A wealth of misconduct

Time and a Word by Yes

In the morning when you rise,
Do you open up your eyes, see what I see?
Do you see the same things ev’ry day?
Do you think of a way to start the day
Getting things in proportion?
Spread the news and help the world go ‘round.
Have you heard of a time that will help us get it together again?
Have you heard of the word that will stop us going wrong?
Well, the time is near and the word you’ll hear
When you get things in perspective.
Spread the news and help the word go round.

There’s a time and the time is now and it’s right for me,
It’s right for me, and the time is now.

- Jon Anderson & David Foster

To be quite honest, I had no idea my brain would smash into a brick wall, causing my writing skills to atrophy. My word! Or lack thereof.  To say my life was a bit topsy turvy the past two weeks is an understatement. Generally, when I sit down to write, I like to do it with nothing in my way. I like my mind free from clutter. My mind has been anything but that lately. Even today, I can’t sit still. Too many responsibilities. I anticipate this post will take hours to write - hours to focus, too. To give you an idea, here’s how I began my post last week before sickness and death took it all away:

When I arrived on the 23rd floor on Monday, a handful of people were milling about. Sure, there are always journalists waiting for the courtroom doors to open, but I’m more intrigued by the new faces I see each time I attend a hearing. Among them this time were two of the friendliest people I had the privilege to meet, Suzie Jane and Roger, who came all the way from the great home state of our 16th, 18th and 44th presidents, Illinois. We had a very nice chat before the doors opened for us to enter. They sat to my immediate right. We glanced around the room before the judge entered at 1:30 sharp. Meanwhile, I had time to boot up my old laptop computer and crack open my old-fashioned notebook - no, not the electronic kind - it’s a simple and powerless device consisting of two covers, front and back, with lined paper inside. The only thing digital about it is the hand-held digits, also known as fingers, I use to grasp the necessary recording utensil that must accompany the notebook in order to work; a pen.

Suzie Jane quietly wondered where Cindy and her friend were. I whispered back that she is sometimes late, but she should definitely show up.

When…

And that’s where it ended. My father was in the hospital, my mother got quite ill with a bad flu virus, and my aunt passed away. I had a medical procedure done and I’m a little sore from that. Can I pick up where I left off? I guess so, but what’s the point? The motions are old and somewhat stale now, old in the sense that they’ve been discussed in the news and on blogs. Instead, I’ll look into another brewing storm, unrelated to the Anthony case, or maybe it is. I guess it depends on the way the cards are falling. You’ll see.

§

In May of last year, I published a post about James Hataway, the young man sitting in the Seminole County Jail accused of strangling a woman. Fortunately, she lived. Hataway is also the prime and only suspect in the disappearance of Tracy Ocasio. They left a west side bar together on the night of May 26-27, 2009, and she was never seen again. I mentioned that I knew who he was because of a bar I used to frequent way back when, before I gave up my Bacardi & Coke days. Nights, actually. I never was one for drinking during the day. By golly, I have my scruples.

Daniel SaylorMcGuintty’s has been closed at least three years now, possibly four. He and several other skinhead types used to hang out there but I never socialized with them. No, my skinhead came naturally, and I never looked at myself as any sort of tough-guy punk like they did. One night, I was standing at the bar chatting with some of the other regulars. It was a slow night. Sitting nearby was a guy who eventually joined in on our conversation. I don’t recall what we were discussing, but we really seemed to hit it off. It turns out, he was the police chief of Windermere, a small town southwest of Orlando. He even showed me his gold-plated badge. I wondered why he would have been drinking so far away from where he worked, but he told me he didn’t live in Windermere. He commuted from Seminole County, where I live. Windermere is the wealthiest little town in central Florida, or, at least its residents are. You may remember the town because Chief Daniel Saylor’s police department initially investigated Tiger Woods’ accident. The department was criticized for not asking Woods to take a breath test when he was pulled from his wrecked SUV. Florida Highway Patrol eventually took over the case because all vehicular accidents are run through that agency. Tiger was later cited for careless driving.

