Charges Dropped for 119 People After Cop Caught on Video Planting Meth on Innocent Grandma

[PilotsError 2314]

Just another isolated incident.  Just another bad apple.  I can't even fathom how many innocent people are in jails and prisons all over our country.

 

 

Quote

Jackson County, FL — Dozens of innocent people who were rotting in jail have been freed and their charges erased after the corrupt cop who put them there was caught on his own body camera planting meth on an innocent mother. Jackson County Sheriff’s Deputy Zachary Wester has since been fired and a slew of lawsuits are now rolling in.

Wester’s fall from law enforcement grace and the 119 people who were exonerated are due largely in part to the diligence of a single person, assistant state attorney at the 14th Judicial Circuit, Christina Pumphrey.

Pumphrey’s job as assistant state attorney included reviewing evidence before moving forward with charges against individuals. When she began reviewing cases, she found something very peculiar.

“This is an exaggeration, but it felt like his (Wester’s) name was on half the cases,” Pumphrey told The Appeal. “It was seriously disproportionate.”

When Pumphrey began watching the body camera footage from Wester’s arrests, she found something even more disturbing. Many times, Wester was seen conducting illegal searches. Also, his written affidavits did not match what she watched in the videos. But that wasn’t the most telling aspect of all these videos.

While it is no question that folks will claim that drugs found on them or in their possession “aren’t their’s” and “they don’t know how that got there,” nearly all of Wester’s cases had this. The videos showed that people were utterly shocked when Wester claimed to have found drugs in their vehicles. While a single person may have been lying, when everyone reacts the exact same way, something is up.

Although she reviewed multiple videos, Pumphrey never saw the actual act of Wester planting drugs or otherwise hiding them. However, all that changed when Wester pulled over Teresa Odom in February of 2018.

In that video, Wester pulls Odom over, claiming her tail lights aren’t working. However, it would later be revealed that her tail lights were, in fact, working fine and Wester had targeted her to frame her.

In the video, Wester is extremely nice to the woman, complimenting her, joking around, and making small talk. But in the back of his mind, he knew the entire time that he was going to plant meth on her and have her thrown in a cage—an insidious move indeed.

After threatening to have a K-9 come search her car, Wester tells Odom that she can avoid the K-9 if she just lets him search her truck himself—a huge mistake.

As the body camera shows, Wester opens the door to Odom’s truck and is cupping a small baggie with a white powder in it.

Wester would plant the substance under a red towel in her truck and then pretend to find it later. Odom would then be arrested and thrown in a cage so this officer could make himself look like a hero.

After Pumphrey began to raise red flags in her department pointing out videos like Odom’s, she says the system began to go after her.

As The Appeal reports:

Internally, however, Pumphrey said the chief assistant state attorney, Larry Basford, chastised her for sharing the videos with the sheriff’s office. “He starts yelling over the phone. What was I doing looking through all the videos? Why in the world did I find the Teresa Odom video? Why was I looking for it? And just having an absolute fit.” Basford did not respond to comment on Pumphrey’s characterization of this conversation. Pumphrey turned in her resignation the following day. She filed a whistleblower complaint, but later dropped it because she said she didn’t want it to affect her ability to represent her clients at her new state job in public defense at the Office of Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel for the First DCA Region of Florida.

Apparently, it wasn’t just Wester who had an interest in locking up innocent people.

“The state attorney’s office was just as bad and just as guilty as Zach Wester when we found this out and were not dropping these cases immediately, in my mind,” Pumphrey said. “When it was ignorance it was one thing, but as soon as we know there are innocent people sitting in jail and we don’t drop the charges, we’re as guilty as he is.”

Although Wester was fired after Pumphrey exposed him, the state has yet to bring any charges against him, claiming they are still looking into it.

Also, although these 119 people were vindicated, and a possible 30 more could be, they still face challenges from being framed.

“People still had consequences. It wasn’t like this was just all erased,” Pumphrey said. Dropped charges still remain on a person’s criminal record. And “even though the charges got dropped, there were people sitting in jail for six months on no bond because of this case. Or you’ve got people who have to spend money on supervision fees; they have to spend money paying for their own urine analysis test; they’ve done community service hours; they paid cost of bond — like $1,500. … You’re not getting back six months of your life. Or you’re not getting back the job that you lost because you sat in jail for a week before your girlfriend could get the bond money.”

The next time someone tells you that obeying the law will keep you out of trouble with police, show them this article. A single cop had over 100 victims.

