1 year ago
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Heavily equipped Florida constabulary officers descended connected the homes of 2 men accused of illegally voting and arrested 1 of them astatine gunpoint arsenic portion of Governor Ron DeSantis’s crackdown connected elector fraud, caller body-camera footage obtained by the Guardian tin reveal.
Both men were successful their underwear, unarmed, and placed successful handcuffs arsenic constabulary arrested them successful beforehand of their Miami-Dade region homes connected 18 August.
“Let maine enactment connected my pants,” Ronald Miller, 58, said soon earlier noon, erstwhile helium opened the doorway to find constabulary officers surrounding his home, their guns pointed astatine him. “What happened?” helium asked arsenic officers instructed him to travel outside, their guns inactive trained connected him.
As they placed him successful handcuffs, agents noted that Robert Wood had taken a agelong clip to reply the doorway erstwhile they knocked connected it. “I was asleep,” helium said.
The Guardian obtained video of some arrests done nationalist records requests with the Miami-Dade constabulary department, which assisted with executing warrants for some men.
Both Wood and Miller declined to beryllium interviewed. Miller’s attorney, Robert Barrar, described the video of his client’s apprehension arsenic “abominable”.
“I deliberation they’re trying to marque an illustration of him due to the fact that he’s Black. It’s horrible,” helium said.
The videos adhd to mounting scrutiny implicit the arrests of 19 Floridians successful August, including Miller and Wood, who were accused of elector fraud. Hours aft Miller and Wood were arrested, DeSantis held a property conference, heralding the enactment of a caller statewide bureau tasked with investigating elector fraud, saying those accused would “pay the price”. Fourteen of those arrested were Black.
Voter fraud is exceedingly uncommon successful the United States, but Republican lawmakers successful respective states, similar Florida, person beefed up units charged with investigating it. Several voting experts said they could not callback seeing different lawsuit successful which idiosyncratic accused of elector fraud was arrested astatine gunpoint.
“We’ve seen a batch of arrests successful caller months for voting issues present successful the state, but I person not seen guns drawn successful that manner,” said Neil Volz, the lawman manager of the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, which works with radical with felony convictions to assistance them get their voting rights back. The videos, helium said, were “alarming and heartbreaking”.
A spokesperson for the Florida section of instrumentality enforcement (FDLE), the bureau that oversaw the arrests, did not supply details for wherefore specified a dense constabulary beingness was used.
“Arrest warrant readying and tactics are dictated by a fig of factors, to see the subject’s transgression past and different serviceman and nationalist information concerns,” David Fierro, an FDLE spokesman, said successful an email. Videos obtained by the Guardian and the Tampa Bay Times showing different radical arrested successful the expanse bash not amusement a likewise heavy equipped presence.
Miller and Wood were some convicted of second-degree execution much than 30 years ago, a transgression that causes you to permanently suffer your voting rights successful Florida. They had some agelong completed their sentences for those charges and were not alert they were permanently barred from voting, their lawyers said.
When instrumentality enforcement decides to marque an arrest, there’s a calculation that goes into however overmuch unit to use, said Bryanna Fox, a erstwhile FBI peculiar cause and present criminologist astatine the University of South Florida. Officers volition measure whether the idiosyncratic could beryllium armed, whether determination are different radical who are dangerous, and the imaginable information of the arrest.
“If you bash that, and you spot that there’s a precise debased hazard of violence, showing up heavy equipped is not what we would recommend,” she said. “If constabulary suspected that they’ve committed a transgression and present they’re going to marque an arrest, which is simply a highly tense situation, they whitethorn deliberation conscionable an abundance of caution, we’re conscionable going to beryllium much heavy armed.”
Larry Davis, Wood’s lawyer, questioned wherefore specified a beardown usage of unit was required to detain his lawsuit for a non-violent crime. He noted that Wood had consented to a voluntary interrogation with FDLE agents conscionable 10 days earlier constabulary showed up astatine his doorway with guns. Miller agreed to a akin interview.
Miller and Wood’s anterior transgression histories doesn’t excuse the tremendous equipped beingness to detain radical for a non-violent crime, said Blair Bowie, an lawyer astatine the Campaign Legal Center who specializes successful voting rights issues for radical with felonies.
“These folks person been done the transgression ineligible system. That strategy has deemed them harmless and eligible to unrecorded successful their assemblage and integrate and beryllium citizens again. So, that benignant of unit and amusement of unit and play is not justified connected the ground of their past crimes,” she said.
The cognition to apprehension 19 radical appears to person travel unneurotic comparatively rapidly conscionable hours earlier DeSantis held his property league announcing the charges. “They dumped this crap connected maine past minute,” video shows an serviceman saying arsenic Miller sits successful handcuffs. “I person to program a three-county cognition successful 4 hours.”
Many of the defendants, including Wood and Miller, person said they were not warned they were ineligible, received elector registration cards successful the mail, and believed they could vote. Voting rights advocates spot the cases arsenic a thinly veiled effort to intimidate radical from voting.
“This isn’t bringing a weapon to a weapon fight, it’s bringing a weapon to a elector registration paper fight. It’s an unbelievably grotesque maltreatment of power,” said Daniel Tilley, the ineligible manager of the Florida section of the American Civil Liberties Union. “It’s designed not conscionable to halt those who mightiness beryllium ineligible, but not cognize it. But it’s besides designed to intimidate voters who whitethorn beryllium eligible to vote.”
Prosecutors claimed that Wood and Miller registered and voted knowing they were ineligible to bash so. But some men told investigators they registered aft being approached by canvassers up of the 2020 election, received a elector registration paper successful the mail, and had nary thought they were ineligible.
The elector fraud charges against Wood and Miller were separately dismissed past year. Two antithetic Miami-Dade region judges ruled that the statewide prosecutor, which is handling the cases, did not person the authorization to prosecute them. A justice successful Broward region dismissed different 1 of the 19 cases connected akin grounds. Lawyers for the authorities are appealing those rulings.
Prosecutors person besides dropped charges against different antheral who was charged successful the expanse and reached a plea statement that resulted successful nary further punishment with different woman. The 14 different cases stay pending.
In 2018, Florida voters overwhelmingly approved a law amendment that lifted the state’s beingness voting prohibition for radical with felonies, but for those with execution oregon sex-related convictions. State officials person not offered a mentation arsenic to however Miller and Wood would person known their second-degree execution convictions disqualified them from the amendment.
Florida Republicans then passed a instrumentality that required those with felonies to repay immoderate wealth they owed earlier they could ballot again. The request made it highly hard for those with a transgression past to fig retired if they were eligible to vote, since the authorities does not person a centralized strategy to find however overmuch they owe.
State officials person besides struggled to verify the eligibility of those with felony convictions. Some of the 19 radical charged were not notified of their ineligibility until 2022, years aft they registered. State officials person yet to explicate wherefore it took them truthful agelong to emblem ineligible radical connected the rolls.
Over the past fewer months, that confusion, combined with the menace of prosecution, has dissuaded radical who are confused astir their eligibility from risking voting, said Volz.
“The information that radical are unsure of their voting eligibility was the main operator for definite returning citizens not to ballot this cycle. That strategy occupation led to radical being unsure, and past the quality of the apprehension made things worse,” helium said.
“The information is it should shriek to each of america that there’s a amended mode to marque definite that we person predetermination integrity.”
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