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.
State law may vary, but I would be surprised if she was forbidden to contact an attorney.
Obviously the police, in keeping with their original stupid mistake, believed she already had an appearance on the charge since (as they thought) she already had a warrant, and didn't think they had an obligation to give her an appearance.
However, she should still have had an opportunity to contact an attorney, regardless of whether she received an appearance or not.
Turns out this happens quite frequently in the area. And for wideawake, just as an FYI, she was arrested once for DUI and driving while license was suspended while, pay attention, she was a teenager. That was the last and only time. Guess she wasn't a habitual drunk after all, just a normal teenager.
actually it is more incidious than that.
Since she was in custody for the OTHER woman’s crime, the court records would show the OTHER woman’s attorney OR WORSE public defender.
This woman was arrested for an outstanding warrent.
If he demanded she have a public defender, the public defender would treat her as the other woman and possibly tell him they can not help due to the conflic of interest and a special appointment would happen at the hearing to deal with the underlying case.
He could demand she have an attorney and the dolts at the records department would assume the old attorney WAS notified!
"I was powerless," Amy J. Sellers said of her time behind bars. "I sent requests to get some paperwork. I asked to go to the law library. I asked to see the judge so he could straighten this out. But they told me I couldn't see a judge or go to first appearance."
Sounds like your facts just got shot to hell and back. Might want to check a story first before you post "Facts"..
Of course he is.
He would just request that the court run the system for his client's DOB, SSN or other identifier and they would get a hit indicating that there was more than one person in the system by that name.
The warrant versus the original booking information would show the discrepancy.
Nope, just using your logic. Too bad, just a mistake and certainly something in your past caused this to happen whether that be your past or someone else's. No matter what happens to you, don’t cry about it, you some how deserved it.
“She has a proven track record of not retaining counsel when appropriate.”
Since you know so much about her, please list each event, the date of the event, what transpired at this event and whether she secured counsel or not...based on your statement this should be very easy for you.
“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.”
You sure jump to al ot of assumptions about this woman don’t you? Yes, I am confident your assumption she wanted to stay in jail to make money is the right conclusion.
I was merely highlighting her total inability to articulate herself.
hummmmmm She lost 15 pounds in 9 days......... ya know what I am thinking?
Easy weight loss clinic. Apply today!
In this case a mistake was obviously made. Her prior record and having the same name as the person who committed the crime appears to have led to making it difficult for that mistake to be discovered after the fact.
The county is not denying that a mistake was made. There appears to be a reasonable explanation in this situation of why it took so long to uncover the mistake. It doesn't sound like they have seen this particular mistake happen before and it appears that they are looking into how it happened and how to prevent it in the future.
Unless the jury rules on emotion rather than logic, I highly expect that she is just going to get reimbursed for expenses and any lost wages, but I doubt she has hit the lawsuit jackpot.
It sounds like a bad mistake was made, but it doesn't sound like the Sheriff's department ignored what was obviously a mistake, nor did they have a good reason to expect that a mistake had been made.
If you award large sums of money over what the mistake actually cost that person you end up with rich trial lawyers and a broken society.
And, our gov, wn't detain and deport illegals. I hope she and her legal counsel gets an out-of-court settlement totaling $150K or better. The cops screwed up on this and the younger metro cops have a 'holier-than-thou attitude most of the time.
Seriously, I was 'attacking' your statements, not you. Big Brother is getting bigger.
“However, she should still have had an opportunity to contact an attorney, regardless of whether she received an appearance or not.”
Yes, everyone has a right to contact an attorney if you have one to contact, but you do not have the right from a jail cell to have a public defender appointed as your attorney. Only a judge can appoint a public defender.
I’m a judge, so I’m pretty experienced in this area.
From the article: 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."
If the accused is immediately committed to prison (in population), how can the failure to immediately get a lawyer be blamed on her? Obviously, there is likely much more to the story, but no court appearance is pretty egregious, and beyond the control of the prisoner.
Agree with your post 100%..not everyone has the means.
The Republican Party picked up Southern statists to win elections over civil rights via the Southern strategy. All of those people were happy FDR supporters who just disagreed with LBJ on that one issue, paving the way for dominance of white Southern voters from the 70s onward. They like big government as long as the government does what they want. We’re stuck with them now.
Thank you, please be seated. :-)
So we know that she didn't get an attorney - she had her dad and her boyfriend doing research for her instead. That wasted days.
We also know that it wasn't actually the fault of the police: the judge had given them a warrant that matched the person they picked up. It was the fault of the judge's office - it wasn't cops not even bothering to check her ID against the warrant as I originally suspected.
And for wideawake, just as an FYI, she was arrested once for DUI and driving while license was suspended while, pay attention, she was a teenager. That was the last and only time.
According to the article, she not only had a DUI, subsequent to the DUI she violated her probation.
Pretty reckless girl.
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