Purifoy arrested for Marijuana

[Lawdog88]

Originally Posted by scamgtr

With all due respect Gray, because you are a well-respected poster, this is a very weak case. The arrest affidavit bears this out. He may be guilty of not choosing friends wisely, but Daniel Webster could not even pin this on him.

The State is saying he possessed the cannabis. I cannot find where he possessed it in the Arrest Affidavit. State has to prove possession beyond a reasonable doubt. Typically, to establish possession one has to have the ability to control the said substance. In this case the arrest affidavit states that it was in the front seat near the driver. As a prosecutor you would have to say that Mr. Purifoy had control of the substance. As a practical matter, if he is in the back seat how could he have controlled it when the substance was sitting next to another person. They also found no residue on him as they did the other passenger. Officer X also said that the other passenger threw out the cannabis cigarette. Officer X did not state anywhere in the Arrest Affidavit that he ever saw Mr. Purifoy possess any of the substance, or throw the cigarette out the window, or that he had any residue on his person.

If I am his defense attorney, all I need to establish is reasonable doubt. Based upon these facts, there is reasonable doubt here. You establish there were others present in the car and where the marijuana was found. Then you ask the final question of Officer X, "Did you see Mr. Purifoy possess the baggie, the marijuana cigarette, did he have any marijuana residue on his person?" The answer would be no based on what he wrote in the Arrest Affidavit. If he changes his testimony from what is in the Arrest Affidavit he looks like a liar because why did he not include that information at first. As a practical matter, there is a higher probability that others were in control of it. The very facts would implode this case in a bench trial, much less in front of a jury.

In my opinion, this is what happened in reality- no one in the car made incriminating statements. Therefore, Officer X got upset no one would cop to it. Therefore, he charged all three because he could not pin it on any one of them. At best, it is a sign of an inexperienced an non-confident LEO that needs a refresher in the basics of what is needed to prove one of the most common cases he works with; at worst he is an egomaniac that lets his pride get in the way of his better judgement. He should have stuck with the Driver and the Front Seat Passenger and clearly articulated his reasons for doing so (e.g., Driver had baggie next to him on the front seat; it was within his radius of control as he would not have had to move to move to grab it and I saw the lit cannabis cigarette tossed out of the passenger window by Front Seat Passenger where Front Seat Passenger was sitting, I recovered the cigarette and established from its smell and my Law Enforcement training that it was cannabis).

Many times officers take short cuts with things of this nature, they charge people with crimes that cannot be proven all the time. They create unnecessary extra work for judges, clerks, secretaries, prosecutors, defense attorneys and the jails. These may seem like trivial points, but arresting people that you cannot prove the case on is a huge waste of time and resources that should be devoted to crimes that the State can actually prove. This is not an isolated case and cases like these add up over the course of a year. Moreover, you are impacting a person's freedom and reputation. I am not against law enforcement per se, but in my opinion and legal experience; this case is a dog and I think that it reflects poorly on the officer's judgement. You don't arrest a person to make a point or because you are angry that the Defendant is not making your job easier.

This may show bad judgement on Mr. Purifoy's part, but who knows; maybe he needed a ride or maybe he had some other good reason he was with these guys. Sometimes there are not obvious reasons why people get caught up in these situations.

Therefore, based on what I read here, Champ should have a come to Jesus meeting with Mr. Purifoy and make him do some considerable stadiums for this lapse in judgement; but this is certainly not a case where he should be a criminal defendant.

+1 Great post, thanks, and welcome to TH. Please continue posting here as sound, experienced insight into legal matters is prized.

I think a C4 Motion or a Motion for Judgment of Acquittal - assuming the case even got to trial - would suffice. IMO, the issue of possession should be tossed pre-trial, and never get to the trier of fact, either judge or jury, as a matter of law.

[Lawdog88]

Oh, and Champ should reprimand for bad judgment in associating with others in circumstances that reflect badly on UF and the program. Not for possession.

[1984Gator]

Originally Posted by GatorAvatar

Urban Meyer's fault 13th player arrest since 2011

Much better than than the number arrested each year during meyer's tenure....

[geauxgator1]

Originally Posted by Lawdog88

+1 Great post, thanks, and welcome to TH. Please continue posting here as sound, experienced insight into legal matters is prized.

I think a C4 Motion or a Motion for Judgment of Acquittal - assuming the case even got to trial - would suffice. IMO, the issue of possession should be tossed pre-trial, and never get to the trier of fact, either judge or jury, as a matter of law.

Scam made a lot of great points especially about the poor judgement of the arresting officer, and the extra time and work it makes for the others involved in the system. This is why police officers are not well respected, too many ego's out there, seemingly trying to make a name for themselves. And as we've said all along, GPD writes the book on those issues.

[austingator]

hello vernon hargreaves. boom hopefully lets purifoy know his job is up for grabs.

[austin]

Originally Posted by FearNoSpear

I'm so sick of the witch hunt on weed. I dont smoke but what do i care if someone does? I'm also tired of the hypocrisy of some law enforcement officers.

I fish in tournaments with law enforcement officers who get sh!t faced while operating their boats and drive away hammered only to go home and rest up to hypocritically hunt down those who do the same the following weekend. Enter one of these county Sheriff tournaments one time and observe. They are worse offenders than any other tournament I fish in. Especially the Marion County guys in the annual redfish tournament out in crystal river. I wish Citrus County would set up a DUI check for them like Marion does for gator fans on 441 after home games.

