Tag Archives: honor

Do You Really Know Your Sheriff? PART 1

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I wanted to make one last request for the citizens of Escambia County as to the decision to re-elect Sheriff David Morgan for a third term. I have many issues I am going to present over the next few days. I hope you bear with me in the explanation and totality of ALL the issues I put forth. Even if you disagree with any one of the points, please consider them all in consideration as to the job duties and responsibilities that come with being the head law enforcement officer in Escambia County.

  1. In Florida, the duties of Sheriff, as defined by the Florida Statutes are this:

The duties, as enumerated in Chapter 30 of the Florida Statutes, include:.

  • Being conservator of the peace in its county.
  • Suppressing tumults, riots, and unlawful assemblies in its county with force and strong hand when necessary.
  • Apprehending, without warrant, any person disturbing the peace, and carrying that person before the proper judicial officer, that further proceedings may be had against him or her according to law.

Conserving the peace of the county is the primarily deficient role Morgan does not meet. Preserving the peace is, in essence, keeping–CONSERVING–the peace, safety and stability of the county. That means he is responsible for the overall safety of the county. He summarily denies this is his job duty. He claims if people raise their kids right, then the community would be safer. That is a cop out. He is the conservator of the county, as it may be and evolve. That means it is his job to preserve your safety and he is currently not fulfilling that duty and telling the community he will not be responsible for the actions within the community. His contention is that you, the citizens, have that responsibility. HE IS WRONG.

By his own declaration, he will not address the problems of crime.

Be pragmatic; if someone who worked for you failed to fulfill the duties as specified by their job, and who clearly and contemptuously tried to re-write their job description, would you keep them on?

Additionally, he has more legally sound complaints for civil rights violations, particularly from his deputies and administration.  At least a dozen of these lawsuits cite, hostile work environment, sexual & gender discrimination, retaliation against the Sheriff and his close underlings. These deputies are being run off because they are on the wrong side of Morgan. Of the deputies who are suing, the majority are women.

Even if you dismiss the “sour grapes” argument for the employees suing the Sheriff, remember  there are 116 lawsuits that have been filed against this Sheriff. 116 people with attorneys, roughly 200 members of your community who found sufficient evidence to bring court actions against  your Sheriff. An example of what ALL the suits have in common is civil rights violations like this:

  • Defendant, Sheriff Morgan, had in place, a policy, statements, regulation, decision, custom or usage of relying on its deputies completing Statements of Probable Cause without verifying the identity of the accused, either by actual witness identification, or use of either an actual lineup or a photographic lineup.
  • Defendant, Sheriff Morgan, had no policy, statements, regulation, decision, custom or usage in place for verifying the name, social security number, drivers license number, address, phone number, age, date of birth or photograph of a suspect prior to including this infonnation in a probable cause statement or warrant request, or if such policies, statements, regulation, decision, custom or usage were in place, Sheriff Morgan failed to insure that such policies, statements, regulation, decision, custom or usage was being followed.
  •  Defendant, Sheriff Morgan, had prior notice that his deputies were submitting erroneous probable cause statements and failed to take appropriate actions to correct these acts.
  • Defendant, Sheriff Morgan, in failing to adopt and implement appropriate police procedures acted with deliberate indifference to Plaintiff, Hallam’s, Constitutional right to be free from unreasonable seizure as guaranteed by the 4 and 14th Amendments of the Constitution of the United States of America.

 

You may think the Sheriff is good guy and says all the right things, but that isn’t what his job is about. You can be a good guy but a bad leader. Yes, Morgan is charismatic, but he is problematic as a law enforcement officer. Maybe politics outside law enforcement is his calling because let’s look at his record and performance over the last 8 years:

  1. He fails to sufficiently keep the peace and safety of the community.
  2. He has lost more employees than any other Sheriff and he is being sued for mistreatment and civil rights violations from others ie he is a horrible boss.

IF SOMEONE FAILS TO DO THEIR JOB, THEY ARE A LIABILITY. SHERIFF MORGAN IS UNABLE TO FULFILL THE JOB HE IS ELECTED FOR BASED ON HIS RECORD AS SHERIFF.

einsteininsanity

MORGAN IS A POLITICIAN—NOT A LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER.

 REMEMBER THE DISTINCTION.