I used to travel to Windermere all the time. That’s where one of my ex’s mother lives - inside Isleworth, the exclusive gated community where the mishap took place. The reason why I brought this up has nothing to do with Tiger, but it does have to do with police chief Dan Saylor, or should I say ex-police chief? You see, he was arrested on Wednesday and charged with giving unlawful compensation for official behavior, a second-degree felony, and official misconduct, a third-degree felony. I haven’t traveled there in years, but the town of Windermere had a reputation for writing tickets for going 1 mph over the posted 25 mph speed limit. It’s not a joke that the town hired hand-me-down cops, too. The word on the street has pretty much been that officers sworn to uphold the law had problems doing it elsewhere. Some were fired from prior positions, in other words. As it turns out, the police chief held no sterling record, either. According to the WESH Web site, records “show reprimands from the Melbourne Police Department dating back to 1991. He was suspended for lying to Melbourne police supervisors in 1994. The next year, he was given an unsatisfactory review for professional behavior. Then, three months later, he was suspended for 160 hours without pay and put on probation for a year for not being truthful during an internal investigation. Higher-ups noted that they considered firing him but gave him ‘one last chance.; During that one year suspension, Orlando police accused Saylor of soliciting a prostitute. Police pulled him over on Parramore Avenue. According to the incident report: Saylor first claimed to be giving the woman a ride, then admitted he had been at a strip club and employees told him where he could go to pay for sex. Windermere’s town manager, Cecilia Bernier, says the town knew about the investigation but decided Saylor was ‘good material for our chief.’ No charges were ever filed in the prostitution case.”

Scott BushIt’s very interesting, too, that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Orange County Sheriff’s Office had an ongoing investigation into him and the police department he ran. Just what were those charges related to? I mean, what do unlawful compensation for official behavior and official misconduct mean? Here’s where it starts to get ugly, and I mean UGLY! He’s good friends with a guy by the name of Scott Frederick Bush. Bush was arrested on Wednesday, too, and held without bond, charged with sexual battery and lewd and lascivious molestation of a child under 12 years of age. This took place over a three year period, between 2000 and 2003. Here, we have a police chief allegedly granting several of his own officers time-off with pay and other incentives to stonewall the criminal investigation of an alleged sexual deviant who raped a child. Officer Irving Murr was handling the case. He was offered money, a promotion and a day shift to cover it up. According to Saylor’s arrest warrant, he destroyed notes related to the investigation and offered bribes to lie to FDLE. The FDLE special agent in charge, Joyce Dawley, said, “Chief Saylor used his position to hinder our investigation.”

Saylor was suspended from his job without pay and released on bond Thursday, but with one stipulation: He had to agree to turn all of his personal weapons over to authorities. The locks on the doors of the police station were changed and an OCSO captain was named the interim chief. More heads are expected to roll. Meanwhile, Saylor’s career is ruined, and rightfully so if he’s actually guilty. One thing cops can’t stand is a crooked cop. It gives them all a bad name. What’s worse is the fact that he shut down the investigation into his friend who is now charged with raping a child. Of all crimes, who in their right mind would do something like that, let alone a police chief or anyone else related to law enforcement, for that matter? It’s disgusting. Child molesters are the lowest of the low.

Bear with me for a moment, please. I’m veering off course. Do we recall the time, early on, when a lot of people had gut feelings that George and Cindy knew what Casey was up to? Why didn’t they act before it was too late? How could they not see what their daughter was capable of doing? Remember, I’m not talking about after the fact, this is before the crime. Today, the Tuscon murderer’s parents could be compared to George and Cindy in the same light. How could the parents of Jared Lee Loughner not know? Again, I’m not talking about after the fact. How many people never see something coming? Especially parents? In George and Cindy’s case, Mark Nejame was their first attorney. Then, he got fed up, left, and was practically deified. He could do no harm. Next came Brad Conway. Today, it’s Mark Lippman, and he seems to be keeping the family in check. After Conway dumped George and Cindy, his reputation in the public went up a few notches. In the case of the Windermere police department, it’s quite evident the political powers in charge are now in the same boat as George and Cindy. Why didn’t they see what was going on? Town leaders knew when they interviewed Saylor that he came with lots of baggage, yet they hired him anyway. That was back in 2002.

Remember, everyone is entitled to legal counsel, and that includes Casey. Who would ever want to come to her defense and why would anyone want to, for that matter? These have been some of the recurring questions made by many, and Jose Baez and the rest of her defense team have been vilified over and over and over because of it. They are evil incarnate! Yesterday, Daniel Saylor’s attorney was able to secure bond. What attorney in their right mind would be interested in defending an alleged crooked cop who squashed an investigation into the rape of a child? That’s downright disgusting, right? Well, his attorney downplayed the state’s case against his new client and urged the public to remember Saylor has only been accused - not convicted - of crimes. Sure, we’ve heard it all before. At the bond hearing, this attorney told the judge that Saylor should be released because he didn’t belong in jail. “He should be released and he should not be here. This is a travesty that’s occurred and continues to occur.”

Who is this attorney? Just who would want to represent a police chief that used his power to cover up a rape investigation against a friend? Who would it be? Why, none other than everyone’s favorite, Mark Nejame!

§

I want to thank everyone who stood by me during my family’s recent setbacks. I got some lovely, caring comments. Also, I received quite a few e-mails and submissions through this blog. I have not forgotten you, I just haven’t had much time to respond. I will. As the dust settles, I will get back into writing about the Casey Anthony case, too. There’s plenty to discuss, including lots of motions and the sanction against Jose Baez. I had a good conversation with a very nice gentleman at the last hearing. I want to say hello to Jim Barthiaume who was visiting from Michigan. It was a pleasure meeting you. Today, I will not be traveling down to the courthouse.

