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Highlands Today

Evidence Problems

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Robert Dietrich

Published: November 29, 2008

In a Highlands Today article dated Nov. 20 "Evidence Problem Spoiled Highlands Court Cases" it was reported that grow-house marijuana evidence in the Jose Miguel Rosales case was lost because of improper storage while in the custody of the sheriff. This caused the state attorney's office to have to reduce the drug trafficking charges against Rosales on "what should have been a solid case."

As I recall missing evidence was a key issue during the recent sheriff's campaign but apparently not enough people paid attention to it, even after it was revealed that Benton lied about it and then attempted to cover it up. Benton is still attempting to deceive the public with her statement in this very article, "But I can tell you with certainty that no criminal has gone free or the sentence reduced specifically because of an item we have missing." Did I read this article incorrectly or did prosecutors have to reduce the charges against Rosales? No, they had to reduce the charges.

Ladies and gentlemen this is just the tip of the iceberg with this evidence fiasco in which Benton has admitted knowing about since 2005, yet she somehow got elected again. You can bet your bottom dollar every local defense attorney worth their salt is licking their chops over this issue. The state attorney's office will be lucky if they can salvage any of these cases by reducing the charges. We can only watch as more and more cases made by hard working deputies go down the drain. We only have ourselves to blame.

Robert Dietrich
Lake Placid

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