he broke
- 16:20Speaker 1: into a home even though he was already he had
- 16:24Speaker 1: already been in, you know, called to task for what
- 16:29Speaker 1: he had done, and he has the nerve to do that.
- 16:33Speaker 1: I'm sure you didn't know what he was doing. And
- 16:35Speaker 1: then he's let out on two dollars to go and
- 16:40Speaker 1: hurt another elderly person or break into somebody else's home
- 16:45Speaker 1: and frighten Well, Karen, are you sitting down right now?
- 16:48Speaker 1: Are you sitting down? Yes? Nancy? I am okay, I
- 16:51Speaker 1: thank you. Better lay down for this. M Ashley Walcott.
- 16:56Speaker 1: You have your beautiful children, you have parents still living.
- 17:02Speaker 1: I imagine this. Imagine this, Ashley Walcott, this freak coming
- 17:06Speaker 1: in your home, your lovely home. One perp has a
- 17:12Speaker 1: gun and one perp has a knife, and it's in
- 17:15Speaker 1: broad daylight. See, I don't worry as much if I
- 17:18Speaker 1: leave my mom home in the middle of the day
- 17:21Speaker 1: with the doors locked. I don't think that as much
- 17:24Speaker 1: about it as leaving her at night. This is in
- 17:27Speaker 1: broad daylight, Ashley. It scares me to death. And I
- 17:29Speaker 1: have told my husband, and you know my husband, Nancy,
- 17:32Speaker 1: he's six seven, he played college football. He's a big man.
- 17:35Speaker 1: I have said to him, if anyone ever broke into
- 17:39Speaker 1: our home, even when we were gone, I would move
- 17:42Speaker 1: because I would no longer feel safe. Can you imagine?
- 17:45Speaker 1: And then it happens in broad daylight while they're home.
- 17:49Speaker 1: My mother lives with me. I cannot even imagine the
- 17:53Speaker 1: fear I would have moving forward. And then to know
- 17:56Speaker 1: that the perpetrators out on bond, or the alleged perpetrator
- 18:00Speaker 1: honestly is it makes me want to throw up. Sheriff A. J.
- 18:04Speaker 1: Smith out of Franklin County joining me, Sheriff, I want
- 18:08Speaker 1: to hear from you. I want to hear it from
- 18:09Speaker 1: the horse's mouth. Tell me what more our listeners need
- 18:12Speaker 1: to know. Well, here's what I think. Everybody, with the
- 18:17Speaker 1: exception of your defense attorney in New York, which I
- 18:20Speaker 1: don't know what he's had, no, no, no, what I've
- 18:25Speaker 1: been trying to figure out what Jason Oshan's problem is.
- 18:28Speaker 1: Since about nineteen I still haven't figured it out. Well, no,
- 18:31Speaker 1: I mean, I don't know what his exposure to the
- 18:33Speaker 1: meth epidemic has been. But in the rural counties in
- 18:36Speaker 1: Florida where we are seeing a math epidemic, and I've
- 18:39Speaker 1: been doing this forty years and I've never seen a
- 18:41Speaker 1: drug just like what y'all are saying as horrific as math,
- 18:45Speaker 1: what it does to people, to families, to our community. Guys,
- 18:57Speaker 1: I want to tell you about something very important to me.
- 19:00Speaker 1: I hope you can join me this Saturday, six o'clock Eastern,
- 19:03Speaker 1: five Central on Oxygen for Injustice with Nancy Grace. I
- 19:07Speaker 1: think about this woman so often. Michelle Mightby. She got
- 19:11Speaker 1: up super early one morning, got her coffee in her car,
- 19:15Speaker 1: checked on her two little girls, and headed off to
- 19:16Speaker 1: work early. She wanted to take a few days off
- 19:20Speaker 1: at the end of the week to spend time with
- 19:22Speaker 1: her children and her husband. So she goes to work
- 19:25Speaker 1: this big, huge, sprawling laboratory and processing center, Thermo Fisher.
- 19:31Speaker 1: She was head of HR. She never saw her children
- 19:35Speaker 1: alive again. She was brutally murdered at work. The Purp
- 19:40Speaker 1: dragging her body, leaving a trail of blood from her office.
- 19:44Speaker 1: Who in that sprawling lab had an axe to grind
- 19:50Speaker 1: with Mom Michelle Matby, who sentenced her little girls to
- 19:55Speaker 1: life without a mom. We reinvestigate the case, shining lights
- 20:02Speaker 1: on what really happened. Please join us Saturday, Oxygen six
- 20:08Speaker 1: o'clock Eastern, five Central and the case of the murder
- 20:13Speaker 1: of Mom Michelle might be. We want justice. Crime Stories
- 20:25Speaker 1: with Nancy Grace. I Nancy Grace, this is crime Stories.
