Young Woman Busted for Pot Gets Killed Acting as Police Informant

[ureapwhatusow]

I have one big question... where the HELL was her attorney in all this? No lawyer in his right mind would let someone turn states evidence (=RISK OF DEATH) to get off a simple possession charge.

I agree

I made the point sometime earlier in the thread that its amazing that the police can get someone from arrest to conviction

let me break it down

cops lean on her



cops tell her your busted dont bother wiht a lawyer, but if ya snitch and well let you go

if she agrees they get her to seal her fate by signing a confesson that will be impossible to beat in court

now they get her to snitch

Yes your a fucking douche if you snitch, far worse if you know how this works and snitch



the more afraid and the more niave the person is the more they can scare them into doing but the cops used her like fucking dog meat and the are THE LAW

and without a judge or a courtroom or lawyers she was brought from accused of a crime to convicted

its not any different than how the russian kgb used to work

shoot the snick? shes dead how bout frying some pig, then at least everything will be reconsiled

 

[anditwasfun]

This is pretty crazy

It's sad what people have to go through over a plant

 

[SomeGuy]

Tallahhassee.com

City seeks to settle Hoffman wrongful-death claim

The city of Tallahassee hopes to avoid a wrongful-death lawsuit by working out a settlement with the parents of Rachel Hoffman, who was killed in May during a botched drug sting.

In a letter sent to the family's attorney this week, City Attorney Jim English requested that the two sides jointly initiate voluntary pre-lawsuit mediation.

"It's really been very helpful in settling a lot of cases," English said. "I wouldn't even begin to predict this one."

On June 30, attorney Lance Block put the city on required six-month notice that the family intends to file a wrongful-death claim for the Tallahassee Police Department's role in the 23-year-old's death.

The family contends — and a Leon County jury concurred — that police were negligent in Hoffman's death.

"The proposal for early mediation is a step forward, and I appreciate the spirit of the city's approach," Block said Wednesday after reviewing the letter.

He will discuss the city's offer with Hoffman's parents, who spent Wednesday marking what would have been her 24th birthday.

"The city has known about its liability for months but waited to make this proposal two weeks before the date the suit can be filed," Block said. "While I have no problem with sitting down with the city about early resolution of the case, doing so should not delay moving the case forward."

Block said her parents, Irv Hoffman and Margie Weiss, are most focused on getting a "Rachel's Law" passed by the Legislature to protect confidential informants. Hoffman was such an informant when she was killed.

But, Block added: "The money sends a message not only to TPD, but other law-enforcement agencies.... Money damages are important because that is how the law measures justice."

Block has not disclosed how much money the family is seeking.

State Sen. Al Lawson has filed a place-holder claims bill for Hoffman for the upcoming session. Legislation is required if Hoffman's parents settle the wrongful-death suit or get a court judgment of more than $200,000 from the city.

Two men, Deneilo Bradshaw, 23, of Tallahassee, and Andrea Green, 25, of Perry, have been charged with murdering Hoffman. A trial date is expected to be set in February.

 

[Kinderfeld]

December 26, 2008 - ABC News

Police Informant's Death Brings New Law, Lawsuit
Botched Drug Sting Could Mean New Rules for Police

The murder of a 23-year-old Florida woman in a botched drug buy-bust operation this May could lead to changes in how confidential informants are recruited and used by the state's law enforcement.

An official investigation found the Tallahassee Police Department had violated its own rules by recruiting Rachel Hoffman, a Florida State University graduate who was facing a drug charge and likely jail time after arrests for marijuana possession, and sending her alone into a dangerous undercover sting without training.

Florida state legislators are putting the finishing touches on a bill they are calling "Rachel's Law," which would tighten up rules on how the state's police recruit and use confidential informants. The law, which was first proposed by Rachel's father, Irv Hoffman, would require police in Florida to be more judicious in their selection of confidential informants and ensure the potential recruit has access to a lawyer.

Its likely sponsors, State Sen. Mike Fasano and State Rep. Peter Nehr, expect the bill to be considered when the legislature begins its regular session next spring. Both are Republican.

Tallahassee Police Chief Dennis Jones has signed on as a supporter of the effort. "We need to do a better job with this," Jones said in September.

Jones' support was perhaps surprising. In the days after Hoffman's murder, Jones made public statements that Hoffman was a criminal who bore a large part of the blame for the botched sting and, by extension, her own death.

"I'm calling her a criminal," Jones told ABC News' Brian Ross in July. Jones said then that he did not accept that his department was in any way responsible for Hoffman's death. "Do we feel responsible? We're responsible for the safety of this community," he said.

