TheAgitator.com
Rachel Hoffman, RIP
Monday, May 12th, 2008Hoffman was caught with marijuana and ecstasy in Florida after a raid on her apartment. After threatening her with prison time, the police then gave Hoffman the option of becoming an informant–without first consulting with her lawyer. They set up a deal with her connection. What happened in between isn’t yet clear. But they found her body late last week.
Proving once again that the most dangerous thing about illicit drugs like ecstasy and marijuana isn’t the drugs themselves. It’s what the government does to you after you’re caught with them.
Several of Hoffman’s friends and family have emailed me. They say the police told her to set up an a purchase of 1,500 ecstasy pills, two ounces of cocaine, and a gun that would have totaled well more than $10,000. They also say the amount and the inclusion of cocaine and the gun would have been unusual for Hoffman. If true, that’s a bush-league move that almost certainly tipped these guys off. The gun, I guess, was so the authorities could hit the dealers with an extra charge of using a gun in the commission of a drug crime, which sends the mandatory minimums through the roof.
The first thing the Tallahassee police did after announcing that they’d found Hoffman’s body was blame Hoffman for her own death. They then said they themselves “followed all the proper protocols.” Pardon my French, but maybe that’s a good indication that it’s time to change the fucking protocols.
Sad as it is to say, maybe the death of a young, pretty, white college girl with a promising future will finally draw some scrutiny to this absurd, shady, under-the-radar business of drug informants. I doubt it. But maybe.
MORE: The article has since been updated. Look like the setup came after the police executed a search warrant on Hoffman’s apartment, and found a little over 5 ounces of marijuana, six ecstasy pills, and some paraphernalia. That’s what they threatened her with to get her to turn into an informant. I’d imagine the thugs who killed her smelled the set-up from a mile away. The article also notes that not only didn’t the police let Hoffman’s attorney know they were wiring her up, they didn’t even bother to inform the prosecutor.
Here’s the problem I have with this. She was never charged with anything. According to the State Attorney’s office, they were never even advised that she had been arrested. The Tallahassee police took her into custody and offered her a deal not to press charges… Something they have absolutely no authority to offer since they’re not the ones who prosecute crimes, the state attorney is.
While I don’t think this is what happened here, what is to stop the police from picking somebody up off the street and forcing them to assist with a sting under the threat of a trumped up charge?
As you said, if the procedures were followed then the procedures need to be reviewed. The state attorney’s office needs to be involved in some fashion when deals like this are being made. Obviously people need to have the opportunity to speak with counsel also.
First in my mind upon reading of this whole tragedy was why the TPD even pressed this girl into service. If she was found to be in possession of illegal substances, then why wasn’t she prosecuted for this, right off? The TPD has its own narc squad so what would be the benefit of placing an untrained “civilian” into harm’s way? Sounds like a set-up to me.
I’d like to see a Miami-Dade style Internal Affairs sweep of this pathetic department. I’d like to see people swing for their cowardice and profound incompetence in sending a 21 year old girl to her death. As bad as the murder is at the hands of ruthless punks, the Tallahassee Police Department is at least equally to be held accountable.
What I see on their behalf is punks, blackguards and gangsters. The bit about ‘Upholding the Public Trust’ appears to have been lost on them. I’d prefer trusting a rabid bull-hog because at least I know what he’s likely to do. With Florida cops one can never be sure.
This is just too sad. I really hope her death opens some eyes to the real problem here, but even if that was the case (and given the success of the government propaganda machine it probably won’t be) it doesn’t make up for her death, or any other deaths as a result of this drug war. A young girl is now dead because she got caught with two mostly harmless substances, and I can only hope the people who killed her, and the people who forced her to her death are punished, but I’m sure both sides will say it was “her fault”. This just goes to show that the only people who lose in the drug war are the innocents.
“It’s such an unusual occurrence, and with the public attention that’s been called to it, it called not only for our internal review but also an outside review,” he said. “The A.G. seemed like a good place to get a second opinion.”
So if there wasn’t such public attention, it’d be swept under the rug?
How absolutely tragic. My condolences to her family and friends.
People, we really don’t hear about this type of “operations” gone wrong, but it happens more than we care to know. Maybe now that it’s not some insignifficant “lowlife” minority being intimidated and practicaly forced into becoming an untrained “NAC”, it will draw attention to these kind of practices that must stop.
One can only imagine what she must have gone through. God bless you Rachel Hoffman, and that your death may not be in vain. Every life matters.