- 20:30Speaker 1: Thank you for being with us. Out on a two
- 20:32Speaker 1: dollar bond. Sheriff A. J. Smith out of Franklin County
- 20:35Speaker 1: joining me. Sheriff, I want to hear from you. I
- 20:38Speaker 1: want to hear it from the horse's mouth. Tell me
- 20:40Speaker 1: what more our listeners need to know. Well, here's what
- 20:43Speaker 1: I think. Everybody, with the exception of your defense attorney
- 20:47Speaker 1: in New York, which I don't know what what he's had,
- 20:51Speaker 1: what his problem is. I've been trying to figure out
- 20:56Speaker 1: what Jason Ocean's problem is since about nineteen ninety seven.
- 20:59Speaker 1: I still haven't. I mean, I don't know what his
- 21:01Speaker 1: exposure to the meth epidemic has been. But in the
- 21:04Speaker 1: rural counties in Florida where we are seeing a math epidemic.
- 21:07Speaker 1: And I've been doing this forty years and I've never
- 21:09Speaker 1: seen a drug just like what y'all are saying as
- 21:12Speaker 1: horrific as math, what it does to people, to families,
- 21:15Speaker 1: to our community. So we've looked at a lot of
- 21:18Speaker 1: different things that the Sheriff's office can do. We offer
- 21:21Speaker 1: we have a slogan. We go by rehabilitation or incarceration,
- 21:25Speaker 1: take your pick. And we have some people that come
- 21:29Speaker 1: in and some people that don't. But here's the thing.
- 21:32Speaker 1: Just about everybody I have in my jail is there
- 21:35Speaker 1: as a result directly or indirectly of drugs. And what
- 21:38Speaker 1: I would like for you to emphasize and for people
- 21:41Speaker 1: to get from this story not only was it a
- 21:43Speaker 1: two dollar barn, which was ridiculous, but that all these
- 21:47Speaker 1: people that we arrest every day, or whether it's stealing
- 21:50Speaker 1: a car, are smoking math or whatever it is, it
- 21:54Speaker 1: is drug related, and the judges that are seeing them
- 21:56Speaker 1: for first appearance and for their to answer for their charges.
- 22:02Speaker 1: There has to be more sancious put on. There has
- 22:05Speaker 1: to be some kind of mental health, there has to
- 22:07Speaker 1: be some kind of rehabilitation component forced on these people
- 22:12Speaker 1: because they're not going to do it otherwise. We see
- 22:14Speaker 1: a cycle. It's over and over and over the same people.
- 22:17Speaker 1: And what we're doing is not working. What these judges
- 22:19Speaker 1: are doing. Okay, I had one I arrested the other day.
- 22:22Speaker 1: I walked in to a shed. He was sitting there
- 22:25Speaker 1: smoking meth. The guy pulled a knife on me. He
- 22:28Speaker 1: got a fourteen thousand dollars bar on, which I thought
- 22:30Speaker 1: was ridiculous. Again and he was out three days later.
- 22:36Speaker 1: So with no other sanctions except to have an ankle monitor.
- 22:41Speaker 1: So why not put some kind of mental health evaluation,
- 22:43Speaker 1: some kind of rehabilitation while they're awaiting to try to
- 22:47Speaker 1: go to trial. Because all the judges know that most
- 22:49Speaker 1: of these people, they can look at them, or they
- 22:51Speaker 1: could ask them, when's the last time you smoke meth
- 22:54Speaker 1: or shot up meth or snorted myth? But that's not happening.
- 22:58Speaker 1: And we gotta have a new way of doing things
- 23:01Speaker 1: if we're going to make our communities healthy again and
- 23:05Speaker 1: stop this epidemic. Guys, you are hearing from Sheriff A. J. Smith,
- 23:09Speaker 1: the elected sheriff in Franklin County, Florida. And I have
- 23:12Speaker 1: to agree there to my knowledge right now said maybe heroin.
