Unsurprisingly, Hillsborough County prosecutors have agreed to dismiss a DUI charge against Tampa morning news anchor Russell Rhodes. In exchange, Rhodes will plead no contest to misdemeanor obstruction of justice charges later this week.

Rhodes’ DUI defense attorney negotiated the plea agreement with the state attorney’s office after a Hillsborough County trial judge excluded blood-alcohol tests in the case. The judge ruled that the evidence was inadmissible because Rhodes did not voluntarily consent to give a blood sample under the law. Prosecutors chose not to appeal the ruling. (more…)

Back in January, Channel 13 morning news anchor Russell Rhodes was arrested for obstruction of justice. Prosecutors claim Rhodes was driving recklessly through a parking garage when an off-duty Hillsborough County Sheriff’s deputy stopped his car. The deputy tried to take Rhodes’ car keys but the morning news anchor tried to run or walk away twice. The deputy tackled Rhodes to the ground and placed him in handcuffs.

Rhodes was injured in the altercation and was taken to Tampa General Hospital due to a cut lip and bruised left cheek. While at the hospital, deputies asked Rhodes to provide a blood sample despite the fact that the case was not a DUI investigation. He signed a consent form to have his blood drawn. (more…)

Gerald Amison of Dade City appeared in a Pasco County courtroom this week to finally resolve a three-year-old marijuana possession charge. His simple misdemeanor drug case ended up in front of the Florida Court of Appeals this spring. And now it will be wiped from his record.

Back in April, 2006, Amison was driving through the Richloam tract of the Withlacoochee State Forest when he was pulled over by a state wildlife officer looking for poachers. As the officer walked toward’s Amison’s truck, he smelled marijuana smoke. The officer ultimately searched the truck and discovered a baggie of marijuana in a toolbox. Amison was arrested. (more…)

The capital murder trial of John Lee Hampton is under way in Pinellas County this week. Hampton faces the death penalty if he is convicted of murdering Lashonda McKinnes in June, 2007 at her apartment in north Clearwater. Opening statements were heard on Monday.

Prosecutors allege that McKinnes was beaten, raped and repeatedly stabbed. Hampton was apprehended nearby with blood stains on his shorts and shoes. Bloody socks were found in a trash can in the complex. (more…)

Kenneth Delmar Stewart pleaded guilty to five counts of DUI manslaughter and two counts of DUI with serious bodily injury this week in Hillsborough County Circuit Court. Stewart’s sentencing is scheduled for July 17 but his plea agreement with prosecutors calls for a 25 year prison sentence, with 10 years probation upon his release.

The family of those who died in the collision back in 2006 approved the plea agreement, preferring to avoid reliving their grief at trial.

Stewart ran a red light at about 3 a.m. and smashed into a Mercedes. The car contained five relatives who were to attend a wedding the following day. The mother of the bride, Brandon resident Emily Manzano, was one of those who died. (more…)

Prosecutors in Tampa have announced that they will seek the death penalty against Richard Anthony McTear Jr. if he is convicted of murdering 3-month-old Emanuel Wesley Murray in May. McTear is accused of throwing the infant on a concrete floor after beating the child’s mother. McTear then allegedly threw the baby out of a moving car onto the shoulder of Interstate 275.

McTear is charged with first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, kidnapping, felony battery and burglary with battery.

The decision to seek the death penalty was announced at the beginning of a hearing regarding the disclosure of pre-trial discovery to the media. McTear’s defense attorneys sought to limit the disclosure. (more…)

Three Pinellas County residents were arrested last week in a Florida-wide crackdown on marijuana grow houses. The multi-jurisdictional push was referred to by law enforcement as “Operation Eagle Claw” and netted 142 arrests and more than 6,800 marijuana plants seized across the state.

Bruce and Katrina Kleinknight of Dunedin and James Dillashaw of St. Petersburg were all charged with manufacturing marijuana. They face up to five years in prison and/or up to a $5,000 fine if they have no relevant criminal history. (more…)

The Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida showed how seriously they’re taking marine pollution and government record-keeping requirements this month. A joint investigation and prosecution between those offices led to the imposition of a huge penalty against an international shipping company in Tampa federal court.

Korean corporation STX Pan Ocean Co., Ltd. was sentenced earlier this month to four years probation and $2.2 million in penalties for conspiring to falsify and falsifying environmental compliance records. STX operates the commercial cargo vessel Ocean Jade. (more…)

Shawn Ledesma was supposed to be sentenced this week for vehicular homicide in the St. Petersburg death of 14-year-old Raquel Carreras back in 2007. The sentencing was continued to September, the same month that Shawn’s mother Lesa Ledesma will face trial on manslaughter charges in Carreras’s death. Manslaughter is a second degree felony in Florida.

Shawn’s charges are not drunk driving-related but are instead the result of his reckless behavior behind the wheel. His mother’s charges are more unique. (more…)