 

 

 

Honor, Patriotism and Ignorance

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As the officially observed day of America’s independence from the repressive, tyrannical King George, I am saddened that we, as Americans, have chosen to implement repression, throwing away liberties without regard to the fight that took place to provide them. The founding fathers risked life and limb to provide us the openness of expression free from oppression by an authority that claims to be higher than our own. Case in point, the Confederate flag.

Think what you will of such a flag, but this single flag is being ignorantly banned. If people have a problem with the Confederacy and its heritage, the following flags will be banned as well as the flag for the original 13 colonies.

Cannonsflagchart2 cbattleflags

What about the British flag? Great Britain enslaved and killed more people than the Confederacy and they also implemented the slavery that is being placed on trial. How is it we are not all over that? The introduction and perpetuity of the use of slaves, begins and ends on British shoulders. That is a historical fact that is not being challenged.

The logic is flawed on this unintelligible crusade to pull down THE Confederate Flag. Pick up a book. Understand the history. Oh and by the way, you could not go into another country and demand a symbol of their history be taken down, even if it was a Nazi flag. The very freedom to be against ANYTHING is a right given to everyone able to make this ridiculousness possible.

All the uproar stems back to groups flying THAT flag under misguided principles. Again, in this country–at least for now–you can be as misguided as you want and say what you want to say, you have that right. This hyper-sensitivity could be applied to the LGBT community and the rainbow flag. I am sure there is a person on this continent who is offended to think about the representation of that flag. Apply the same logic that is attached with the vehement ignorance to take down THE Confederate Flag. It represents a difference in values that may or may not be offensive to a group of people.

Knowledge is power. If you jump on a bandwagon behind something without knowing the foreseeable liberties that will be lost in association to said cause, you are spitting in the face of what today is about. You were lucky enough to have been given these rights. Don’t be English enough to demand others give those rights up. You are putting others under the same tyrannical rule we fought so hard to get out from under.

”The natural liberty of man is to be free from any superior power on Earth, and not to be under the will or legislative authority of man, but only to have the law of nature for his rule.”
Samuel Adams

How strangely will the Tools of a Tyrant pervert the plain Meaning of Words!

Samuel Adams

Honor for Sale

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integrity-p

In researching the Billings’ murder case—one of the biggest and highest profile cases in Pensacola—it became apparent to me that corruption in the government, the “Good Ole Boy” (GOB) system of governmental cronyism is not reserved for just the politicians. One of the most audacious aspects of this case is the lack of journalistic integrity and “stick-to-tiveness” that is exhibited by the media. One particular, Mr. Outzen, also known for his title as “repeater” rather than “reporter”.  Mr. Outzen calls himself a man of integrity in a high profile interview with a high profile publication in reference to this case. He has also shared with me his thoughts, ideas, and knowledge from that time. It seems Mr. Outzen believes very much as I do. He confirmed the role of Hugh Wiggins as a gunrunner. He confirms that Ashley Billings Markham was screaming at the top of her lungs at the crime scene, “He did this. He killed my parents,” pointing to Justin Billings the night of the murders.

This passionate accusation turns out to be a valid theory. Mr. Billings had GSR on his hands that night, a very weak alibi and first & foremost, the absence of any emotion that was so glaring to investigators, he was initially the best subject. That is until the intervention of Mr. Craig’s narrative released to the press which deviates from all evidence but is pushed and released as fact to the press. Mr. Outzen confirms the “high probability” of that being the case scenario to me in a private conversation, in January of this year. Outzen acknowledged my theories as fair, accurate, and as likely as any theory provided by the state in this murder. This really got my attention since Mr. Outzen was on the inside track of this case and had access to the crime scene the night of the brutal murders.

But when I asked this “seasoned” journalist who waves the banner of his family’s roots in the civil rights pursuit, why he never broke this story that was so jaw-dropping and could have made his career, I received a bunch of nothing answers, ultimately culminating on him threatening to sue me for quoting him in a book I published on the Billings Murder. Why such overkill? Turns out I was not privy to the fact, Mr. Outzen had a love of the Honorable Sir David. When I asked about this relationship tinting his duty as a journalist as well as the dirt Sir David has on Mr. Outzen, he became very defensive. He then proceeded to tell me he’d sue me for quoting him in my book.

