Saturday, October 14, 2017

RECUSAL or ANOTHER SPIN COUNTY COVERUP? SJC Republican Sheriff, SJC State's Attorney, "Investigating" Alleged "Suicide" of Republican SJC AMCD Chair GARY HOWELL's Grandson

The grandson of Republican AMCD Chair GARY HOWELL, SR. was a gunshot death victim. 
William Nicholas Howell, 18, was found shot to death at 2:30 AM on October 11, 2017.  
WILLIAM NICHOLS HOWELL was also the nephew of 2004 Republican Sheriff's candidate and current SJSO employee GLENN LIGHTSEY.
Two elected local Republican law enforcement officials may have multiple conflict of interest on the WILLIAM NICHOLAS HOWELL shooting.

Who will investigate the death of the grandson of the elected Republican "Mosquiteer," who invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination in an SJSO Internal Affairs investigation of WILLIAM JONES, director of SJSO civil process section? 

It may be a conflict of interest for there to be any further investigation by State's Attorney RALPH JOSEPH LARIZZA (left), shown with Sheriff DAVID BERNARD SHOAR (who legally changed his name from "HOAR" by court order in 1994).  
Their offices are supposedly "investigating" the death of the grandson of their fellow elected Republican, GARY HOWELL, SR., while the SJSO has already publicly pronounced it a "suicide " This stinks.
Sheriff DAVID SHOAR and State's Attorney RALPH LARIZZA must recuse themselves.  



When Will They Ever Learn?  Who now believes the St. Johns County Sheriff claiming "suicide" before any forensic evidence is analyzed, as in 2010 in the shooting death of Ms. Michelle OConnell?  Especially where the shooting victim is the grandson of a countywide elected public official, Anastasia Mosquito Control Board of St. Johns County Chair GARY HOWELL, SR., a former Deputy Sheriff and major local Republican donor?  Sort of reminds me of the little boy who cried "wolf."

Bottom line:  The Florida Department of law Enforcement (FDLE) must investigate this case.

The elected St. Johns County Republican Sheriff and Republican State's Attorney must both recuse themselves from the shooting death of the grandson of another countywide elected Republican, GARY HOWELL, SR.  HOWELL openly and notoriously campaigned as a Republican in a nonpartisan race in 2012.

GARY HOWELL was elected to a nonpartisan office by self-identifying as one of three Republican"Mosquiteers,"whose joint campaign signs blared at St. Johns County's majority of registered Republicans to vote to eradicate both mosquitoes and "Obama supporters."

This partisan campaigning for a nonpartisan race violated state election law, a common unethical local practice engaged in by both parties, and recently got St. Augustine Beach Mayor RICHARD BURTT O'BRIEN fined $200.

GARY HOWELL also allegedly both imputed homosexuality and intellect to Dr. Paul J. Linser, Ph.D., who holds six academic appointments at the University of Florida and is a world-class expert on mosquito-borne diseases and whose yeoman work empowers the Gamble Rogers Folk Music Festival.

Watching HOWELL break the law and violate ethics to get elected made observers want to barf.

Would anyone expect his Republican buddies to do a fair investigation of his grandson's shooting?  That does not pass the laugh test or the smell test.

Both State's Attorney R.J.  LARIZZA and Sheriff DAVID SHOAR must recuse themselves.

Now.

Our long-corrupt St. Johns County is already a worldwide laughingstock because of the Michelle O'Connell case, and Sheriff SHOAR's refusal to recuse himself from the case of a shooting in the home of one of Deputy JEREMY BANKS.




Before the sun was up, the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office was saying "suicide," unadorned by psychological autopsy or forensic evidence, and before the Medical Examiner had performed an autopsy. Shades of September 2, 2010 death of Michelle O'Connell in the home of Deputy JEREMY BANKS?

On October 11, 2017, the grandson of MOSQUITO CONTROL BOARD Chairman GARY HOWELL, SR. was found shot to death.  On October 13, 2017, Historic City News, unadorned by any investigative reporting, parroted the Sheriff's verdict this is a "suicide."  (It has since been removed).

1.  Why would anyone report this "suicide" before an investigation is complete?
2.  Who was tested for gun shot residue (GSR)?
3.  Who owned the gun?
4.  What physical evidence was preserved?
5.  Who was interviewed?
6.  Who was at the scene of the shooting, before and after it took place?
7.  What toxicological tests were performed, and on whom?
8.  Was domestic violence investigated?
9.  Why no psychological autopsy, the standard of care in alleged suicides?
10.  Why didn't controversial St. Johns County Sheriff DAVID SHOAR and Seventh Circuit State's Attorney RALPH JOSEPH LARIZZA both recuse themselves from the case of the fatal shooting death of the grandson of a longtime Sheriff's Deputy, local Republican major donor, and countywide elected official, not far from his family's estate?
11. When will AMCD Chair GARY HOWELL come clean and publicly release his text messages, e-mails and telephone toll records?
12. Why was the relationship of the victim to two (2) St. Johns County Republican politicians omitted from alleged "news" coverage (the victim, William Nicholas Howell, is GARY HOWELL's grandson and former Sheriff's candidate and current Sheriff's employee GLENN LIGHTSEY's nephew)?
UPDATE:
13.  How and why did Historic City News get the story (since mysteriously deleted)?
14.  How and why did Historic City News run a photo of the decedent, William Nicholas Howell, apparently the felony arrest photo, without the identifying watermark that appears on the Jail website?  
15.  How and why did HCN delete the story without explanation?

Here's the unenlightening but now enlightening "spin" emitted by Historic City News, a/k/a "Spin County News" (since deleted -- wonder why.):



On arraignment day local teen takes own life

October 13, 2017
Historic City News has learned that an 18-year-old St Johns County resident, who would have turned 19-years-old next week, died [...]



On arraignment day local teen takes own life
October 13, 2017 Community
Historic City News has learned that an 18-year-old St Johns County resident, who would have turned 19-years-old next week, died in the wee hours Wednesday morning; the victim of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

At 2:30 a.m. on the morning of the 11th, the call came to a 911-dispatcher from John Black, who identified himself as the victim’s uncle. Deputies arrived on the scene on Circle Drive only minutes later to find Black’s nephew, William Nicholas Howell, with a gunshot wound to the head and a handgun in his lap.


Black reported that his last contact with the victim was about 1:30 a.m. and that he was “upset” over something he had done. Black said that he never heard the gunshot that killed his nephew. According to police records, Howell lived with his mother on Putnam Road.


SJSO Major Crimes Sergeant Russell told Historic City News, through the agency’s records supervisor, that this is still an active case under investigation.


Howell was scheduled to appear at 1:30 p.m. that day before Judge Howard Maltz. He was facing two charges of criminal mischief; the first a second-degree misdemeanor, the second a third-degree felony. Both incidents occurred on September 22, 2017. He was free on $1,500 bond.

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