Thank you for your patience.

Comments

[SnoopySleuth]

Weezie~~once you are subscribed, you will continue to get Dave's new posts in your mail unitil you unsubscribe. Dave also has a relay and his new posts show up on the front page of WordPress. It is a good idea to bookmark the following page and you will never miss all the new posts pert to the Anthony case...

Front Page-WordPress-Casey Anthony

[martha]

Dear Dave, Thanks for answering my question. I pray for you and your family everyday. I am taking my 92 year old mother to the doctor Wednesday---she is OK just signing up here from her move from California. Your friend, Martha

And may I say that the above article is very good and well written--You go Dave!!! You are back in the groove.

[Patti O]

Glad to see you writing again Dave and great article! My two cents to the commentary is that Cindy and George had no choice in Baez as Casey's attorney. It was Casey's pick and they probably couldn't have changed her mind if they had wanted to. As far as defending Casey, I think George and Cindy got carried away with the defense of their daughter (denial, not wanting to face the truth) and it snowballed quickly to the point where they couldn't just change their tune. Early on Cindy is not in defense of Casey and she should have stayed that way. I think they thought that by defending her that maybe the truth would come out from Casey. I love Cindy's response to Casey when she called home from the jail. Cindy says, 'I don't know the truth sweetheart. Your lying to police is the reason you are in jail'' or something close to that effect. That was one of the only times that the Anthony's actually pointed out to Casey the error of her ways. I fully expect a bombshell to hit before trial. Casey will finally plead or try to kill herself or scream Jose has had inappropriate actions with her, or confess to an accidental killing of Caylee...something is going to happen. My prediction.

[Mary Jo]

Prosecution Lays Out Case Against Casey

[Nika1]

Hi Dave - I am so glad to see you are writing again and this post was great. I am also glad your parents are on their way to recovery. The weather has really been unusual this winter going from very cold to warm and lots of colds and flu going around.
Mary Jo, I read the proseccution case and I feel most that happened after Caylee went missing will be included. Her strange actions during that time period showed she was not concerned about her child. Thanks for posting this information.
It is really hard to get help for an adult/child when they are not willing to get help. They just go to the hospital and say they are fine and get out in a day or two. But that does not take into account that the parents of Jared and Casey never tried. I feel both had mental problems that could have been helped with proper care.. There is no excuse for not trying to help your child.

[Dave Knechel]

Hi, Nika1 - Thank you, and it's great to see you, and as a matter of fact, I'm writing a new post right now.

Yes, the weather has been strange this year, and it's always colder up your way, usually a 10 degree difference. Fortunately, I didn't get my mother's flu virus - knock on wood - nor my father's pneumonia.

Incidentally, Cheney Mason has been hired by Scott Bush as his defense attorney. There's another tie-in to the Anthony case.

[CptKD]

Think I finally figured it out -
So NEJAME is representing SAYLOR,
and CHENEY MASON is representing BUSH!

How's that one for ya's?

UNBELIEVABLE!

Like are these the only TWO lawyers in Florida that everyone seeks out?

Dave, I apologize for all my emails last night -

http://www.wftv.com/news/26528580/detail.html

Took me til this morning to figure out what the heck was going on,
but I figured it!

CptKD

[CptKD]

Well, we can rest easy now knowing that Judge Perry WILL NOT be reconsidering the Motion filed by the defence regarding the Sanctions against Bozo.
Being that he was NOT actually “held in contempt”, and that that would only apply if he continued on in the manner in which he was, the Honorable Judge ruled that he would NOT be reconsidering this motion – Period.

http://www.wesh.com/caseyanthony/26561291/detail.html

The defence is now asking for another 12k from the State!
What else is new, eh?

Anyways, WESH News has a few new updates for those interested.

CptKD

[Mary Jo]

Perry Won't Reconsider Defense Sanctions
Judge In Case Against Casey Says Defense Was Never Held In Contempt

[Mary Jo]

Casey Defense Witnesses: Area Was Submerged
Prosecutors Question New Witnesses Under Oath Thursday

[lulu]

Hi guys, especially Dave and Snoop, I'm so glad to be back.
I just want to say that about 30% of the attorneys in my area have been held in contempt at one time or another. We'd kid them about it, but the general public never knew and there was no stigma.

Also, postponements and buying time are important legal strategies.

[Dave Knechel]

YAY!!! Hello, lulu!!! Great to see you!

Thank you for that bit of wisdom. That's what the attorney told me. That verifies it more and more.

[SnoopySleuth]

lulu~~great to see you. Is your robe in moth balls?