- 23:17Speaker 1: There's not anything as addictive or in my mind, more
- 23:22Speaker 1: dangerous than methamphetamine. I mean, people are blowing up their
- 23:26Speaker 1: houses cooking it. They will still, they will rob, they
- 23:31Speaker 1: will murder and not really even remember it. You kind
- 23:33Speaker 1: of turn into a zombie on this stuff, and it's
- 23:36Speaker 1: immediately addictive. Two things. One, we got to educate our
- 23:40Speaker 1: kids and give them an outlet. They gotta you know,
- 23:45Speaker 1: creative outlets, things that interest them more than drugs. You know.
- 23:48Speaker 1: One of the things I'd like to do is have
- 23:50Speaker 1: a performing arts center here in our small county where
- 23:53Speaker 1: kids could learn music, dance, they could make their own videos,
- 23:56Speaker 1: they could learn things that they have an interest in.
- 23:58Speaker 1: You know, everybody can't be a football player or a
- 24:00Speaker 1: baseball player or a basketball player, so we got to
- 24:03Speaker 1: have other things for them. We got to have education
- 24:05Speaker 1: about anti drugs, and we got to start teaching our
- 24:09Speaker 1: kids at an early age because we got four generations
- 24:11Speaker 1: of drug addicts and we got to break the cycle.
- 24:14Speaker 1: But we also got to give the ones that are
- 24:17Speaker 1: addicted the opportunity coming clean up if they want to.
- 24:20Speaker 1: What's disturbing right now, in addition to the myth problem
- 24:23Speaker 1: that Sheriff A. J. Smith out of Franklin County, Florida's
- 24:26Speaker 1: talking about, is that a previously well respected judge, Judge
- 24:31Speaker 1: Martin Fitzpatrick, granted a two dollar bond to a guy
- 24:36Speaker 1: addicted to meth previous meth arrests after he breaks in
- 24:42Speaker 1: armed with a co defendant, one of the goma with
- 24:45Speaker 1: a knife and to an elderly couple's home. They're in
- 24:47Speaker 1: Florida in the middle of the day. They're on a
- 24:54Speaker 1: remote I wouldn't say a remote area, but Sheriff AJA Smith,
- 24:58Speaker 1: is it a residential areas right the area where he
- 25:00Speaker 1: broke in? It is? It's a residential area. It's a
- 25:06Speaker 1: residential area in the middle of our county. I mean
- 25:08Speaker 1: we are rural county, and but it is. It's in
- 25:11Speaker 1: an unincorporated area. But it's strictly residential and you know,
- 25:19Speaker 1: fairly fairly populated for us. It's a community called East Point.
- 25:23Speaker 1: Now I've been taking a look at your probably calls affidavit.
- 25:28Speaker 1: Dean was identified by mister Ball, an elderly East Point resident,
- 25:34Speaker 1: as being the man with another guy who burglarized his
- 25:39Speaker 1: North Bay Shore Drive home earlier that day. So the
- 25:45Speaker 1: senior mail identified them the old man tried to chase
- 25:51Speaker 1: him or old guy that reminds me of my dad
- 25:55Speaker 1: so much. They cops apparently found a book bag left
- 25:59Speaker 1: on the bedroom floor with a knife, which led to
- 26:04Speaker 1: the armed burglary charge. Correct, I mean, what is the
- 26:09Speaker 1: judge making any comment about this at all? No, there's
- 26:13Speaker 1: there's no comment about it. And like you know, like
- 26:18Speaker 1: you previously stated, I just I want the community to
- 26:20Speaker 1: know that my job is to bring them before the
- 26:23Speaker 1: courts and that's what I do, and and we all
- 26:26Speaker 1: have to work together. But again, this myth epidemic is
- 26:30Speaker 1: so out of control that we got to all be
- 26:32Speaker 1: working together. And I think if you're not exposed to
- 26:38Speaker 1: it on a daily basis, like a lot of the
- 26:40Speaker 1: folks in the judicial system are not, they don't realize
- 26:43Speaker 1: what it's doing to our community. And that's what I
- 26:45Speaker 1: want to bring awareness to. Hey, we have a problem, well, sheriff.
- 26:49Speaker 1: I rarely disagree with a sheriff, but I got to
- 26:52Speaker 1: disagree with you on that because how can you be
- 26:54Speaker 1: a sitting judge and not know about the meth epidemic
- 26:57Speaker 1: Because you see myth heads and what they do, they're
- 27:00Speaker 1: out of their minds. It's almost to where they're not
- 27:03Speaker 1: really to blame, but yet they are because they're so
- 27:06Speaker 1: out there like zombies. Okay, here's the thing. It's about
- 27:11Speaker 1: making our communities healthy again. Drug addiction and mental health
- 27:16Speaker 1: go hand in hand, and they are making our communities unhealthy.
