Zimmerman Whistleblower Fired

State Attorney Angela Corey fires information techonology director who raised concerns in Trayvon Martin case

State Attorney Angela Corey fired her office’s information technology director Friday after he testified last month about being concerned prosecutors did not turn over information to George Zimmerman’s defense team in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.

On the same day attorneys finished their closing arguments in that nationally watched trial, a state attorney investigator went to Ben Kruidbos’ home about 7:30 a.m. to hand-deliver a letter stating Kruidbos “can never again be trusted to step foot in this office.”

The letter contended Kruibos did a poor job overseeing the information technology department, violated public records law for retaining documents, and noted he was questioned in March when the office was trying to determine who had leaked personnel information obtained through a computer breach.

In an interview Friday, Kruidbos denied the allegations in the letter, which was written by Cheryl Peek, the managing director of the State Attorney’s Office.

He said he had acted in good faith about “genuine concerns.” He said he had been proud to work at the State Attorney’s Office and feared the letter would cripple his chances at finding another job to support his family, including a 4-month-old son.

“I don’t have any regrets,” he said, “but I am terrified about the future and what that will end up being.”

His attorney Wesley White — who resigned from the State Attorney’s Office in December and is a critic of Corey — said the firing was aimed at sending a message to office employees “that if they feel like there is wrongdoing,” they should not disclose it or seek legal guidance from a private attorney.

“If they do speak to an attorney, then they are dead,” he said. “The State Attorney’s Office will do whatever is necessary to not only terminate them, but destroy their reputations in the process.”

State Attorney spokeswoman Jackelyn Barnard did not return phone calls or emails for comment.

Kruidbos, 42, had been on paid administrative leave since May 28 from his $80,892 job.

In January, he used computer software technology to extract photographs and text messages from the source file in Martin’s cellphone. Kruidbos was able to recover more information than the Florida Department of Law Enforcement obtained previously.

GETTING LEGAL ADVICE

Kruidbos said he became concerned that lead prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda might not have turned over Kruidbos’ report to defense attorneys. Kruidbos asked White in April for legal advice and described some contents of his report such as a photo of an African-American hand holding a gun, a photo of a plant resembling marijuana, and a text message referring to a gun transaction.

White then contacted one of Zimmerman’s attorneys and learned the defense had not received the report generated by Kruidbos. The defense did receive the source file from the cellphone and used its own experts to extract data.

Last month, Zimmerman’s attorneys subpoenaed both White and Kruidbos during a pretrial hearing on their motion seeking sanctions against prosecutors. Circuit Judge Debra Nelson deferred a ruling until after the trial.

Before Kruidbos’ name surfaced in the Martin trial proceedings, he received a pay raise for “meritorious performance,” according to a document dated May 16 in his personnel file.

But the dismissal letter written by Peek contends he did his job poorly as information technology director and said he should have asked someone in the office about his concerns regarding the Martin case.

“Your egregious lack of regard for the sensitive nature of the information handled by this office is completely abhorrent,” Peek wrote. “You have proven to be completely untrustworthy. Because of your deliberate, wilful and unscrupulous actions, you can never again be trusted to step foot in this office.”

The letter said Kruidbos “apparently questioned the ethics” of de la Rionda, who has been an assistant state attorney since 1983. “His record as an honorable and respected attorney is unblemished and beyond reproach,” Peek wrote.

Read more at Jacksonville.com: http://jacksonville.com/news/metro/...mation-techonology-director-who#ixzz2YwOOhShG

 

Angela Corey must be a real bitch. It seems she is much more interested in perusing an agenda than seeing that justice prevails in her capacity.

 

Is the report from the source file considered evidence?

The prosecutors will say the source file is the evidence and the defense attorneys will say the report from it is also evidence.

And judge farley is going to decide, it looks like.

If the normal procedure is for it to be considered evidence, i will look for a novel explanation from judge farley about why it isn't.

 

Angela Corey has the reputation of a hard-core, hard-driving prosecutor that wants to put criminals away for long sentences. She does not really have a reputation of being tied to a 'political agenda' (right or left). She simply wants to lock up criminals, and has a reputaiton of accepting no nonsense from anyone in her office - that spills over into this firing.

In most cases, all of society views locking up crimonals as being a good thing. In this case those supporting Zimmerman view her as an evil witch..... which is surprising because in many other high profile cases in Florida the exact same people supported her activities.

 

People are appalled at an obviously political prosecution that she instigated. Now it appears she was part of a scheme to deny the defense highly relevant exculpatory evidence. To compound matters, she is persecuting a technician with more ethics that the entire prosecution team.

The entire episode illustrates why the government is the biggest threat to liberty. They can decide to destroy anyone for political grounds, trump up the charges to do it and ruin you.

I have lost all respect for the governor of Florida, Corey , the prosecutors, this idiot judge and anyone else associated with this shameful effort. It's the Duke lacross case all over, only without rich, well connected parents to turn the tables.

The blatant corruption reminds me of the Bush v. Gore litigation, when basically the another bunch o f corrput democrats running the judiciary in florida tried to steal the election and almost succeeded.

 

From what I have read Corey is a bit over zealous and does not necessarily stay within the confines of the law.

There are a number of articles out there that shine a negative light on her past such as this one.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...ld-of-florida/2012/04/14/gIQAQGMdHT_blog.html

She has also been indicted by a 'citizen grand jury' for falsifying the Zimmerman arrest warrant by way of leaving out contradictory evidence she possessed.

http://online.wsj.com/article/PR-CO-20130702-905033.html

 

There seems to be a lot of that going around.

 

Would you be in favor of miranda rights today?
Would your party?

The left is no longer liberal. Watch out.

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Lets say you were attacked by an young african american in your neighborhood and you are white.

And either through luck or skill you get you leg behind his you push and he cracks his head on the curb.

would you want holders justice dept and the democrat machine in your case... turning the media, the judge, the prosecutors and fake crowds against you.

This is the scariest thing you can ever imagine.


This could be you...
And for those of you on the left... you keep letting the govt grow... it could also be those on the right coming for you.