Florida Family denied Justice in a murder

[Steve Esdale]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)Florida

Can someone please tell me what department of government I can turn to? My father was murdered in Sarasota Florida and the Sarasota Sheriff's department classified his death as natural when in fact he was a victim of a pre-meditated murder. I discovered his true cause of death when I did a public records request for the 911 call made by his wife of three weeks the day she pretended he died in a peaceful afternoon nap. His murder is completely captured in the background. When I brought this to the attention of the Sarasota Sheriff's Department, they chose to cover up their mistake instead of fixing it. To get away with their mistake, they altered the recording by transposing a digital copy onto a cassette tape and made multiple generations until my father's murder can no longer be heard. This bad copy was made after I already had a clear copy. Sheriff Department sent the altered copy to the FBI crime lab and requested a transcript of the altered evidence knowing what the results would be. This report has been used to shield them from being held accountable for destruction of evidence which has also resulted in my father's killer getting away with murder for over ten years.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and Florida Governors all refuse to get involved. How can our Florida family obtain justice in this country?

 

[sandyclaus]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)Florida

Can someone please tell me what department of government I can turn to? My father was murdered in Sarasota Florida and the Sarasota Sheriff's department classified his death as natural when in fact he was a victim of a pre-meditated murder. I discovered his true cause of death when I did a public records request for the 911 call made by his wife of three weeks the day she pretended he died in a peaceful afternoon nap. His murder is completely captured in the background. When I brought this to the attention of the Sarasota Sheriff's Department, they chose to cover up their mistake instead of fixing it. To get away with their mistake, they altered the recording by transposing a digital copy onto a cassette tape and made multiple generations until my father's murder can no longer be heard. This bad copy was made after I already had a clear copy. Sheriff Department sent the altered copy to the FBI crime lab and requested a transcript of the altered evidence knowing what the results would be. This report has been used to shield them from being held accountable for destruction of evidence which has also resulted in my father's killer getting away with murder for over ten years.
Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and Florida Governors all refuse to get involved. How can our Florida family obtain justice in this country?
(url removed)

According to the URL you provided (and I removed), there is already an attorney working on this. Why would you come into an public legal form, answered primarily by laypersons, to ask for further assistance? Surely the attorney is in a better position to address your concerns. Unless, of course, you are simply attempting to publicize the case even more than you already have - what with the website, and the promotional book that you're selling there to raise money for your cause.

This is not the appropriate place to hawk your story.

 

[Steve Esdale]

According to the URL you provided (and I removed), there is already an attorney working on this. Why would you come into an public legal form, answered primarily by laypersons, to ask for further assistance? Surely the attorney is in a better position to address your concerns. Unless, of course, you are simply attempting to publicize the case even more than you already have - what with the website, and the promotional book that you're selling there to raise money for your cause.

This is not the appropriate place to hawk your story.

I am desperately seeking advise. My pro bono attorney wrote to Governor Rick Scott's legal department seeking his assistance and I will quote, "I have tried everything, and I am at wits end" I am not selling anything, I am seeking justice as an American citizen who has been wronged. My website has been created so that people can see the evidence I am talking about and is used as a tool to obtain justice for my father.

 

[sandyclaus]

I am desperately seeking advise. My pro bono attorney wrote to Governor Rick Scott's legal department seeking his assistance and I will quote, "I have tried everything, and I am at wits end" I am not selling anything, I am seeking justice as an American citizen who has been wronged. My website has been created so that people can see the evidence I am talking about and is used as a tool to obtain justice for my father.

And as I will remind you again, this is a legal form that is answered primarily by laypersons. It is not a place to go searching for an attorney who is more competent than your pro bono attorney.

I'm sure that your attorney has resources he can utilize to do more research on how to proceed.

THIS is not a place to publicize your cause.

 

[Steve Esdale]

And as I will remind you again, this is a legal form that is answered primarily by laypersons. It is not a place to go searching for an attorney who is more competent than your pro bono attorney.

I'm sure that your attorney has resources he can utilize to do more research on how to proceed.

THIS is not a place to publicize your cause.

Correct me if I am wrong, I found this web site that says freeadvice.com. My attorney has tried everything and does not know what else he could do. I am not looking for an attorney, I am looking for advise or an idea that I can possibly share with my attorney so that my family could have justice and closure.