Here’s another angle: Hoffman appeared to be running a bona fide (if small-time) drug-selling operation.
Why was she given an opportunity to go ensnare two (black) men rather than face charges herself?
Would a young, uneducated, poor black drug dealer be given the same opportunity to avoid any charges or even (apparently) an arrest?
Just one more example of law enforcement’s willingness to courageously look danger in the eye and unhesitatingly sacrifice someone else’s life in the name of fighting the drug war.
johnson,
opportunity? what opportunity? to get murdered for what is in reality a small time drug offense as result of the stupidity and criminal negligence of the tallahassee pd? And no a young, uneducated, poor black drug dealer wouldn’t be given this same ‘opportunity’ you speak of. But then again, they would still be alive wouldn’t they?
Oh, for the good ole’ days. When cops only grabbed your tits, and stole your stuff.
No one has presented any evidence that she was forced to be a snitch. She did so of her own free will.
It’s obviously a sad story. But of all the people killed by the this insane drug war, she would seem to be among the least sympathetic.
I hope I get the chance to serve on a jury someday. Especially if it involves someone being prosecuted for drugs. Not guilty.
Jury nullification. The only way we are going to be able to change these laws is through the constant use of this right.
Having represented numerous drug defendants who have ‘worn a wire’ (actually they use little cameras now sewn into a shirt that you can’t even tell), its pretty common for the police to want the ‘buyer’ to buy a ridiculous amount of drugs at one time. I’ve had deals fall through before because the defendant refused to attempt to purchase so much, since it looks like an obvious sting. More so when the defendant was known to have had a run-in with LE. They also tend to push the defendants to buy quickly, pressuring them to consummate a purchase when it looks like it will otherwise fall through for reasons other than LE involvement. Not sure if the police just don’t care, or if they honestly believe their own hype and think that average drug users routinely purchase 50 g of crack at one time.
Also, nothing pisses me off more than police arranging ‘plea deals’ with my defendants in exchange for cooperation without notifying me or the prosecutor. It also pisses the prosecutors off to no end. Many police officers seem to have this idea that they are also prosecutors, probably because the prosecutors do tend to defer to them in many instances when there is a victimless crime (since otherwise there is an actual victim to get input from). Its funny at times how pompous police can be about their knowledge of the law; its even funnier when the prosecutor has to explain to a police officer why they are wrong about something.
After reading Radley’s blog for sometime now, this sad story doesn’t surprise me in the least. At best cops are a necessary evil, at worse…well lets just say anarcho-capitalism is looking more and more attractive.
Nothing will happen as a result of this. The government and its thugs are out of control because the government and its thugs run the education system, pass more laws than are necessary, pass laws for which the government was never granted authority, and the government wants to control everyone. This is all about power. There will never be justice at the hands of any human.
Why is it that these “no knocks” and the war on drugs appear so much lke the Hitleresque behaviors of the Germans in the 1930s and 40s?
Read _The_Road_to_Serfdom_.
We are the servants of our own servants because we have been too apathetic to keep them in their place. Thank you Radley for speaking out. May God keep you safe.
“No one has presented any evidence that she was forced to be a snitch. She did so of her own free will.”
Free will, indeed. So, which you like, cake or death? By the way, we’re out of cake.
OGRE,
The skeptical person might think that they set up such obvious and stupid attempts at entrapment with the idea that it’s win-no loss: if they catch the sellers, they get a big haul, and it looks all great for them. If the person they’ve set up gets killed, well, it’s another loser druggie off the streets at least, and they don’t have to do any paperwork, since noone else knew about it.
#5, here’s a clue.
Unless we can hand a congressman $75K and the mayor $25K, we are all low-life’s in the eyes of the police. None of us have any meaning whatsoever. We are peasants, and they are samauri, and they can “test their swords” on our necks any time they feel like it.
#12
Far as I’m concerned, no victim, no crime. I do not consider “society” or “the nation” to be a victim at any time.
The cops are already acting like they’re being sued, I say make it official. Notice of Claim against Tallahassee PD and the officers involved. By Monday next.
Highway:
While that is plausible, my interactions suggest that it is more a matter of over-zealousness and incompetence than a ‘caluclated risk’ as you suggest. When the defendant laughs in the officers face when the officer suggests how much they want to have bought, and the officer looks truly shocked that its an unreasonable and laughable amount, well, it just seems more like the officer has bought into too many stories about just what happens out there. I mean, like in the Hoffman case, who exactly has 10K to spend on drugs and guns in one shot? Its just absurd on its face.
