“Be visible,” Ovalle said over the phone. “Put the time in, constantly be there, show that you actually care, go on ride-alongs, go through reports … I would go to the officer-of-the-month luncheons, law enforcement awards banquets … just to make yourself visible and to understand more what working as a cop entails.”
It’s something David Ovalle learned while covering sports at the
http://www.poynter.org/uncategorized/72312/leaving-fingerprints-inside-the-police-beat/
Received an email, edited below. I was assigned the Barquin police shooting as a prosecutor and was then removed because of police pressure. As a defense attorney I was retained to work on the Shehada and McCoy cases as a homicide consultant in 2009. That consultancy ended in (from memory) sometime in the fall of 2009 and I have had no further involvement.
Hello Mr. Ranck,
I am looking into the Leonardo Barquin and Shehada and McCoy police shootings. Barquin seems like a cover up based on your internal memo. They are stone-walling me by not complying with public records requests in both cases [i.e. the Barquin killing and the Shehada/McCoy killings]…
Tavss [former Miami Beach Officer Adam Tavss] killed both Shehada and McCoy four days apart…The killings were covered nationally by The New York Times and CNN among others. But not The
(1-Q) Thank you much, David. The wheels of justice (Justice?) seem to grind
very slowly. I wonder if the case, against the "husband" and father
of Lynne Friend's son, is based solely on witnesses seeing the dumping
of "something" overboard out at sea. If so, is that likely to be
enough to convict??
Or do you think there is more evidence?
…………..
(1-A) I KNOW there is more evidence, I was assigned the case. You have
suggested to me a good idea though, to look to see if I still have a
copy of the Grand Jury memo I prepared in 2004. If I do, I will just
post it on Politics & Justice.
It is my personal, gut hunch from having reviewed all of the
evidence that Lynne's body was not thrown overboard. I do not know
what they did with it though. But that is one of the ways this
investigation got thrown off-track because it doesn't matter. Under
the law a person who has disappeared without explanation for a
certain length of time is legally presumed dead. That certain period
of time has long past. Lynne is dead, and is legally presumed so. So
the two ocean searches were a waste of time and money. I met with an
oceanography expert at the
If the body was dumped in the vicinity of where the go-fast was
stopped, it was dumped in the gulf stream. I'll never forget the UM
professor telling me that after a few weeks, "the body could have
washed ashore on an island off
………………………..
(2-Q) David - I got the impression that the "something" was weighted down.
Wouldn't a heavy enough weight have made it sink to the bottom even in
the
it doesn't matter anyway, what does matter and what can be used to
convict?
…………………
(2-A) That was the first thing I asked the oceanography expert: he said it
takes, now I'm doing this from memory so it may be a little off, 8-8
1/2 times a person's body weight in that depth ocean water to take her
to the bottom. Lynne weighed (memory) 135. So 1,080-1,147 lbs to take
her to the bottom. That may have sunk the boat. It sure wouldn't have
been a go-fast w/ all that weight. When he told me that (1) I got
disgusted that no one had asked him that BEFORE the two marine searches,
and (2) I asked him how far down the body would have gone and where it
would have ended up, and that's when he told me "
(3-Q) Geez. Proving the body was dumped and/or finding was futile. So.
what evidence is there to convict without a body -or- a witness who
saw the murder and would come forward to testify against the murderer.
Makes me wonder if the buddy of the "husband" is still in touch . . .
maybe he's had a change of heart or is ready to break his Allegiance to
silence.
I also wonder, and I may be repeating myself, if the either killer or
accomplice have been convicted (or accused) of any other crime. The
son should be all grown up now; what about him.....could he have an
insight that he has gleaned from his dad or that buddy of his dad?
…………………..
(3-A) The ocean searches were really ridiculous, especially the last one.
The case is a very strong one circumstantially. When lay people hear
"circumstantial evidence" they equate it with "not enough." That's not
accurate. Some of the best cases are circumstantial. In addition,
there's a witness, a friend of Cliff's, who met with Cliff two weeks
before and will testify that Cliff told him that Christian (son)
wasn't going anywhere, and that Lynne was "going to take a boat ride
and not come back." That (and the dump itself) is where the theory of
the ocean body dump came from. The ocean searches were stupid and threw
the investigation off track, in my opinion, and as I've said, I have
come to doubt the ocean dump theory itself. So it would follow that I
have doubts about this witness. And I do, all of us, prosecutors, cops,
everyone who has ever touched this case has doubts about this witness.
This is the point though: it's our jobs to have doubts about witnesses,
and nearly every witness has doubts attached to him/her, so you don't
just throw overboard, to use an apt metaphor, a witness who you have
legitimate doubts about. You look for "corroboration" and there is
plenty, in my opinion, with regard to this witness, and for the entire
case for guilt.