 

[sandyclaus]

Correct me if I am wrong, I found this web site that says freeadvice.com. My attorney has tried everything and does not know what else he could do. I am not looking for an attorney, I am looking for advise or an idea that I can possibly share with my attorney so that my family could have justice and closure.

So you are looking for regular people, not attorneys, who can give you better options than your attorney has?

Please allow me to direct you to these statements from the "Important Information" section at the bottom of the forum pages:

The FreeAdvice Forums are intended to enable consumers to benefit from the experience of other consumers who have faced similar legal issues. FreeAdvice does NOT vouch for or warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of any posting on the Forums or the identity or qualifications of any person asking questions or responding on the Forums.

As I am trying to point out to you, the forum here has only a handful of attorneys amongst us. The rest are regular joes like you or I who are expressing our opinions based on personal experience. This is not a place I would expect MY attorney to come to look for advice. MY attorney has his own professional resources that would provide far better options than those that could be offered by non-attorney laypersons.

And then there's this:

Information on FreeAdvice or a Forum is never a substitute for personal advice from an attorney licensed in your jurisdiction you have retained to represent you.

Your attorney has far better experience and resources available to them where he can find more and more useful information than what you could possibly even HOPE to find here.

That being said, the only POSSIBLE reason you could have for pursuing this matter in our forums is to publicize your plight and widen your audience. With that as the only realistic endgoal in mind for you, this is NOT the place for it. I can't emphasize that enough to you.

 

[quincy]

I agree with all that sandyclaus has said. The attorney you have in Florida already has access to all of the facts of the case. No one here does. You should rely on your current attorney. If your attorney is "at his wit's end," you could perhaps hire a private investigator to delve deeper into the circumstances surrounding your father's death and the possibility that the sheriffs were involved in some sort of cover-up.

I have a bit of advice for YOU, though. PLEASE do not say or imply that your father's widow is a murderer. Where you have already published statements of this sort, I recommend you delete them.

Unless or until there is proof that your father did not die a natural death and was murdered instead, and solid proof that the widow was the one who murdered him, stating or implying otherwise is defamatory and can get you sued.

 

[sandyclaus]

I agree with all that sandyclaus has said. The attorney you have in Florida already has access to all of the facts of the case. No one here does. You should rely on your current attorney. If your attorney is "at his wit's end," you could perhaps hire a private investigator to delve deeper into the circumstances surrounding your father's death and the possibility that the sheriffs were involved in some sort of cover-up.

I have a bit of advice for YOU, though. PLEASE do not say or imply that your father's widow is a murderer. Where you have already published statements of this sort, I recommend you delete them.

Unless or until there is proof that your father did not die a natural death and was murdered instead, and solid proof that the widow was the one who murdered him, stating or implying otherwise is defamatory and can get you sued.

quincy, he has a whole, and very detailed website, with names, dates, photos, videos, everything. I seriously doubt they are going to take that down, because then they couldn't get the publicity he feels he needs to force law enforcement to convict this woman he alleges murdered his father.

 

[TigerD]

For the OP:

I've known Matthew Doig for more than a decade. He has never deliberately put a falsehood in print. You blew any credibility you may have had with that comment.

DC

 

[quincy]

quincy, he has a whole, and very detailed website, with names, dates, photos, videos, everything. I seriously doubt they are going to take that down, because then they couldn't get the publicity he feels he needs to force law enforcement to convict this woman he alleges murdered his father.

Oh dear.

After a very brief review of the website (was Doig mentioned somewhere on the site, DC?), I am afraid that even deleting it at this point would not help Steve much, should one or more of the many people he has mentioned on his website (and potentially defamed on his website) decide to sue him for libel. He has provided some support for a few of the statements he has made but, unfortunately for him, he does not seem to have any proof of the truth of his most outrageous claims.

There is the rare case where law enforcement will botch an investigation so thoroughly that they, for example, miss a bullet hole in the head and declare the death a natural one. Rarely, after a review of collected evidence and facts, a different story than one previously told and believed may emerge. For that reason, I will not discount all that Steve has published about his dad's death. If he sincerely believes his dad was murdered, I can understand his frustration with a law enforcement system that has, in his eyes, allowed a murderer to walk away.

However, starting a website to verbally assault all of those involved in the case, and to accuse some of those involved of lying, concealing the truth, hiding or destroying evidence, and even murder? That is just a good way to be sued. I am sure his attorney in Florida, if he was aware of the website plans, would have advised against its creation and, if aware of its existence now, would recommend its rapid removal.