Jones, who was reprimanded as a result of the investigation into Hoffman's murder, later apologized for those comments. "We were placing most of the blame on Rachel Hoffman. I regret that now," Jones said. "It made us look like we weren't taking responsibility for what happened."

The two men Hoffman met as part of the May sting are in jail awaiting trial for her murder. One defendant, Andrea Green, has pled not guilty. The other, Deneilo Bradshaw, has not yet entered a plea, according to the court cleark's office.

Hoffman's parents are poised to sue the city of Tallahassee at the end of the month, according to their lawyer, Lance Block. The city has requested the family delay filing suit in order to negotiate a possible settlement out of court. Block said they are not inclined to hold up the suit.

Meanwhile, the only Tallahassee policeman fired over Hoffman's death wants to know why he was fired when higher-ups received only verbal reprimands – even if, like Deputy Police Chief John Proctor – they had approved his plan for the ill-fated operation.

Ryan Pender, who recruited Hoffman and planned the sting operation that went awry, is pushing to get his old job back, insisting that "the operational plan he put together was by the book, by the way he was trained. . . the way he and others in vice had done it for years," his lawyer, Paul Villaneuve, told ABCNews.com.

Tallahassee Police Department spokesman David McCranie said that Chief Jones "looked at the overall picture of everything that occurred and assigned responsibility based on the level of participation by each member of the department."

A spokesman for the police department declined comment on the matter, saying it was a question for the chief of police, who was "not in the building."

Link to videos (very interesting to watch how the police reacted in part 1 and 2, I recommend you watch those, in particular #2...this is OBVIOUSLY the fault of the police, just listen to the mistakes made):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euhN57b2Ayg prt 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBgY8puuDSE prt 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TH_U9IUQ4m0

A good closing video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JUMerq-W9c


Whether you care what happened here or not the important thing to take form this is the police think all criminal's lives are pretty much worthless and if you smoke pot...they are talking to YOU and everyone you know who smokes pot. This has to change...there is a find line between hard core drug users and soft core mainly marijuana users...seems to be the police just kind of throw them all in the same bag. Our systems biggest flaw. There is more to this story than the subject being a stitch. While it is sad, it can HELP us with the moment of making a case of legalizing marijuana...IMO. I hope no ones scared relative or themselves find themself in this situation.


So now they are figuring out new ways to pick contestants for sting operation, now that they have found a stoner obviously can't do a crackheads job...and the kind of people that use each might have a difference. I's too bad it took a death, probably more, for this idea to pop into the little piggys brains.I wish Rachel's parents were loaded. This case could be propagandized all over the place like crazy and give us a +1 in the legalizing process..

All I have to say is FUCK the Tallahassee chief of police. Your just a little sniveling little ****. You got her killed enough said. Never convicted of anything, yet she is still a criminal. Fuck you. Rot in hell bastard. I am just glad I am not her parents who have a more sense of control or...every second you breath and Rachel doesn't you don't deserve and if I was her parents, you'd not be breathing today I can promise you that.

.

 

[Dirty]

JUST read this whole thread, phew...

First off, someguy, great job keeping ontop of the updating on this thread.

Only other thing I have to say is, yes, snitching IS bad. But I have to side with someguy on this, which is she's a young woman, obviously manipulated, what she was arrested for they should have never even thought of trying to get her to become an informant. I mean, who gets a pot dealer to be a snitch for over 1,000 hits of ecstacy, cocaine, AND a gun.

Those two guys were idiots, because I guarantee you they didn't know they were being narc'd out, thinkin "we'll kill the bitch and take the cash". Cause in all honostly, who's gonna say, "look we're bein set up, so lets make them drive FURTHER down the road, THEN kill them". I'm honostly amazed that stolen gun even fired, even though it took three tries (hence the two live shells on the ground).

I felt a rant coming on so I'll stop with this...
To whomever wrote the post, "snitches get stitches, and end up in ditches...", I must reply, I didn't know they let you go to cannabis sites on the library computers...

 

[greengorillaz]

Had she hired a lawyer

Had she hired a lawyer

she could have pleaded down to a misdemeanor. I hate cops!

 

[SomeGuy]

Only other thing I have to say is, yes, snitching IS bad. But I have to side with someguy on this, which is she's a young woman, obviously manipulated, what she was arrested for they should have never even thought of trying to get her to become an informant. I mean, who gets a pot dealer to be a snitch for over 1,000 hits of ecstacy, cocaine, AND a gun.

