Posted on 08/07/2007 9:02:39 AM PDT by stainlessbanner
OCALA, Fla. -- The Internal Affairs Division of the Marion County Sheriff's Office has launched an investigation into a clerical error that mistakenly put a woman behind bars for nine days.
Amy Sellers, 22, of Ocala, was taken into custody about two weeks ago for a warrant that matched another 28-year-old woman named Amy Sellers.
Sellers, who had not committed any crimes, said she was taken into custody and immediately thrown into the inmate population.
"When I found out, I got no first appearance and I (didn't get) to see a judge," Sellers said. "They put me into population."
The Marion County Sheriff's Office admitted that Sellers' incident was a mistake.
"Due to a clerical error, the incorrect information was put into the computer system for a warrant that matched another Amy Sellers, who also has a criminal history in Marion County," a sheriff's office statement issued Monday said.
Sellers is in the system for drunken driving and driving with a suspended license four years ago but has not been arrested since.
Sellers' boyfriend said he spent days trying to show the sheriff's office the error. He said when the sheriff's office finally believed him, the jail kept Sellers another day to verify the mistake.
Sellers said she lost 15 pounds while behind bars and is considering suing over the incident.
"My faith in the justice system is crumbled and gone completely and I don't know if I will ever be able to salvage it again," Sellers said. "What if I was a single mother, 30 years old, that this happened to that for 10 days was in jail for the wrong reasons and lost her kids and job."
The sheriff's office said it would reimburse Sellers for any expenses she incurred while jailed.
Sellers said, "That is a joke," Local 6 reported.
The Internal Affairs Division is also investigating the warrant process in connection with the case.
I've read the article. She is a convicted criminal who was mistaken for another convicted criminal.
She had 1 drunk driving conviction at the age of 18.
I suppose we all ought to get together and stone the skanky b!tch.
“I suspect and she did get an attorney who advised her to stay in jail longer than necessity would dictate in order to juice the civil suit.”
Why? She received the penalty that the court imposed.
Speaking as a former union rep, I would feel lucky if my guy got less than a thirty day suspension without pay for failing to confirm identification. Just a few moments spent checking records and or previous booking photos would have saved the officer's employer a lot of grief. I have to wonder if a towed or stored vehicle was involved?
This is why people give their kids weird names. This wouldn’t have happened if her name was LeShawndranita Chrysler Sellers!
that is irrelevant. She was in custody for someone else’s crime her past sins do not excuse injustice.
A poster here, I don’t recall whom, called the justice system “trial lawyers with guns.”
That makes a lot of sense to me. Not a lot of us have any respect for dishonest legal gamesmanship when it’s name is John Edwards and it’s stealing someone else’s money in a courthouse. But take that same dishonest legal gamesmanship and call it a prosecutor and it becomes “law and order” and as good Christians we’re suppoesed to be all for it.
Scary.
With supposed Republicans like wideawake, is it any wonder why NJ is in the hands of the Democrats?
Come back in a week and re-read this thread.
The problem is the Sheriff’s offices love their process.
Look at this case, they UNILATERALLY kept her an extra day IN JAIL so THEY could conveniently quadruple check.
They ASSUMED it is ok to deny an innocent citizen freedom so a police state could do their job.
This is BEYOND shocking.
I didn't say they did. I made the observation that had she not been in trouble with the law previously, this would not have happened.
no remember all the Nifong threads here?
I think FR more than anywhere else, gets it right.
ha-ha
Yeah, I lost respect for the criminal legal system long ago.
Most of the people involved are pretty good people -— but the system is just absurd.
(And no, not a defendant in anything; was on a grand jury, though, and got pretty disgusted).
it would have happened regardless, she still had the same name.
And what about this?
The form that Chisholm filled out did not include a middle initial for the defendant. The Sheriff's Office form also had no areas with date of birth information, race, sex or Social Security number information to make it more specific.
It could have been any anyone with the same name. Whether in the 'system" or not. I think that is the point your missing.
No, it would not have happened. Her name came up because it was in the system - warrants are not issued by searching some non-existent general database of all citizens.
Warrants are issued by searching police databases of convicts and arrestees, of which she was one.
Good point. Sometimes I think it’s nothing more than trolling.
No, it could only have been someone by the same name who was in the system.
There is no general police database with a file on every single citizen, law-abiding or not.
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.