State of Florida V. Demons
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IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE 17rH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN AND FOR BROWARD COUNTY, FLORIDA CASE#: 19-001872CF10A JUDGE: SIEGEL STATE OF FLORIDA v. JAMELL DEMONS VICTIM'S OBJECTION AND RESPONSE TO DEFENDANT'S EMERGENCY MOTION FOR VICTIM'S RELEASE FROM MEDICAL CARE AND SUPPLEMENTAL EMERGENCY MOTION FOR RELEASE FROM MEDICAL CARE VICTIM'S ELECTION OF CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS UNDER MARSY'S LAW COMES NOW, and appears the undersigned attorney on behalf of the victims in this matter, the family of Christopher Thomas, Jr., and files this Response to the Emergency Motion for Release from Medical Care and the Supplemental Emergency Motion for Release from Medical Care filed on behalf of Defendant Mr. Demons. The victims and their counsel also hereby invoke Marsy's Law, encoded in Article 1, Section 16 of the Florida Constitution. In support thereof, the family of victim Christopher Thomas, Jr., states: 1. We represent the family of victim Christopher Thomas, Jr. Marsv's Law 2. Marsy's Law is a constitutional amendment that was passed on November 26, 2018. Modeled after a similar measure in California, Marsy's Law broadens the rights of crime victims and codifies them into the Florida Constitution. • 3. Marsy's law consists of two parts: ( 1) automatically granted constitutional rights and, (2) constitutional rights a victim must elect to receive. 4. Under Article I, Section 16(b), Marsy's law is designed to, "preserve and protect the rights of crime victims to achieve justice, ensure a meaningful role throughout the criminal and juvenile justice systems for crime victims, and ensure that crime victims' rights and interests are respected and protected by law in a manner no less vigorous than protections afforded to criminal defendants and juvenile delinquents." 5. Those words provide intentionally strong rights to victims- "meaningful role throughout. .. for crime victims" and guarantees, "no less vigorous than the protections afforded to criminal defendants." 6. The "automatic" rights of victims include: a. The right to due process and to be treated with fairness and respect, b. The right to be free from intimidation, harassment, and abuse, c. The right to be reasonably protected from the accused and any person acting on behalf of the accused, d. The right to have the safety and welfare of the victim and the victim's family considered when setting bail, including setting pretrial release conditions that protect the safety and welfare of the victim and the victim's family, and e. The right to prevent the disclosure of information or records that could be used to locate or harass the victim or the victim's family, or which could disclose confidential or privileged information of the victim. 7. But there are also rights the victim must elect. Specifically, the Constitution mandates, "A victim shall have the following specific rights upon request." 8. These secondary rights are: a. The right to reasonable, accurate, and timely notice of, and to be present at, all public proceedings involving the criminal conduct, including, but not limited to, trial, plea, sentencing, or adjudication, even if the victim will be a witness at the proceeding, notwithstanding any rule to the contrary. A victim shall also be provided reasonable, accurate, and timely notice of any release or escape of the defendant or delinquent, and any proceeding during which a right of the victim is implicated. b. The right to be heard in any public proceeding involving pretrial or other release from any form of legal constraint, plea, sentencing, adjudication, or parole, and any proceeding during which a right of the victim is implicated. c. The right to confer with the prosecuting attorney concerning any plea agreements, participation in pretrial diversion programs, release, restitution, sentencing, or any other disposition of the case. d. The right to provide information regarding the impact of the offender's conduct on the victim and the victim's family to the individual responsible for conducting any presentence investigation or compiling any presentence investigation report, and to have any such information considered in any sentencing recommendations submitted to the court. e. The right to receive a copy of any presentence report, and any other report or record relevant to the exercise of a victim's right, except for such portions made confidential or exempt by law. f. The right to be informed of the conviction, sentence, adjudication, place and time of incarceration, or other disposition of the convicted offender, any scheduled release date of the offender, and the release of or the escape of the offender from custody. g. The right to be informed of all postconviction processes and procedures, to participate in such processes and procedures, to provide information to the release authority to be considered before any release decision is made, and to be notified of any release decision regarding the offender. The parole or early release authority shall extend the right to be heard to any person harmed by the offender. h. The right to be informed of clemency and expungement procedures, to provide information to the governor, the court, any clemency board, and other authority in these procedures, and to have that information considered before a clemency or expungement decision is made; and to be notified of such decision in advance of any release of the offender. 