 

https://thefreethoughtproject.com/charges-dropped-for-119-people-after-cop-caught-on-video-planting-meth-on-innocent-grandma/

Edited June 24, 2019 by PilotsError

[Huckleberry 33057]

What a shock he hasn't been charged yet. Yeah, I bet they're still looking into it. Got 'em working in shifts.

[Dewey 3286]

Same song, different department, cop gets busted for being corrupt, boss-man gets upset at the whistleblower, not the corrupt cop, whistleblower ends up working somewhere else, cop gets fired, public is told one bad cop, everything is fine, then we wait for more of the same.

[txhorns 2413]

What a hero Pumphrey is.  If only we had more people like her.

[crash_davis 23114]

the DA will prosecute the scumbag cop and send his ass to jail.  the other cops will speak out and ostracize this asshole.  and pigs will fly out of my ass.

[tx 3 putt 77274]

Paid time off will teach him a lesson !

[Prepuce of Doom 21098]

If this shit doesn't merit the death penalty then nothing does. 

[Neonmoon 38130]

2 hours ago, Dewey said:

Same song, different department, cop gets busted for being corrupt, boss-man gets upset at the whistleblower, not the corrupt cop, whistleblower ends up working somewhere else, cop gets fired, public is told one bad cop, everything is fine, then we wait for more of the same.

[immortal13 4059]

This shit is disgusting. Sad that people's lives are ruined from false charges. Thr cop should get life in priso 

[Pam Cummings 9653]

Why is this cop not in prison for this?

 

Jk we all know why

[Cajun 11722]

Because HERO!!!

They are nothing more than organized crime with badges.

Nothing more.

Scene just sums 'em up perfectly, especially at 2:17 mark...

 

[BrazilHorn 6628]

7 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:

Paid time off will teach him a lesson !

It’s like the joke around directional schools facing NCAA sanctions when a big boy school is busted. In this case some rural department will hire this hero as it’s all about the revenue. 

[immortal13 4059]

Just now, BrazilHorn said:

It’s like the joke around directional schools facing NCAA sanctions when a big boy school is busted. In this case some rural department will hire this hero as it’s all about the revenue. 

Exactly. Just means some small town will get another bad cop.

[ajax 2620]

I hate reading these threads because I get so mad. But let's imagine for a moment that he didn't plant the evidence and these people did have drugs.

I DON'T CARE IF SOMEONE PUTS A SUBSTANCE IN THEIR OWN BODY AND IT MAKES THEM FEEL GOOD.

All the supposedly bad things that people will do under the influence are already illegal. Why are we putting people in jail for ingesting something? It's FUCKING insane.

[ChiTownDoc 21154]

On 6/24/2019 at 3:29 PM, Prepuce of Doom said:

If this shit doesn't merit the death penalty then nothing does. 

Just put his ass in gen pop.  Will get the death penalty without costing tax payers millions. 

[Buzzrock 14936]

Just. Fucking. Wow.

119. This is pure sociopath territory.

[Guest]

On 6/24/2019 at 12:57 PM, Dewey said:

Same song, different department, cop gets busted for being corrupt, boss-man gets upset at the whistleblower, not the corrupt cop, whistleblower ends up working somewhere else, cop gets fired, public is told one bad cop, everything is fine, then we wait for more of the same.

Agreed.  The bad cops are really pawns/ outliers in the power structure.  Start cutting off heads( not literally) and things MIGHT change.  Houston cop incident is PRIME example of where the overseers are as guilty or more so than the actual guys who pulled the trigger.

Take down the bosses.  If they're not in on it, they're too fucking negligent to hold their authority anyhoo.

Edited June 29, 2019 by slorch

[Firemans4Horn 18118]

On 6/24/2019 at 11:35 AM, PilotsError said:

In that video, Wester pulls Odom over, claiming her tail lights aren’t working. However, it would later be revealed that her tail lights were, in fact, working fine and Wester had targeted her to frame her.

 In the video, Wester is extremely nice to the woman, complimenting her, joking around, and making small talk. But in the back of his mind, he knew the entire time that he was going to plant meth on her and have her thrown in a cage—an insidious move indeed.

 

Definitely get a Ted Bundy vibe from this guy. Might get some K-9’s to check his house for some body parts. 

[SDG 3319]

I find it telling that this guy made at least 149 suspicious drug bust and no one “noticed” until a state attorney stumbled upon the evidence.  Surely at least one other officer had to know something...

[Steel Shank 9430]

^^^ The courts have no problem charging someone sitting in a car when an accomplice commits a crime. "Accessory". All those other cops are in this same boat.

[hopkinsnhorns 533]

Where's a hero like Dexter to take care of dirty cops like this?

[Texas_Rocks 346]

Constant?