- 27:23Speaker 1: If we can get these people off drugs, make our
- 27:26Speaker 1: communities healthier, We make our families hold, we make our
- 27:30Speaker 1: communities a better place to live. That's what I'm telling people.
- 27:34Speaker 1: So everybody get involved, and so the community is they
- 27:38Speaker 1: are they are with me on that, and I'm gonna
- 27:41Speaker 1: that's what I'm as long as I'm sure if that's
- 27:43Speaker 1: what I'm gonna keep doing. If you don't want to
- 27:45Speaker 1: get clean, but you're going to commit crimes, and we're
- 27:47Speaker 1: gonna aggressively work to put you in jail and get
- 27:51Speaker 1: you off the streets so that you're not stealing from
- 27:53Speaker 1: somebody or breaking in their house or burning their car,
- 27:56Speaker 1: or you know, committing battery or sex battery or all
- 28:00Speaker 1: these crimes that go along with the drug You know,
- 28:02Speaker 1: they say drugs are a victim was crime. That's a
- 28:04Speaker 1: bunch of bs. I got a question for you, Sheriff,
- 28:07Speaker 1: How does this make your people, your men and women
- 28:11Speaker 1: in uniform feel when they go to all this effort.
- 28:16Speaker 1: They go to a crime scene. Do you never know
- 28:18Speaker 1: what's going to happen to you at a crime scene?
- 28:19Speaker 1: You don't know if somebody's armed in there waiting for
- 28:21Speaker 1: you to walk in the door. They go, They put
- 28:23Speaker 1: their life on the line. They go this home, they investigate,
- 28:27Speaker 1: they find the perp, they arrest the perp, they do
- 28:29Speaker 1: great work, they put him in jail, and then it
- 28:31Speaker 1: gets out on a it's really a one dollar bond
- 28:34Speaker 1: on each count. Yeah, it's certainly. It certainly does not
- 28:37Speaker 1: make the deputies feel good because, just like you said,
- 28:41Speaker 1: they are putting their life on the line. And like
- 28:43Speaker 1: I told you earlier, I walked in on one just
- 28:44Speaker 1: last week who was actually smoking a math pipe. And
- 28:49Speaker 1: of course, just like you said, again, they're out of
- 28:51Speaker 1: their head. They're not thinking rational, They're going to do
- 28:54Speaker 1: things they wouldn't normally do. Their emotions are high. And yeah,
- 28:59Speaker 1: so you like to know that when you catch these people,
- 29:03Speaker 1: especially when they're most of them are repeat offenders in
- 29:06Speaker 1: them each time we have to catch them again, it's
- 29:08Speaker 1: harder because they get shrewder, they get smarter, and it's
- 29:13Speaker 1: you know, it's hard, and like I said, just about
- 29:14Speaker 1: everybody having jail or repeat offenders, they've been before judges before.
- 29:18Speaker 1: It's not their first rodeo, they know, and so we
- 29:21Speaker 1: gotta we gotta have a better way of doing things.
- 29:38Speaker 1: Prime Stories with Nancy Grace. These days, two dollars might
- 29:45Speaker 1: not get you too far, but recently two dollars did
- 29:48Speaker 1: bind a Franklin County man out of jail, Sheriff's officials say.