Six to eight weeks later, I got a letter in the mail from Mr. Outzen’s attorney- a CEASE & DESIST letter stating I was to pull my book from sale and pay him $25,000 for my “infringement” of his copyright material. I was to sign a statement to never to it again. To which I penned this letter:

April 9, 2015

Mr. Stevenson,

In response to your letter dated April 2, 2015 regarding copyright infringement that I allegedly inflicted upon Rick Outzen in my book Conjuring Justice: Proof One Person Can Make a Difference, this is my official answer to such allegations:

The portion of Mr. Outzen’s article posted on Rick’s Blog & Independent Weekly was shown in my book as the only publicized description of a crime scene and the 9-1-1 call. These statements are factual events Mr. Outzen was the sole beneficiary of as specific description of the actual events were squashed by the Billings’ family. Mr. Outzen’s description of the crime scene was of little to no artistic license and more recollection of facts not released to the public. My quoting of his details was for the benefit of reporting or describing the scene of a crime that many people were not fortunate enough to have been privy.

My use of Mr. Outzen’s work did not affect the financial gain of Mr. Outzen’s article as it is posted in various publications free in the public domain. My financial gain was minimal on this book with his description being merely an insignificant portion of book. His description merely adds 3% of the totality of the book in which its own means to identify a factual event in a factual case.

Pursuant to Maxtone-Graham v. Burtchaell, 803 F.2d 1253 (2d Cir. 1986), cert. denied, 481 U.S. 1059 (1987) & according to Columbia Law School teaching, the following criteria is met in my use of Mr. Outzen’s description of the Billings’ crime scene:

  • “Purpose: Although defendant’s book was published by a commercial press with the possibility of monetary success, the main purpose of the book was to educate the public (about Billings’ Murders & the author’s views). Though errors in the copying of the original work could weigh against fair use, pursuant to case law, the court found the errors to be of little significance. Overall, this factor weighed in favor of fair use.
  • Nature: Though the plaintiff’s book contained “elements of creative journalistic effort,” it was said to be largely factual, weighing in favor of fair use.
  • Amount: In precedent, the court resolved that quoting 4.3 percent of the plaintiff’s work was not excessive.  The verbatim passages were also not necessarily central to the plaintiff’s book.”
  • I used 1714 words out of 48,547 entire words within my book, which accounts for less than 3% of the entirety of the book. While this amount is a great percentage of the article in question–2506 of the article composition–of that 2506 words, 1128 words are transcribed, 9-1-1 records which although copyright protected within the article, are not private property and do not rise to the level of infringement. The remaining 586 words are again reporting of things notated in a report of factual recollections of Wayne Wright, crime scene investigator & Deputy Walter Johnson. These accounts are not artistic expression; they are findings of professionals on the scene which does not fall under copyright infringement.
  • The reporting of the conditions of the crime scene and the bodies is presented in my book, to provide a scene that is important but not foundationally substantive. It is also only one privy to, Rick Outzen. Mr. Outzen gained this privilege through political favors with Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan who holds a monopoly on all crime scenes within his jurisdiction. No accurate portrayal of the facts was ever presented to the public for understanding of the crime scene. This also makes constitutes the journalistic value of the information used to be free of artistic expression and copyright infringement.
  • “Effect: The court found no significant threat to the plaintiff’s market. Indeed, the court noted that the plaintiff’s work….was not likely to appeal to the same readers.

**Conclusion: This case sets precedent which affirms that quotations in a subsequent work may be within fair use, even when they are lengthy”

 Copyright Advisory Office Case Summaries. Columbia Law School, n.d. Web. 7 Apr. 2015. <(http://copyright.columbia.edu/copyright/fair-use/case-summaries/#summaries4&gt;.)

A direct quote of Mr. Outzen was, “I can’t stand to think someone could order a killing and get away with it.”  This statement alone demonstrates shared interest in the facts of this case. In numerous communications prior to this melee, Mr. Outzen also reinforced his commonality of theory and like-mindedness with the basis of my book. We had the same purpose. In light of the legal maxim, Nemo potest mutare consilium suum in alterius injuriam, (No one can change his purpose to the injury of another) the standard for copyright infringement, in this instance, would be changing of the purpose of the initial article from being factual reporting of an actual murder with journalistic integrity to a work of artistic prose with creative measure not intended to be seen as journalistic in nature.

