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 ...
I am so glad that the little town you live in—with the whiskey in the car trunks—has government that would never be corrupt. Wow, if the Founding Fathers could have only known that there’s no need to be wary of our liberties.
Why, think of how much money we could save if only we could let all criminals just buy their way out of being charged...either with servitude or cash or whatever.
Oh, wait...now I get it...you must be in Mexico!
Again, she made a personal choice. Convicted or not she made the decision. Nobody’s fault, but her own.
Don't smoke the bricks.
True. I'll remember that when you are falsely accused.
Stay out of my chimney.
Note, the police told her it was safe.
Sounds like they didn’t keep up their end of the bargain.
Again, it’s your chimney.
They were users. Both Rush and Cindy themselves say they were drug abusers.
Actually, they told her NOT to go anywhere with the perps.
I'll be honest, I personally know only 3 avid pot smokers. All 3 share common traits:
1. They won't work at the same job for more than 2 months at a time.
2. The world is against them. Nothing is their fault and they won't take personal responsibility for anything.
3. They believe that making pot legal will solve more problems than it would create. ANY debate against this and you are labeled a fascist.
4. They are almost 30 years old and still living with their parents. Again, because the world is unfair to them.
Hoffman was a dealer.
So are you saying it’s OK to use illegal drugs if you don’t sell them?
Who was falsely accused? She admitted to it.
Note, the police told her it was safe. Sounds like they didn’t keep up their end of the bargain.
This is where some common sense on her part would have come in handy.
No. What illegal drugs are you trying to smear Rush Limbaugh with using?
It’s illegal to “abuse” prescription drugs. It is also illegal to “doctor shop” looking for a doctor who will prescribe the drugs you want. That’s all part of the war on drugs you are so in love with.
I’m not defending the police. They screwed up by sending her in. She did it because they told her she would go to prison. IMHO, anyone with intelligence enough to recently graduate from a major university should have known that decision is up to a judge, or if she so chooses, a jury. NOT the arresting officer. She was willing to be a part of the sting.
As far as that website, they believe in heavy handed big government coercion just as you do I have heard. Some pathetic German lad laid it all out in a book published in the 1930s as I understand it. Some "intellectual" in pre Soviet Russia shared many of the same concepts. Are you an "intellectual"?
Relax take another toke, I didn’t have any expectation of having any effect on you. It is kid of like shouting at the TV, I know it doesn’t change anything, but I feel better.
The truth is in those quotes no matter WHO actually penned them. But to you it doesn’t matter, as only busting the heads of dopers matters to you. You are a bully, a thug and a control freak. I’d love to meet you in a dark alley some night. You’d be bawling like a baby. And crying for your mommy. Any time someone stands up to you and makes it stick, your kind collapses like a house of cards.
Reasoning isn't your long suit it would seem.
What exactly is your "reasoning"?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.