Posted on 04/28/2020 6:23:46 AM PDT by marktwain
A few days ago, on 15 April, 2020, the Florida 5th District Court of Appeals dismissed charges against retired General Motors worker John DeRossett, who wounded a deputy in a gunfight at his home in 2015. It was at night. The officer at the door was in plain clothes at the time, had no warrant, and was developing a case of solicitation for prostitution on DeRossett's niece, Mary Ellis. The other two officers were in plain clothes and hid in the dark outside the house. The officers attempted to take Mary Ellis into custody, at DeRossett's home. The officers never identified themselves to DeRossett.
Everyone in the case admits going to the home of an alleged prostitute to make an arrest, after they fail to show up at the motel, where a controlled environment was set up, was highly unusual. From floridatoday.com:
Brevard County agents set up a prostitution sting on Aug. 20, 2015, arranging to meet DeRossett's niece, Mary Ellis, at a motel where a controlled environment had been set up to conduct an arrest.
When she didn't show, the three deputies in plain clothes went to her Covina Street home in Port St. John, where Agent Peter Stead grabbed Ellis from the doorway while John “Casey” Smith and Jason Roberts hid in the darkened yard.
During their testimony at the immunity hearing, the deputies said it was unusual to go to a suspect's home for a sting operation when a controlled environment had already been established.
When she was grabbed, Ellis began screaming for help from her uncle, who was in a back room eating at the time, according to court records.
I wrote about the case in a previous AmmoLand article. Research has unearthed more about the case. I wish to clarify
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
Eric Clapton will now be playing in my skull for the rest of the day.
Damn you. Now it’s in my head too.
Bob Marley for me.
State should have to pay for the five years of jail time. In a just world, the cost of those five years should come from the deputies.
Did he shoot the sheriff or the deputy, I think he was quoted "But I did not shoot the deputy".
That is a boatload of work, risk, not following procedures and manpower to arrest a single prostitute.
Why do I think there is more going on?
she was more than just a single prostitute - in a later court appearance she admitted to running a whole operation (many people)
But still... they should never have gone to the house, and that guy is out 5 years of his life.
I do not think her client list was ever made public.
It is in the article.
You mean Bob Marley?
The client list is not in the article, the fact the deputies who were clients were fired is in the article.
Bob Marley did not even remain within the confines of his own skull.
From the First District Court of Appeal order, 7 November, 2019.
WHAT HAPPENED IN THIS CASE— Petitioner, John Derossett, a sixty-five-year-old retired General Motors autoworker, owned a home in Brevard County, Florida. Derossett’s adult niece, Mary Ellis, lived with him in this home. Derossett had no criminal record, worked part-time as a security guard at Port Canaveral, and lawfully possessed a concealed weapons permit. He had also apparently taken a firearms training course.
On August 20, 2015, at approximately 9:30 p.m., Ellis answered a knock on the front door. As she opened the door, a man reached inside the threshold of the house, grabbed her arm, and began pulling Ellis out of the home and onto the covered front porch. Ellis struggled to resist her apparent abduction and screamed to her uncle (Derossett) that she needed help. At this point, two other men approached to physically assist the first man in pulling Ellis off the porch of the home and into the front yard.
Derossett, having heard his niece’s screams for help, hurried from his bedroom to the front porch. He was armed. One of the three men saw Derossett rapidly advancing to the front door with his firearm and announced to the other two men that a man with a gun was approaching. The three men abruptly released Ellis, pushing her towards the front door, and scattered on the front lawn. Derossett immediately came out of his front door and stood under “the canopy part of the porch.”
At this point, Derossett raised his gun, called out to the men, and fired a warning shot up in the air. The three men, now at diverse points on Derossett’s front yard, and likewise armed, immediately shot their respective firearms at him. Derossett fired back. In total, more than forty rounds were exchanged. Despite being fairly close to each other, because it was dark at the time, none of the four men engaged in this incident had a clear view of the others. Derossett and his niece were both struck by gunfire, as was one of the three men in Derossett’s front yard, who was severely wounded in the abdomen.
(As an aside, all four of the people shooting in the gunfight were shooting .40 caliber Glock pistols. WESH News archive 24 February, 2016. The deputy who was severely wounded was wearing a bullet-resistant vest, which stopped one the bullets.)
Am I understanding this correctly? What I am reading says that he never went to trial. That he was incarcerated for 5 years without a trial or conviction.
My opinion of the “law enforcement officers” formerly known as “peace officers” has changed markedly over the decades.
Three Armed men commit Aggravated Assault and Attempted Kidnapping and the Victims Uncle Goes to Jail for 5 years, All 3 should have been Criminally Charged and should still be. Everything they did the moment they left the Hotel was a Criminal Conspiracy in furtherance of a Criminal Act to Kidnap a young woman. there was NO Warrant.
And Police wonder why Citizens distrust of them is growing rapidly.
But Eric Clapton made it the hit that it was
Just to help cement it in your mind. 8>)
Correct.
The judge refused to grant bond, at the request of the prosecutor, Assistant State Attorney, Gary Beatty.
He was held in jail for just short of five years.
I have not found what reason was given to the judge when bond was refused.
“Brevard County”?
ComDem Political cesspool.
I have not found what reason was given to the judge when bond was refused.
= = =
Clapton’s song was stuck in his head.
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