Also, I do find it very odd that nobody knew about Hoffman’s sting operation. If she’s arrested, she has to be booked, and if shes booked, she has to go in front of a magistrate for an initial arraignment, and if she goes in front of a magistrate, she has to be told that she’s entitled to a lawyer or one will be appointed for her. Either the police never ‘arrested’ her (in the formal sense) or they explicitly denied her her due process rights. And it would be either a severe breach of police protocol or the protocol is seriously fucked if the prosecutor’s office is not informed of the arrest. And of course, the police do not have any authority to be making bargains with the defendant, as contrary to public perception as that may be (thanks to Law & Order, NYPD Blue and the like).
And the day they decriminlize marijuana the police will start having to do their own jobs again….
response to Johnson: Free will? Are you kidding me? Have you ever been pulled over for speeding? Once a police officer decides he wants to start poking his nose in your business, free will goes out the window.
The Police don’t make “requests,” they give orders. They aren’t under any obligation to let you know that the order they gave you can be refused. And even if you do try to assert your rights, a police officer can easily use scare tactics to convince you to comply anyway.
In her case its even worse. I can imagine them getting her to the station, and telling her that they will ruin her life if she didn’t cooperate.
Oh, for the good ol’ days when I didn’t have any tits for them to grab.
I am an old friend of Rachel parents, I knew her as a little girl…I just came from her funeral. This is a tragedy of enormous magnitude. This young women should never had been placed with over 10k dollars and sent out to catch thugs…no matter what SHE did. I knew her only as a child, but her friends, family, and all those whose life she touched all agree…this death is NOT her fault. As mother, to bury your child is incomprehensible.
I hope justice is done and that this practice is halted before any other life is lost.
[quote]They aren’t under any obligation to let you know that the order they gave you can be refused.[/quote]
Worse, they are not required to give you the information necessary to determine when you can refuse. I forget whether it was USSC or a state supreme court, but there was a decision awhile back that held that a person could be prosecuted for refusing to comply with a police officer’s justified order, even when the police officer was asked–and refused to answer–why the order was justified.
What made these two guys kill her? If drugs are a victimless crime, why do so many drug dealers kill one another, random people, rival gangs, and the like?
It’s too bad she was endangered, but the way these things work is to have small fries get the big ones. Is this a bad practice in principal? Don’t we want the Enron secretary to point the finger at Ken Lay? Don’t we want the small time soldiers to finger John Gotti?
Tall, Resident.
The black market creates opportunities for huge profits. The huge profits create incentives for pushers to get kids addicted, control their turf, eliminate competition, etc.
We don’t see supermarket chains blowing each other up for the chance to sell lettuce at under $1/head.
Steve
Tall.Resident,
The police were looking for a big bust that would feel good and look good on their records. The coerced her into doing things that were bound to raise suspicion and hence endangered her. I would say that they are guilty of manslaughter.
Well lets just bash the Police before any investigation has been completed. Non of you has the balls to do the job, so you think you have the right to judge those that do? I think not. This generation believes everyone but themselves is responsible for their behavior or problems. This was an adult not some child she was responsible for her own actions. She is the one who chose to do drugs, sell drugs and associate herself with the type of people who ultimately killed her. She had been previously arrested and chose to continue in that lifestyle. Her own friends on the news said her apartment looked like a “7-11″ store because of all the people who were in and out. Law enforcement cannot force anyone into being a CI it is ultimately the individuals decision, if Rachel didn’t know the word “NO” that is not TPD’s fault. I am sorry for her families loss but obviously someone failed to teach Rachel right from wrong.
rachel is my good friend and i was seriously concerned for her safety after i learned about her informant status. the officers did not protect my friends life at all. they completely ignored precedure and manipulated rachel into believing she would put in prison for years unless she gave out a name. her lawyer was not informed and not enough security was implemented during the bust. how did they just lose her??? she was complying with everything they had asked, but the fact that rachel was requesting to buy a firearm is a red alarm! anyone that is her friend knows she wouldn’t deal cocaine, much less carry around a handgun. she was such a peaceful person with a big caring heart. she was our lil ginger, the girl who loved to feed her friends with gourmet dinner and shower you with hugs when you met her up at the warehouse. this whole thing is a mess. we need to change the informant policy. non-violent offenders need to only be informants for non-violent crimes, not the purchase of guns! TPD wont disclose how she was killed, but im telling you its from the gun she was told to buy. what a horrible case, families from all sides are grieving…. there will be a protest at tpd at 10 am thursday. ill will be there, because i dont want another friend to feel my hurt because of a preventable death.
well, SOMEbody’s gotta say it, might as well be me:
lemom, you’re a cop jock-sniffing moron. and yes, i have the right to be the judge of that.