I do not know if Clifford or Allan Gold (friend) have had any other
run-ins with the law. Both had some priors but they weren't career
criminals or the like. They could have had a falling out. Friends
become ex-friends just like spouses become ex-spouses. The case could
get stronger after arrest but it could also get weaker. Witnesses die
after 17 years, or get arrested themselves, as one of the police
officers did. My point is and always has been that the case is plenty
good right now to make an arrest and nothing should have delayed it
this long.
Christian was never interviewed. Mistake. When I had the case what we
were going to do is take a statement from him right before the
arrest(s). The last time I talked to Det. Butchko, that was still the
plan.
…………..
(4-Q) David - Holy Cow! Lynne was "going to take a boat ride and not come
back." !! Makes you wonder where the body could be if not in the
ocean. If Allan Gold has split with Cliff maybe he is willing to
testify if he gets immunity???
I may be using the wrong term here but, what about a statute of
limitations? Isn't there a period after which a person cannot be
prosecuted? Does that apply here? Otherwise, I hope you or someone
does pursue this case.
……………………
(4-A) Ahh, so you see that as pretty significant evidence too, huh :)
Me too! And everyone else. Concerns about this witness are not what's
holding this case up, not from my last conversation with Det.Butchko
most importantly, and not when I had the case.
There's a long, long history to this case that I haven't gotten into. I
will but just very generally right now everything that could derail
this case has derailed it and some things, like the last team of cops
pulling the plug, that I don't have answers for.
This witness wore a wire on a number of occasions in the 1990's and
tape-recorded conversations with Cliff.
Now the technology then was not good compared to today and the quality
of the tapes is fair to poor. But I listened to every one of them and
got what I could out of them. A significant conversation concerns the
boat ride. An ocean search was in the works and had been publicized and
the witness brings it up. I can still hear Cliff now saying as calm as
can be, "I'm all for it. I heard on the news they can find a tin can on
the bottom. Let 'em go ahead."
To me, Cliff did not seem to be "talking for the wire" there, in other
words, he didn't suspect he was being taped. Those were his true
feelings. That was one of the things that made me doubt the ocean dump
theory. So where'd they dump the body and what did they dump in the
ocean, because they were caught in the act of dumping something. Good
questions that I have had, anyone would have and everyone has had. I
don't know, I don't know, and it's legally irrelevant, are the answers.
……………
(5-Q) If they were dumping something other than the body as a decoy, does it
really look like Cliff and Allan were trying to get the chase boat to
see them do it? What I originally read made me think Cliff and Allan
were surprised.
…………………..
(5-A) Oh, they were deer-in-the-headlights surprised. That was not some decoy
maneuver. They were throwing something incriminating overboard there is
no doubt of that. Tim Stellhorn, the Marine Patrol ofcr, described one
of the objects as suitcase-sized. Before I got into the case FDLE had
gotten a similar-sized suitcase, then got a secretary Lynne's height
and weight, 5'4", 135 lbs (from memory) to see if she would fit in the
suitcase. She did. Then there was another object thrown overboard, I
don't remember Tim having as distinct a memory of that second object. I
do remember that he thought the two objects might have been chained or
somehow linked together.
Allan Gold was the one who threw them overboard. Tim said Allan was
struggling to lift and then push the first one overboard. Allan's a big
man but anybody is going to struggle to dead (pun intended) lift 135
lbs.
Obviously the first object could have been Lynne's body, the second one
an object to weight it down. Allan and Clifford wouldn't have known of
the 8-8 1/2-1 ratio to body weight needed to put a body on the bottom.
They would have done the best they could. The point is they did very
well! If the first object was Lynne's body, which I doubt, but it
could have been, their intent was to make her disappear. They
accomplished that, but not by sending the body to the bottom.
……………..
(6-Q) Your comments about drifting in the ocean currents makes me wonder if
the suitcase would have eventually descended to the bottom then
tumbled into rocks or other debris on the bottom. I picture the ocean
bottom as a wide open place where the suitcase would have rested as
the body (if that is what was in it) eventually decomposed leaving
only bones behind. The suitcase may also have decomposed, depending
on what the suitcase was made of, scattering the remains. If anything
is ever recovered (e.g. bones), accidently (fisherman's net?) or
otherwise it is possible that DNA testing of bone marrow may be
possible after all these years. If someone pulled up any remains
years later they may not have reported it.
Did I read that the killing may have actually occurred in a house? Or
am I imagining that? I wonder if neighbors heard anything at the time
of the killing (screams? shots?).
I'd love to know what the son really thinks. If he has an idea what
happened he hass probably discussed it with his friends. One of them
could eventually come forward. I don't supposed there's anyway of
tracking any school friends down (high school year book) maybe he was
in HS band or football and band or football buddys or teachers had an
insight. You could spend a LOT of time investigating this and people
may not open up to police.
I also wonder what occupations Cliff and Allan had been in. Maybe
they had access to acid, poison, certain kind of suitcase, weapons,
etc. that would play into this.