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 ...
Thou shalt not steal...
EXACTLY right. Until public servants are made to feel personal liability for their abuses, all that happens when a malicious case occurs is that the taxpayers fine themselves—that is, by having the insurance agencies pay out, insurance rates go up, distributing the sins of the government worker upon all taxpayers.
I have nothing against pot. I don’t use myself, but some of my friends do. Some of them I would rather see smoke weed than drink. But the fact remains that it is illegal, same as robbing a bank. And since you brought up God, I could add that the Bible says to follow man’s law as long as it doesn’t interfere with God’s Law.
Not legalize, DECRIMINALIZE! There is a difference.
see post 43
And man’s law can be changed...
didn’t they make alcohol illegal once? something about an amendment?
That’s the point.
You have her convicted without trial. Are you sure she was guilty?
When they come for you in the middle of the night and tell you that they are hauling you off to the gulag unless you turn in your friends who are guilty of having dangerous thoughts, do you think they will admit there was no evidence of your crime?
It’s not for the guilty that we operate in this way—it’s to prevent abuse against the innocent.
Yes it can, but it hasn’t yet.
Worked out real well too. The legacy of that little experiment is the Mafia and the Kennedy family.....
How did you catch them? On the job?
Peanuts kill more people than pot does.
Both put here by God.
Same goes for bees.
I have nieces and nephews in university, they smoke a bit of pot (I don’t, but I did in university), I counsel them that the most dangerous thing that can happen to them on pot is getting arrested.
Like they were smoking on the job? Or you drug tested them and they failed and then you decided they were useless?
I know people who are useless who don’t use pot, that they are useless isn’t a dead giveaway for pot use.
guess i forgot the /s tag.. sorry..
Aren’t discussions such as this the harbinger of change?
You would probably fire a drunk for the same reason. I assume you fire people who use it while at work, which would apply for any drug including alcohol, so trying to single out pot is ridiculous reasoning.
Tpeople who offer bribes are more guilty than those who accept them, becuase they are initiating corruption.
Ditto. No question. Let the Feds control the growth, rake in the tax dollars, unclog the jails, and mellow everyone out.
Sounds like a plan.
post 54 please
I didn’t say that something inherent in marijuana use led to this woman’s death. She chose to use drugs, got busted, then died trying to cut a deal to lessen her sentence. Whether it was choosing to use illegal drugs or agreeing to set up the people that sell her illegal drugs, she made a bad choice and died because of it.
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