- 29:52Speaker 1: On June sixth, John Deane was out of jail on
- 29:55Speaker 1: pre trial release when he broke into an elderly couple's
- 29:58Speaker 1: home in the middle of the day while they were
- 30:00Speaker 1: in it. It was charged with burglary and larceny, and
- 30:03Speaker 1: according to the Sheriff's office, Dean's bond was set at
- 30:07Speaker 1: two dollars. Now, Sheriff Eg Smith wants locals to know
- 30:10Speaker 1: it's not his choice for Dean to be back on
- 30:13Speaker 1: the streets. Sheriff Smith says there is now extra patrol
- 30:16Speaker 1: around the couple's home. We reached south of Florida's Second
- 30:19Speaker 1: Judicial Court and we're told under the Code of Judicial Conduct,
- 30:23Speaker 1: the judge cannot make a public statement about any pending
- 30:26Speaker 1: or impending case. I mean, it's he grace, this is
- 30:29Speaker 1: crime stories. Thank you for being with us. A two
- 30:32Speaker 1: dollar bond to a guy addicted to meth previous meth
- 30:38Speaker 1: arrests after he breaks in armed with a code defendant
- 30:43Speaker 1: one of the Goma with a knife and to an
- 30:44Speaker 1: elderly couple's home there in Florida in the middle of
- 30:50Speaker 1: the day. Jason Oceans, I'm gonna go out on a
- 30:53Speaker 1: limb and risk it go to you again. I hope
- 30:56Speaker 1: you're not mad at me. But Jason, we know this
- 31:00Speaker 1: guy's already had state funded rehab. And I would try
- 31:05Speaker 1: everything as a prosecutor. If I thought somebody was an addict,
- 31:09Speaker 1: you know, I'd give him probation and treatment, free treatment
- 31:13Speaker 1: to start with, and community service. If that didn't work,
- 31:16Speaker 1: then I'd put him in a lot down rehab paid
- 31:19Speaker 1: for by the state. Then after that jail. But once
- 31:22Speaker 1: a gun appears, or once a victim is at jeopardy,
- 31:26Speaker 1: it's all over. You go to jail. I mean, what
- 31:29Speaker 1: more can we do, Jason, we I mean, he's had rehab,
- 31:32Speaker 1: he's had probation. What more can we do? No, I
- 31:35Speaker 1: just want to say, I hear you Nancy, I want
- 31:37Speaker 1: to say the sheriff, you know, practicing over twenties. Okay,
- 31:41Speaker 1: se wait now right there, right there, when somebody starts
- 31:44Speaker 1: off with I hear you. Now see that's always followed
- 31:47Speaker 1: by a butt, I hear you. But okay, what's the butt? Well,
- 31:52Speaker 1: this is the kin back to the early nineties with
- 31:54Speaker 1: the crack is whack and you know how devastating that
- 31:58Speaker 1: was Andy rates Rose and until we you know, sought
- 32:02Speaker 1: a way to deal with it, and you know social justice.
- 32:05Speaker 1: As the sheriff is talking about having more you know,
- 32:09Speaker 1: investment and resource to to deal with his vicious you know, epidemic, math, opioids,
- 32:16Speaker 1: all of it, you know, but those are those are
- 32:18Speaker 1: balances of choice that you know, governments and municipalities make.
- 32:21Speaker 1: You got to invest in those. And I feel the
- 32:24Speaker 1: sheriff's anguish and trying to deal with it. Sounds like
- 32:27Speaker 1: a very compassionate man who's trying to do his job
- 32:30Speaker 1: with his officers and at the same time deal with
- 32:32Speaker 1: the reality of such a scourge to his community. It's
- 32:36Speaker 1: a it's a conundrum, Nancy, Uh, you know, and uh
- 32:41Speaker 1: there's no easy balance. Okay, So what you're saying to
- 32:44Speaker 1: me Jason, is that we need to pump more money
- 32:48Speaker 1: into the system for rehab and treatment. Okay, see, I
- 32:52Speaker 1: thought that too back in Let's see, when did us
- 32:54Speaker 1: start prosecuting over nineteen eighty seven? And I thought, oh,
- 32:58Speaker 1: alsend these people to have I'll help them and they
- 33:01Speaker 1: won't commit another crime. Guess what. All the rehabs are full,
- 33:05Speaker 1: all the beans are taken people would have to and
- 33:09Speaker 1: politicians are not going to pay any more money. They're
- 33:13Speaker 1: not going to do it. Even though that's what they
- 33:15Speaker 1: need to do. It ain't going to happen. They're not
- 33:18Speaker 1: giving any more money. And I'm hearing Sheriff Smith, this
- 33:22Speaker 1: system is broken. So Sheriff, what do you propose? Well,
- 33:27Speaker 1: you know, Nancy, one of the things that I am
- 33:29Speaker 1: working on here probably the first. I don't know of
- 33:32Speaker 1: any other sheriff in the country that's running a rehab center,
- 33:36Speaker 1: but that's what I'm on the cusp of trying to
- 33:40Speaker 1: get open here. And it'll be open to anybody anywhere.
- 33:44Speaker 1: It'll be free. And I know that's kind of a
- 33:48Speaker 1: big step for a sheriff, but we have such an
- 33:51Speaker 1: epidemic here that we have to find a solution, and
- 33:57Speaker 1: nobody else seems to have a solution. So this is
- 34:00Speaker 1: what I'm I have a facility here and the account
- 34:04Speaker 1: of Commissioners have agreed to give it to me. It's
- 34:06Speaker 1: got to be rehabs. I got to raise money private donors.