4 friends of mine who are sheriffs deputies smoked more weed than the 2008 National Championship team back in our day and brag about busting the kids they catch today. They are punks. Who the hell wants to grow up and be a professional tattle tail anyway?

Spare me on how all of these guys are heroes just for being on the force. Sure you have one on occasion but for the most part they don't protect and they don't serve. They document the mess after it happens and go to extremes to catch their neighbors in harmless offenses that they themselves commit. Like *gasp* speeding!

They care more about each other than those that pay for their glorified easy a$$ jobs. Don't believe me? If someone kills a citizen they do what they can. If someone kills a cop every deputy is out there trying to find the guy. Even if it was a freaking police dog. Then they hold press conferences to flaunt the fact that one of them is more important than one of you if you unfortunately ever happened to be a victim.

Reputations are earned. If cops don't want people to have negative opinions of them then they need to start a campaign to clean up their image and quit antagonizing the public. If they did as much I'd embrace them and respect them again like I did when I was a naive kid.

I realize that a lot of what I wrote wont be popular. My opinion isn't changing and I respectively disagree with anything contradictory to my sentiment. For the record I've never been arrested nor has anyone in my family. I've never committed a serious crime (sure I've sped) and I've never lost a loved one to a criminal. I'm just observant.

My apologies to the very few that actually are good intentioned law enforcement officers who joined for the right reasons and conduct themselves accordingly.

it goes on and on and on.. Thanks for sharing your experiences

[nastyreptile]

Originally Posted by whitelakegator

I do not think weed is a big deal, personally. However, if it is against the rules for work, school, whatever then you need to avoid it. Rules are rules until they are changed. Right now, this is just plain stupidity.

Wouldn't you have thought that one of them would have at least shoved the weed under the seat instead of leaving it in plain site?

As Ron White says "You can't Fix Stupid"

[austin]

Nasty.. this was discussed early .. probably not the sharpest tack in the box.

[grant1]

Originally Posted by OaktownGator

Agree on cleaning trouble makers out of the locker room.

There is legitimate question as to whether the pot was Purifoy's though. Pot was located between driver and passenger seat while Purifoy was sitting in the back seat. There doesn't appear to be any evidence linking him to the pot.

I don't see how GPD has a case here - will almost certainly be no charges pressed based on the weak state of evidence in the police report.

No doubt Louchez needs to choose his friends more wisely, if he's hanging around guys dumb enough to drive around hogtown with bags of weed in plain view.

I, too, agree, although this will never stick. But were there is smoke, there is fire (so to speak).

But crimminy, this was 2.5 grams, supposedly on the front floor board. With Purifoy in the back seat, this will be Johnson's easiest case ever.

[OaktownGator]

Originally Posted by Lawdog88

Oh, and Champ should reprimand for bad judgment in associating with others in circumstances that reflect badly on UF and the program. Not for possession.

Exactly... Louchez and the rest of the team - choose your friends wisely. Don't screw up your life and your free ride at UF by hanging around with knuckleheads.

[Claygator]

Originally Posted by OaktownGator

Exactly... Louchez and the rest of the team - choose your friends wisely. Don't screw up your life and your free ride at UF by hanging around with knuckleheads.

This. Kicking a guy off the team, or giving him one "strike," for being arrested for a charge that is later dismissed is nonsense. This case is going to get dismissed, which means that legally he was not guilty. And if the legal system determines that it can't prove a crime, then he shouldn't be treated like a criminal. Talk to him about being more careful with who he associates and move on. He's probably had the crap scared out of him and learned his lesson.

[Minister_of_Information]

Originally Posted by Claygator

This. Kicking a guy off the team, or giving him one "strike," for being arrested for a charge that is later dismissed is nonsense. This case is going to get dismissed, which means that legally he was not guilty. And if the legal system determines that it can't prove a crime, then he shouldn't be treated like a criminal. Talk to him about being more careful with who he associates and move on. He's probably had the crap scared out of him and learned his lesson.

You need to be cloned until everyone in the Swamp is either you or your wife.

[The_Graygator]

Originally Posted by Claygator

This. Kicking a guy off the team, or giving him one "strike," for being arrested for a charge that is later dismissed is nonsense. This case is going to get dismissed, which means that legally he was not guilty. And if the legal system determines that it can't prove a crime, then he shouldn't be treated like a criminal. Talk to him about being more careful with who he associates and move on. He's probably had the crap scared out of him and learned his lesson.

I for one hope you are correct here.

I am not so concerned about the legal ramifications, as this case doesn't seem like much to-do, but I am more concerned for the team rules and chemistry aspect of this.

I certainly don't want Purifoy to be in trouble, but we went through this bad entitlement phase with players the previous few years and now that Muschamp has the locker room in good shape, I'd hate for it to happen again.

This kind of stuff may not seem like much at first, but it can fester. It also can hurt recruiting when parents see current players getting involved in stuff like this and then losing faith in the coaching staff being able to take care of their kids.

Just sit Purifoy down and have a serious heart-to-heart with him, but if he makes this mistake again, then all bets are off.

[g8rfan22]

Originally Posted by GatorAvatar

Agreed. GPD would arrest our players for walking too fast.

Speed kills!