[hornian 5222]

On 6/24/2019 at 11:35 AM, PilotsError said:

Just another isolated incident.  Just another bad apple.  I can't even fathom how many innocent people are in jails and prisons all over our country.

 

 

The saying is “a bad apple spoils the whole bunch.” So just one bad apple is a big problem. 

[Armybrat 40862]

Pics of grandma mentioned in thread title?

[Guest]

6 hours ago, hornian said:

The saying is “a bad apple spoils the whole bunch.” So just one bad apple is a big problem. 

Fire the apple farmer...

[RPM 26334]

6 hours ago, Armybrat said:

Pics of grandma mentioned in thread title?

and the POS

[Armybrat 40862]

10 hours ago, RPM said:

 

 

Maybe. 

How much is her bail?

[cactusflinthead 27601]

Wester claimed he smelled marijuana in the vehicle, though Bowling, a passenger, and the driver denied doing drugs. After Wester announced he’d found drugs in the car, Bowling swore he’d been clean since an earlier DUI arrest. At the time, he was being tested regularly after gaining custody of his daughter.

“Furthermore, Bowling voluntarily took a drug test after he was arrested and it was negative,” the arrest report says. “Bowling contacted the Sheriff’s Office and requested that the drugs were tested for DNA and fingerprints. Bowling also requested the body camera video but never received it. Bowling lost custody of his daughter because of the arrest.”

I hope he spends a long long time in jail.

https://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/local/2019/07/10/former-jackson-county-deputy-zach-wester-arrested-drug-planting-probe/1691366001/

[tx 3 putt 77274]

Public hanging for his crimes against humanity 

[TwiceHorn 31516]

I find this

Quote

Internally, however, Pumphrey said the chief assistant state attorney, Larry Basford, chastised her for sharing the videos with the sheriff’s office. “He starts yelling over the phone. What was I doing looking through all the videos? Why in the world did I find the Teresa Odom video? Why was I looking for it? And just having an absolute fit.” Basford did not respond to comment on Pumphrey’s characterization of this conversation. Pumphrey turned in her resignation the following day. She filed a whistleblower complaint, but later dropped it because she said she didn’t want it to affect her ability to represent her clients at her new state job in public defense at the Office of Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel for the First DCA Region of Florida.

to be as or more disgusting than the cop.

It's a little bit surprising to me that a DAs office that has an integrity unit like this would have a chief assistant like this.  Then again, maybe it's all for show.  Certainly what it looks like.

[TwiceHorn 31516]

9 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

I find this

to be as or more disgusting than the cop.

It's a little bit surprising to me that a DAs office that has an integrity unit like this would have a chief assistant like this.  Then again, maybe it's all for show.  Certainly what it looks like.

On further reading, it wasn't an integrity unit (the linked article kind of implied or inferred that it might be).  She was just doing her job and looking at the evidence with a "fair eye."  And it points up kind of a different aspect of where prosecutorial work goes wrong.  I have mentioned that lawyers sometimes fall into the trap of judging themselves by W-L records and then also presuming that they are doing God's work, so every W is a vindication of all that's good and right in the world.  But there can also be a tendency to assume guilt if a person has a criminal record.  I mean, they have to be guilty of something, right?  Laypeople do that constantly (see, e.g. surlyhorns.com), but it isn't right for lawyers to do it and especially not those in the CJ system.

[American Swindle 102]

The idea of anarchy and stateless societies are so appealing to those that go through atrocities such as this. Some actually argue that the police should be privatized.

[bernorange 8362]

I am glad to see that body camera video can be effective in exposing dirty cops.  They should be mandatory for all cops (like no video, no arrest) and the video should be publicly available.  If society is going to give the LEOs absurd legal protections, we should have much better transparency and oversight to ensure good faith service.

[Prepuce of Doom 21098]

I'd go a step further and implement a policy that all camera "malfunctions" be independently reviewed and treated as a criminal offense if fraudulent. Give cops a serious incentive to protect (and disincentive to tamper with) the proper functioning of their cameras. 

"If you've got nothing to hide...." 

Edited July 13, 2019 by Prepuce of Doom

[Guest]

agree with 2 previous posts, especially with PoD's last line.

 

Most definitely should be a 2 way street.

 

Seems like every cop cam is a steaming pile of shit that never works.   How convenient...

Edited July 13, 2019 by slorch

[Patricio Swayze 17058]

Just saw a short video on this case. Mentioned a father had lost custody of his son because of the false arrest. Hopefully that gets rectified.

No hyperbole, and sorry if this hurts any snowflake’s feelings, but I sincerely hope this piece of shit pig gets shanked in the throat after several years of enduring prison rape.

ACAB.