Those two guys were idiots, because I guarantee you they didn't know they were being narc'd out, thinkin "we'll kill the bitch and take the cash". Cause in all honostly, who's gonna say, "look we're bein set up, so lets make them drive FURTHER down the road, THEN kill them". I'm honostly amazed that stolen gun even fired, even though it took three tries (hence the two live shells on the ground).

Getting professional dealers to snitch and intimidating a chippy into snitching are two completely different things.

A pro does it and they should get what they deserve.

In this case the cops knew exactly who they were screwing over and didn't give a crap and sent her into a dangerous situation with no regard for her safety. They did it to advance their own careers and have done it to countless others and should be prosecuted for screwing it up.

The whole system of informants should be illegal and abolished, PERIOD!!!

 

[SomeGuy]

Tampa Bay Online

'Hoffman' Law Could Limit Use of Young Informants


Published: December 30, 2008

State lawmakers are looking at legislation to create stricter standards for the use of young people as confidential informants.

State Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, is working with an attorney for the family of Rachel Hoffman to craft the legislation. Hoffman, 23, of Clearwater, was fatally shot in May while helping Tallahassee police with a drug investigation.

Hoffman agreed to work with police after she was arrested on drug charges, including possession of more than 20 grams of marijuana and possession with intent to sell Ecstasy.

Hoffman had planned to meet police officers at a park, where a drug deal was supposed to take place, but she called from the park to say the location had been changed. The Investigators told her to stay where she was, but she wasn't there when they arrived.

Her body was found in rural Taylor County, southeast of Tallahassee.

After her death, Tallahassee police defended their use of Hoffman as a confidential informant. Her family and friends said police put an unprepared young woman in danger.

"It was a very sad, very sad situation," Fasano said.

"We've got to do our best in working with law enforcement to protect young people like that … who don't realize what they're getting themselves into," he said.

"We're not talking about a hardened criminal. ... We're talking about a young lady who may have had personal problems, but that doesn't mean we put her out there in a dangerous situation."

He said he and other lawmakers were in the process of writing the legislation for the 2009 session, which opens March 3.

It may include banning the use of some people as informants or requiring police to take extra steps to ensure inexperienced informants understand the risk in their assignments.

 

[Mayara]

Apparent Dateline NBC is doing a story tonight on this (just saw a thing on it about on the tv). Hopefully LEO's that were involved will have to pay their dues on this as people get more informed.

 

[SomeGuy]

Apparent Dateline NBC is doing a story tonight on this (just saw a thing on it about on the tv). Hopefully LEO's that were involved will have to pay their dues on this as people get more informed.

20/20 did one already too I think, I'd have to look back through the thread. It wasn't very flattering for LEO at all. They actually had the chief on camera blaming Rachel for the whole thing. Shed a lot of light too on the DEA involvement and refusal to comment .

I wonder what the final price tag was to kill this chippy little low level pot dealer?

Any guesses?

 

[brweed]

another casualty for the war on drugs,whats crazy is that their war has killed more people than weed has and they still continue to do things like this.

 

[FrankRizzo]

So I guess dateline is running (rerunning?) this story friday night. Just a heads up if you're interested.

 

[duts]

I haven't read more then the first page so I don't know if anyone's pointed this out, but once I moved to the suburbs after spending alot of years growing up in the city I realized the majority of kids out here don't understand the cops aren't your friends. They grow up believing anyone with a badge is here to help you and protect you, but that's rarely the case. I've never been arrested for drug possession, but other times I've been arrested they've offered me all kinds of deals as long as I rat on someone more "valuable" to them. "Just tell me who this is and you'll walk out of here tonight without a mark on your record"... biggest line of BS ever muttered by those pigs. I remember I got arrested with my friend one time and he panicked and ratted someone out, guess what, he ended up back in the cell with me and just fucked someone else over for nothing. I've met cops that have been helpful and compassionate, but for the most part they couldn't give 2 shits about what happens to anyone but them and their cop buddies. Especially when they have you booked for a crime, you're no better then any other lowlife they grab off the street corner.

I'm not from Florida so I don't know the area where she lived, but I bet you she grew up in a nice area under the same impression that Officer Dickhead is really here to "protect and serve". I can't say she did the right thing, but in her shoes I can see why she believed in the cops especially if she had no prior experiences with them to know she isn't their priority. While I do believe she put some bad karma out there by ratting those 2 out, she definitely didn't deserve to have it come back and bite her in the ass 100 times worse. You learn from your mistakes I guess, unfortunately she won't be around to.