9. Section 16(b)(6)(b) is possibly the most unique, and moderately revolutionary, amendment to Florida's criminal justice system in quite some time. It is one many prosecutors, defense lawyers and judges have not yet dealt with, as some rights must be specifically elected and victim's rights under the amendment have, frankly, not been exercised under Florida jurisprudence. 10. Given the nature of this case, Mr. Thomas's family hereby exercises all of the rights granted them, and guaranteed to them, under the Florida Constitution. Election of Rights Under Marsy's Law: Objection to Release 11 . My clients, by and through our office, hereby elect: a. The right to be heard in any public proceeding involving pretrial or other release from any form of legal constraint, plea, sentencing, adjudication, or parole involving this Defendant. b. The right to be heard in any proceeding during which a right of the victim is implicated. 12. Additionally, they rely on their "automatic" rights of: victims include: a. The right to be free from intimidation, harassment, and abuse, b. The right to be reasonably protected from the accused and any person acting on behalf of the accused, and c. The right to have the safety and welfare of the victim and the victim's family considered when setting bail, including setting pretrial release conditions that protect the safety and welfare of the victim and the victim's family. 13. Based thereon, my clients file this objection to any "release" and request their attorney be heard if this matter is considered. Objection to Release 14. On or after April 3, 2020, and then again on April 6, 2020, the family of Christopher Thomas, Jr., became aware of Motions filed by former counsel for Jamell Demons, Bradford Cohen, Esq. 15. The Motion was quickly circulated around social and news media. 16. On July 1, 2019, Bradford Cohen, Esq., unquestionably withdrew from representation of the Defendant. We do not see where he appeared again on the record and thus the Motion was filed by an attorney who is no longer counsel of record and may thus be due to be denied / stricken on its face. 17. Making matters worse, Mr. Cohen goes by the name "lawronin" on the social media platform lnstagram and quickly followed his motion with a screen-grab of his motion and the following commentary: a. "I have filed a motion on behalf of Jamell Demons to have him released to a hospital for any treatment necessary for his diagnosis of COVID19. It's a scary situation for all inmates in the jails, as I believe most jails think they can handle this outbreak and my opinion is they cannot. They must loosen the regulations on soap, hand sanitizer and wipes. They currently are banded because of alcohol content. Jails and prisons need to get ahead of this curve if it already isn't too late. The Federal BOP stated on March 26, 2020 that they can handle it and there is a low amount of positives. 5 days later that number increased 6 fold and 3 individuals died. I do not think any prison or jail is prepared for something like this... some cities even with the federal government helping aren't prepared, so how do we think our jails and prisons are?" 18. He followed that up with another post, while displaying media attention his Motion gained, with the following comment: a. "Just an update we are waiting to hear from the judge regarding the release of Mr Demons to recieve (sic} medical care and treatment. Supplemental motion was filed today detailing the jail having Mr. Demons share a cell with another COVID 19 positive inmate. This is not recommended by any medical physician. The jails and prisons are not prepared to handle this crisis. Rules on alcohol based hand sanitizer and wipes must be lifted at a bare min. Inmates are passing trays, jail phones and shared items that are not sanitized when passed between inmates." 19. Prior to filing these Motions, Mr. Cohen posted on social media, "this will be an interesting trial, I am not (sic) longer representing Melly in this matter, but I predict a not guilty based on all of the evidence I have viewed." 20. One could say Mr. Cohen is using social media and news media to promote his name and use the court of public opinion to not only try Mr.