Cops even have a word for it: Testilying.
How far will a lie or two get you?
Well, lies is what got a Raleigh Sheriff’s Deputy fired along with 175 cases thrown out of court in which the deputy was a witness for.
Deputy Robert Davis of the Wake County Sheriff’s Department caused 175 traffic and DWI cases to be dismissed because he failed to be honest.
Now, the Wake County District Attorney is livid because the cases can’t be prosecuted– prosecutions are the backbones of a prosecutor’s career.
“He [Davis] violated the defendants’ rights,” said District Attorney Lorrin Freeman, “He was untruthful on the stand.”
It all transpired when District Court Judge Jacqueline Brewer discovered that Deputy Davis lied in three cases.
In one case Davis arrested Katrina Weaver in August 2014 for DUI, there was no witness in the breathalyzer room when Ms. Weaver was supposed to submit to her breathalyzer test.
However, in court Deputy Davis said that there was a witness present.
It should be to no surprise that cameras are in the breathalyzer room.
The judge saw the video.
Deputy Davis was lying.
There were absolutely no witnesses present in the breathalyzer room.
Judge Brewer said simply, “Deputy Davis has shown a pattern of providing false statements and false testimony.”
Apparently the phone lines were not working, and Ms. Weaver was not able to contact a witness.
After 15 minutes with no phone connection at the jail, Deputy Davis filed an additional charge on Ms. Weaver, for not complying with the breathalyzer test.
North Carolina DUI law cites that witnesses are allowed in the breathalyzer room.
Also DUI arrestees are given a full 30 minutes of legal consultation and telephone witness requests prior to taking a breathalyzer test at jail intake.
Deputy Davis was fired after his court lies came to light.
Testilying is nothing new.
The Washington Post’s Radley Balko covered American cops’ predilection to lie in court, by publishing a nearly 50 year old court manuscript.
So many cops lie about their professional duties as public servants, that there’s even a list of them each prosecutor must keep known as the Brady List.
The landmark Supreme Court decision in Brady v. Maryland requires prosecutors to disclose any evidence which may lead to a citizen’s innocence.
Brady Lists do that by disclosing that a police agency is lying, cheating, and dishonest cops.
Name one other profession that keeps all of their worst scoundrels on the job, and just keeps a list in case anyone asks while the liars make life altering decisions about random citizens every day.
Davis was on the force for 18 years, let it be known that a lot of lies can be told in 18 years– perhaps there are more that no-one knows about.
In a different incident that’s come to light, Deputy Davis tasered a woman that he’d arrested twice, before taking her to the jail intake area.
Davis’ suspect made a phone call to her attorney.
But before her full legal 30 minutes of legal consultation was over, Deputy Davis had already noted in official records that the woman never did make that phone call, but instead that she refused to submit to a breathalyzer test.
In March 2015, Davis again arrested a different woman for DUI and did not give her the full 30 minuets of consultation.
Similarly, in that miscarriage of justice Davis also noted the woman as not making a phone call, and then refusing to submit to the breathalyzer test, only because she questioned him for not allotting her the full 30 minutes.
In total, 104 potentially serious cases of driving while impaired were dismissed along with 71 traffic cases.
It will be the District Attorney’s decision on whether to file perjury charges on Davis.
Convicting the deputy of lying on the stand won’t be too difficult, but perhaps the lawman will claim selective enforcement as his defense.
Because the District Attorney could prosecute a great many more cops if more careful attention was made to the numerous statements they must make, and do make, each day under oath.
And a great many deputies demonstratively do break their oaths.
Ed. Note: Brady Lists are kept by prosecutors, not departments, as this article originally stated. FYI – This is not an April Fools day joke.
The post North Carolina Deputy Lied in Court; Now He Is Fired And His Cases Will Be Thrown Out appeared first on PINAC News.
Source