Please take notice that the implicit understanding throughout this strong-arm attempt by Mr. Outzen was the unwillingness to permit questioning of his integrity in this case as well as possible exposure of personal favors received by Mr. Outzen’s mistress, Sena Maddison in the form of an unearned position within the ECSO. Thus violation of fair use within my book became the only effective means for Mr. Outzen to meaningfully monopolize information given to him in a case where protecting his political alliances became paramount to journalistic integrity. My exposure of this lack of integrity is the fuel that is the fire in this cease and desist action. I will not sign any agreement or pay fees used to extort me for my silence about his extramarital affair.

Any other correspondence on this matter is to be sent to Attorney Marie Mattox and will be deemed harassment for whistleblowing retaliation in the investigation of the Escambia County Sheriff’s office. Mr. Outzen is an agent of Mr. Morgan. Any further action on Mr. Outzen’s part in reference to this matter will be deemed as such.

Truly,

Jimmie Staley

My Journey & Mission

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Something must be said. In all my days working towards getting justice in a place where there is no justice, I have been accused of being sanctimonious, unintelligent, naive, even man-chasing after a lost cause because I am a woman.  I have never addressed these things because those that KNOW me know that is not the case.  These are all attempts to minimize my mission.

My very core of being led me to this place. I was born with greatness as my uncle Mike would say. The greatness is not in blood or even heritage. It is self belief and confidence. We all have it; it is merely a matter of how much of yourself you listen to or maybe some will call it what God believes of me. I believe the latter personally because you cannot have the former without the latter but I understand that is not everyone’s view.

I am a simple person who has always basked in being underestimated in every realm of my life. Nothing feeds the soul like doing something people say is impossible. I was not supposed to live at birth. I was not supposed to be able to bear children. I was not supposed to be able to make a difference in the journey but yet I find myself working amongst some of the strongest people in Pensacola to aid me in doing the right thing. People I read in the news about but never thought I would have a dialogue with, men like Gene Valentino, Rex Blackburn and others. These men have a legacy in Pensacola. They are trendsetters. They are people who have crossed my path in commonality of mission.

I know it may not seem like much either but I get to work with Patrick Gonzalez and Richard Gonzalez. They are aristocracy from the foundation of Pensacola.  This is an excerpt from Pensapedia. (I did not write this nor did I poach it, Mr. Outzen. I am just CITING it.)

Don Manuel Gonzalez was born in 1767 in San Vincente, de la Barquera, Santander Province, Spain. Born into landed gentry, Gonzalez ran away from home to serve on his uncle’s ship. On December 17, 1784, he joined the army and was sent to the New World, landing in New Orleans. He was made Indian Agent in 1792 and was given the rank of Colonel and later Brigadier General in the Spanish Army. Don Manuel came to possess large tracts of land in Pensacola through honors granted by the Spanish Crown. After leaving the army, he was granted passage through the Choctaw and Creek nations and established residence in Pensacola, where he became a cattle rancher. He donated the land for Plaza Ferdinand VII to the city and opened a market there in 1816. When Florida was transferred to the United States in 1821, Gonzalez, a friend of General Andrew Jackson (and at whose house Jackson and his wife awaited the transfer), was appointed Justice of the Peace and made a Colonel in the American Army. The first Florida Legislature was held (and the first statutes enacted) at Don Manuel’s home, Gonzalia (nicknamed the “Fifteen-Mile House”). He was made Quartermaster General for the Florida Militia on September 14, 1822.

Gonzalez died in his home on March 8, 1838. His burial was marked by the closing of many businesses and was described by the Pensacola Gazette as well-attended, including the uniformed officers of the French corvette La Brillante.

A street and neighborhood in Pensacola are named for Gonzalez. He is buried at St. Michael’s Cemetery.

http://www.pensapedia.com/wiki/Manuel_Gonzalez

Patrick & Lenny Gonzalez may not look like the sort to be of importance in Pensacola today. But like I said, I believe we all have greatness in us. We are Americans…our existence is miraculous. Thousands of people died trying to get the American Dream. We are the stock of the people who made it…the survivors.

Each of us has a family story. I feel the need to live up to a standard of the way I was raised and the people I came from. Honor is a seldom used word in our culture. I have done some bad things that will forever mar my character and for those things my penance is to do right in other ways. Slaying this nasty corrupt dragon is going to be my legacy. It is my destiny. I put my soul into this. I have made exactly $4.70 so far off of 3 years of work. But my conscience is clear and my motives are right. For that reason, I believe with every fiber in my being I can only succeed. That is all that matters.