Posted on 07/25/2008 8:49:03 PM PDT by bamahead
After being caught twice with a "baggie" of marijuana, 23-year old Rachel Hoffman was reportedly told by police in Tallahassee, Florida that she would go to prison for four years unless she became an undercover informant.
The young woman, a recent graduate of Florida State University, was murdered during a botched sting operation two months ago.
"The idea of waging a war on drugs is to protect people and here it seems like we're putting people in harm's way," said Lance Block, a lawyer hired by Rachel's parents.
The Florida Attorney General's office says it is reviewing the procedures and protocol of the Tallahassee police.
"I'm calling her a criminal," Tallahassee police chief Dennis Jones told 20/20, who maintains that both drug dealers and drug users are considered criminals to his department.
Under Florida law, possession of more than 20 grams of marijuana is a felony.
The Tallahassee police chief says Rachel was suspected of selling drugs and she was rightly treated as a criminal.
"That's my job as a police chief to find these criminals in our community and take them off the street, to make the proper arrests," Jones told 20/20.
Rachel's case also is raising questions about how police recruit and use informants in undercover operations.
"There need to be some safeguards here," said Block, the Hoffman family lawyer.
The young woman received no training before being sent to an undercover meeting to buy a large amount of drugs and a handgun from two suspects.
Police says Rachel was killed by the very handgun she was supposed to buy.
"I don't think she understood the risk or danger that she was in," said Block.
Rachel was in a drug court diversion program when she became an informant.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
She wasn't arrested for overdoses.
I hear The Taliban are seeking recruits.
He never answered mine. Overdosing has nothing to do with it anyway. It’s fairly rare for even PCP to be lethally od’d.
Does it matter? Nope. They still ruin lives.
LOL...What a tired response.
Good Lord.... Enough of this thread....lol
lol
If that is your best shot then you should give up.
:-) :-) :-)
What a non sequitur.
You can’t translate your own gibberish?
Read the story and watch the video. NO CHARGES WERE FILED AND THE COURT AND D.A. WERE NEVER TOLD ABOUT HER ARREST. Had they been, she would never have been allowed to do it, as the contract on her drug diversion SPECIFICALLY PROHIBITED her contact with drug dealers and the like. The COPS were out of control and because of them she died. Get your facts straight.
She had ONE BAGGIE of pot and a total of six pills of different types. Some dealer. You, sir, strike me as a moron. A control-freak moron.
Sounds like "the legalized dope is good, to hell with the voters" position.
Dude, ignore the n00b. Heh.
You lose the argument when you reduce yourself to insults. Think about it.
I agree. The drug warriors should be put to the most painful death imaginable, along with the BATFags and tax collectors. A FREE society needs none of the above, period.
The alcohol “black market” is alive and well. Talk to your local Forest Ranger about how many stills they have found. Many of them have some good “wrong place at the wrong time” stories to tell. And yes, there is an illegal alcohol industry that sells to minors. For $7 a gallon, you can buy from a high school student who runs his own still not far from my old house. I know of a 5th grader who learned to put vodka in a water bottle to take to class from his older sister.
Growing marijuana is easier than that. That’s just seeds, water, and dirt.
“Hoffman was facing charges of possession of ecstasy with intent to sell, possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell, maintaining a drug house and possession of drug paraphernalia, Jones said.”
What a reasoned well thought out argument that was.
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