- 34:10Speaker 1: I got to go to the Department of Justice that
- 34:12Speaker 1: has grants. I'm going to the States to maybe get
- 34:15Speaker 1: a legislative appropriation. We have there's old spilled money left over.
- 34:19Speaker 1: It called the Triumph Fund from the old spell you know,
- 34:22Speaker 1: ears back. And so I'm going to go to all
- 34:25Speaker 1: these of all these different resources and see what I
- 34:29Speaker 1: can get. But that's where we are. But we're going
- 34:33Speaker 1: to continue people that don't want to do change their lives,
- 34:37Speaker 1: they want to continue to use maths, We're going to
- 34:40Speaker 1: aggressively arrest them. We're going to stay on them. We're
- 34:44Speaker 1: getting ready we do drug round ups where these people
- 34:47Speaker 1: just like the meth house you were talking about where
- 34:49Speaker 1: we got John Deane ten people living there. It's nothing
- 34:53Speaker 1: but you know, a sore spot in a good neighborhood.
- 34:57Speaker 1: And so we're going to continue to aggressively seek out
- 35:00Speaker 1: these people that are selling math and using math and
- 35:04Speaker 1: lock them up. Well, the sheriff is there any way
- 35:07Speaker 1: that you can have Is there any way. I've been
- 35:11Speaker 1: in so many crack houses looking for witnesses and guys.
- 35:14Speaker 1: When we say meth house or a crack house, I
- 35:15Speaker 1: can't believe I was there sometimes in that without even
- 35:18Speaker 1: an investigator with me. I mean, it looks abandon The
- 35:23Speaker 1: furniture is all burned up, the sofas turned upside down,
- 35:26Speaker 1: their burn holes in the carpet, it's filthy, there's needles
- 35:31Speaker 1: everywhere you're in. It's just just still. It really needs
- 35:37Speaker 1: to be condemned if it's a meth house. But I'm
- 35:41Speaker 1: just thinking about the how the victims in this case feel,
- 35:45Speaker 1: how the sheriffs that worked the case feel. I mean,
- 35:48Speaker 1: what are they supposed to do? Go out and try
- 35:51Speaker 1: it again the next day? You know, when the guy's
- 35:52Speaker 1: going to get a two dollar bond, and what's gonna happen,
- 35:54Speaker 1: Sheriff Smith, when he doesn't show up for court, what's
- 35:57Speaker 1: going to happen? Then? Yeah, they're going to have to
- 35:59Speaker 1: take resources and go out and look for them again.
- 36:01Speaker 1: I mean, that's that's what you know. We're a small agency,
- 36:04Speaker 1: So when I have to go out and chase down
- 36:07Speaker 1: people who don't show up, in court. It's takes people
- 36:10Speaker 1: away from doing there are other poor functions, which is
- 36:13Speaker 1: fighting this myth epidemic. So so yeah, itiners well, Sheriff.
- 36:18Speaker 1: I surely admire you. I admire your effort to start
- 36:22Speaker 1: the treatment program, and if we can help in anyway,
- 36:26Speaker 1: I'm all behind it. But I really would like people
- 36:30Speaker 1: to get rehabbed behind bars, because innocent victims like this family,
- 36:37Speaker 1: the poor old senior trying to chase this guy out
- 36:39Speaker 1: of his house as meth head. I don't want my
- 36:42Speaker 1: mom in that position. So while you're rehabbing all the
- 36:45Speaker 1: meth heads, could you please just keep him in a lockdown.
- 36:48Speaker 1: My campaign that we started a couple of years ago
- 36:51Speaker 1: is rehabilitation or incarceration. If you don't want help, then
- 36:55Speaker 1: we're going to lock you up because you're a minister
- 36:57Speaker 1: our society. You're committing crimes. I mean, just today we're
- 37:00Speaker 1: running around trying to find some people that burglarize the house,
- 37:04Speaker 1: took guns, and then stole the card and set it
- 37:06Speaker 1: on fire. So we're that's what we've been working on today.
- 37:09Speaker 1: And we know it's people that are involved in drugs
- 37:13Speaker 1: have done this, and so if they're not going to
- 37:16Speaker 1: do right then they need to be locked up, bottom line,
- 37:18Speaker 1: and the judge has got to help us. We'll just
- 37:20Speaker 1: see what Judge Martin Fitzpatrick has to say about this,
- 37:23Speaker 1: although I guarantee you he'll remain quiet and get reelected
- 37:28Speaker 1: and go out and have a stake dinner. Nancy Grace
- 37:31Speaker 1: Crime Story signing off, Goodbye friend,