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Are Pot Users Criminals? The Tragic Case of Rachel Hoffman
ABC News ^ | July 24, 2008 | BRIAN ROSS and VIC WALTER

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 ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: baronmunchiehausen; criminals; donutwatch; jbts; lawsuit; libertarians; munchies; pot; potheadalert; potheads; themunchies; wod; wosd
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To: dcwusmc
You want to quote that tired jackass?

I'll take the word of a police officer over your's any day.

361 posted on 07/26/2008 12:51:25 AM PDT by Mojave
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To: Mojave

Then why did VOTERS pass medical pot laws in as many states as they have? Hmmmmmmmmm?


362 posted on 07/26/2008 12:51:51 AM PDT by dcwusmc (We need to make government so small that it can be drowned in a bathtub.)
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To: dcwusmc

Actually, that post was sarcasm. I just forgot the tags.


363 posted on 07/26/2008 12:53:40 AM PDT by waiyu (Living is the only thing worth dying for.)
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To: Mojave

Given some of the cops I have seen, I wouldn’t trust them to tell me how much 2+2 adds up to. But of course to you there’s nothing a cop can do that’s wrong in your book. I have NEVER seen you do anything but suck up. Either you’re a LEO with only two braincells to rub together or just a copsucker. I sure dunno which, and I guess it doesn’t matter much, the net effect’s the same.


364 posted on 07/26/2008 12:55:24 AM PDT by dcwusmc (We need to make government so small that it can be drowned in a bathtub.)
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To: dcwusmc
Informant
The body of 23-year-old Rachel Morningstar Hoffman was found last Friday in rural Taylor County,... Expand
 Authorities believe Deneilo Bradshaw and Andrea Green kidnapped and killed her after she attempted to set them up in a drug and gun deal as an informant for the Tallahassee police. Collapse
(ABC/Leon County Sheriff's Office)
 
 

365 posted on 07/26/2008 1:18:26 AM PDT by wolficatZ (Please do not put hands or feet near the CrocoStimpy habitat enclosure..)
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To: dcwusmc
Given some of the cops I have seen, I wouldn’t trust them to tell me how much 2+2 adds up to.

Arrestee?

366 posted on 07/26/2008 1:38:21 AM PDT by Mojave
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To: dcwusmc
Then why did VOTERS pass medical pot laws in as many states as they have?

The Caifornia law passed by VOTERS didn't authorize marijuana sales. Or Ecstasy sales. Or non-medical possession.

Too lame.

367 posted on 07/26/2008 1:41:35 AM PDT by Mojave
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To: wolficatZ

“It is not unusual to have known drug dealers or users offer to assist police in narcotics investigations,” Jones said. “Rachel was no exception.”


368 posted on 07/26/2008 1:44:48 AM PDT by Mojave
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To: dragnet2

You don’t get someone killed for a little marijuana there dragnet2
There are real criminals out there to kill if ya must.


369 posted on 07/26/2008 3:31:32 AM PDT by Joe Boucher (An enemy of Islam)
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To: wolficatZ

"It's not like the b$itch was a Moslem or one of my two daughters."

370 posted on 07/26/2008 4:36:10 AM PDT by Diogenesis (Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum)
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To: MartinStyles; Mojave
These defenders of the little angel seem to think the cops grabbed her off the street, found drugs, took her to the nearest crackhouse, and told them ‘HERE YOU GO’.

Sending a small time dealer who had occasionally bought a couple of oz of Marijuana or a dozen Ecstasy in to buy 1500 E and cocaine "oh and a gun" pretty much screams "police snitch, kill me now" .

The cops planned for her death. It nay have been option B in case the deal to catch the big dealers with gun enhancement charges went sour, but it was a solid back up plan.

The cops were just too incompetent to keep track of her ans lost their tethered goat without catching the tiger.

371 posted on 07/26/2008 6:58:43 AM PDT by Oztrich Boy
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To: greccogirl

You can screw up your lungs and not have lung cancer. Phlegm build ups, scar tissue, there’s a reason long term serious pot smokers cough a lot, hot smoky air is not good for you even when it lacks cancer causers.


372 posted on 07/26/2008 7:00:59 AM PDT by boogerbear
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To: dalereed

If someone isn’t doing a good job, fire them whether they use pot or not. Under what other circumstances, if any, would you want to jail someone for poor job performance?


373 posted on 07/26/2008 7:14:11 AM PDT by coloradan (The US is becoming a banana republic, except without the bananas - or the republic.)
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To: Oztrich Boy
The cops planned for her death.

Cop haters are blood dancers.

374 posted on 07/26/2008 7:19:07 AM PDT by Mojave
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To: greccogirl

Agreed.


375 posted on 07/26/2008 7:23:36 AM PDT by piytar
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To: Mojave
Are you saying the cops made no contingency for the deal going pear-shaped?

Your opinion of cops must be lower than mine.

376 posted on 07/26/2008 7:38:09 AM PDT by Oztrich Boy
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To: wolficatZ
She had a baggie of pot and two ecstasy pills, and the cops sent her out to buy $15,000 worth of coke, 1500 ecstasy pills and a handgun?! Quite a step up! The cops threw this lamb right into the wolf den.
377 posted on 07/26/2008 7:44:50 AM PDT by jaydubya2
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To: Oztrich Boy
Are you saying the cops made no contingency for the deal going pear-shaped?

They should have had the deal go down in the station lobby.

378 posted on 07/26/2008 7:48:51 AM PDT by Mojave
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To: jaydubya2
She had a baggie of pot and two ecstasy pills

She was an experienced dealer with multiple arrests running a drug house.

379 posted on 07/26/2008 7:50:32 AM PDT by Mojave
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To: Mojave
"She was an experienced dealer with multiple arrests running a drug house."

I didn't get that out of the video. I take it there are some details I'm missing?
380 posted on 07/26/2008 7:53:33 AM PDT by jaydubya2
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