Free Republic

ST. AUGUSTINE, FLA. — Michelle O’Connell, 24, the doting mother of a 4-year-old girl, was dying from a gunshot in the mouth. Next to her was a semiautomatic pistol that belonged to her boyfriend, Jeremy Banks, a deputy sheriff for St. Johns County. A second bullet had burrowed into the carpet by her right arm. Ms. Maynard quickly escorted Mr. Banks, who had been drinking, out of the house. “All of a sudden he started growling like an animal,” she said. With his fists, Mr. Banks pounded dents in a police car.... Within minutes of the shooting on Sept. 2,...

and his colleagues covered up the crimeA Florida family who claim their daughter was shot dead by her sheriff's deputy boyfriend in a domestic violence dispute are demanding justice. Young mother Michelle O'Connell, 24, from St Augustine, was found dead of a gunshot wound to the mouth in September 2010 with her boyfriend, Jeremy Banks' duty weapon by her side. He claimed to have been in another room and that she took her own life. But Miss O'Connell's family are convinced she was murdered and that Mr Banks' police colleagues helped him cover up his involvement. Their demands for a...