 

[dawghead99]

karma at its finest...

everyone gets fucked in this situation.

 

[Amstel Light]

im watching it now, fucking disgusting......

 

[feltonmuggs]

was so odd, I'm reading this and in the background Dateline NBC comes on and does the intro for the story and I'm like "sounds a lot like what I'm reading about right now"!

Pretty girl, nice girl. RIP

 

[IGROWMYOWN]

I can't believe there's so much sympathy on here for a fuckin' snitch! Just be glad she got wasted before she got a chance to rat on one of our brother and sister growers on here.
She knew she was breaking the law(yeah it was a stupid law) she chose to do so anyway, and when she got caught, instead of S-ingTFU, she chose to ruin other peoples' lives. Good riddance.

lol at this chicks dad saying the classic "marijuana is the gateway to bad things" boo fucking hoo

 

[Amstel Light]

ok first of all both of you^^^ must be around the girls age early 20's?..not that we have sympathy for a snitch it's sympathy for a young person whose life was ended so early for nothing.

Second if you could not read or perceive something wrong with a 23 year old female, (been a long time since i messed with anyone that age anyway) that had just been popped and had 13 large on her and was prolly nervouse as hell..you wont last anyway...

Third I never trust the tough guys, the one that act like they could take anything, the ones always first to bring up narcs is usually the narc...at least in my experiences with people..

Fourth her dad looks like a baby boomer BABy meaning he the youngest age group of his fucked up generation he has already been brainwashed nothing you can do about it...good news is they are almost all leaving this world....

 

[sorcival]

Gotta toss my 2 cents in....
I live in the south, aint gonna say exactly where....ha.
This shit with the story is for real. The pigs down in Florida and Georgia too
when they pop you for any reason, the first thing they do is try to get you to
snitch and roll over on somebody else. Mostly they try to shame you, then they
embarass you, they post your pic all over the local papers and run your mug shot
in the local tv station IF you don't snitch.
The chick in the story was in a major college town, Florida State University, the home
of the Seminoles(Go 'Noles)...AND she was into the party scene which is pretty big
down here, like it is THE LIFE to be in. When you are cool, thats like when ALL doors are
open, but if you get smeared by JLaw then you are dead even to your buds.
Like the sayin goes "Might as well fall down, You are dead, you just dont know it yet."
She was like caught between ruin from the LIFE or ruin from the pigs, no way out.
AND the pigs knew it, so they used her like a dime rag then shrugged and walked off,
like 'Oh well maybe tomorrow or sumthin...'
Stupid, fuckin redneck pigs who will search you and bust you for anything THEY think,
not what is or is not the law.
Down here, in the south, you gotta be quick, smart, elusive, on top, cool or you may as
well go to fuckin chickens or your cousins or whatever, cause to any good people you would be dead if you got ratted by the pigs. Brown dope and sometimes a lil green hydro
is the most pot around, some weapons, lots of pills and most anything else if you know
the right peoples. BUT, when you get popped, the life ends if your bros-girlfriends gets
the word that you even smell like the pigs.
She knew she HAD to do what the pigs wanted on an undercover thing and she might
live, but if she ahd not, then she would for def be dead. dig?
'nuff

 

[IGROWMYOWN]

ok first of all both of you^^^ must be around the girls age early 20's?..not that we have sympathy for a snitch it's sympathy for a young person whose life was ended so early for nothing.

Second if you could not read or perceive something wrong with a 23 year old female, (been a long time since i messed with anyone that age anyway) that had just been popped and had 13 large on her and was prolly nervouse as hell..you wont last anyway...

Third I never trust the tough guys, the one that act like they could take anything, the ones always first to bring up narcs is usually the narc...at least in my experiences with people..

Fourth her dad looks like a baby boomer BABy meaning he the youngest age group of his fucked up generation he has already been brainwashed nothing you can do about it...good news is they are almost all leaving this world....

1) I dont care if its a pretty rich female college student or some crip from the hood you dont snitch end of story.... 2) you dont know me so you can stick your judgements up your ass you wouldnt make it one day where i grew up talking like that. 3) What you call a "tough guy" is what I learned from the time i could walk ... YOU Dont snitch unless you want problems... looks like they were right 4) I could care less about her dads brainwashing that shit he said was retarded. You sound suspect Amstel You wouldnt be in my circle thats for sure...Thanks pops i've lasted many years lets see how long you last I'll be here everyday until my time here on this earth is done or i get tired of Icmag so enjoy. I'll be bumping this thread every year just for you.