TPD insisted that Rachel went out on her own that night, violating policies designed to protect her. And yet, TPD knew whom she met, where, and what everyone was driving. The perps were caught even before Rachel’s body was found. Classic case of blame the victim and police lying to protect their sorry asses. Bastards!
lemom,
This is the fundamental problem of our time. You (i assume from your commentary that you are either a LE officer or you have some uncanny-overzealous appreciation for them) and other LE officers or blind supporters have the mentality that it is “us” vs, “them.” What used to be a watered down version of LE is to protect and serve the public has become evaporated into a conception of a brotherhood in which LE is nothing more than government sanctioned brute squad and well funded gangs.
I believe the the police actually loath its citizens. It is incomprehensible the things that LE officers do in the name of fighting crime. Many (not all) LE officers are criminals.
One final comment. It amazes me that you and many others speak of “its a dangerous job” and “if you don’t have the balls to do the job then don’t judge them.” I have seen literally 8 police cars at on traffic stop that becomes a bust. You say these guys are in danger?
I have noticed that when something is missing from our lives - propaganda attempts to convince us that we possess it in huge quantities.
How often do we hear the media or government representitives tell us that we are the land of the free or that we have enormous freedoms. And yet, in reality the fourth amendment has been all but eliminated and LE possess more power in this country than any other time in our very young history. lemom, LE officers have a duty to enforce the law not to arbitrarily write and adjudicate their version of the law. Open your eyes.
LEMOM,
We don’t have the balls to be police? That’s a hoot. Being a police officer isn’t even in the top ten of America’s most dangerous jobs. Fisherman, loggers, farmers, truckers and minners all have more dangerous jobs.
It’s funny how you evoke the policing is a dangerous job so can’t criticize it unless you’re willing to do it line of false reasoning when the police weren’t in any sense acting with bravery. They contracted the most dangerous part of their job out to some poor college girl that thought an arrest for a small amount of illicit drugs would ruin her bright future.
The officers involved are cowards and deserve to be called as such because they are were willing to reckless endanger the life of someone else in order to advance their own careers. Maybe some of the blame lies with Rachel for her past transgressions but the overwhelming majority of the blame falls on the TPD for for recklessly endangering her life by setting such an idiotic buy.
Lemom#29, The reality is that most people are too ethical to do “the job”. The police are funded with money that is acquired through threat of murder. Some pretty up the theft through threat of murder by calling it “taxes” but most know the truth. The reality is that the “irresponsible” people are the ones who continue to accept a paycheck that is funded through threats of murder. If you’re too ignorant to know this then someone never taught you “right from wrong”.
LEMOM-is that for Law Enforcement Mom? At least own up to your bias. You needn’t own up to your ignorance: it shrieks from your pen…
The Tallahassee Democrat is running a major update of this story right now:
http://www.tallahassee.com
All we have to believe is that Rachel refused to follow instructions not to follow the perps down Gardner Road.
“Pender last saw Hoffman on North Meridian Road south of Forestmeadows. Hoffman called Pender and said she was following Green and Bradshaw in their car down Gardner Road. Pender said he told Hoffman not to follow them, but Hoffman hung up.”
i’m sure this terrified college girl felt like being a hero that night…..
Anyone tried driving down Gardner Road to see what cell phone reception is like in that remote area?
From everything that I have read the ‘police’ say that they had protection in place for Rachel that fateful night. Whether she deviated from instruction or not she let the police know exactlly where she was, I’m sure with the thought that she was being ‘protected’. Apparently, again from the articles, they were aware that they were all going down Gardner Road. That is a dead end road. How do you ‘lose’ someone (for two days) that you are supposed to be protecting, on a dead end road. I’m not too smart but doesn’t dead end mean one way in, one way out?!?
[...] write up at The Agitator, by Radley Balko, one of my favorite bloggers. Original [...]
I’ve seen the idea of the ‘big fish, little fish’ idea voiced above. What I’ve long been curious about is the reason for such a concept to exist at all. Let’s face it; the ‘Law’, in American terminology is absolute. So why play dodge-ball with it?
Big fish?? Bullshit! Wipe out the demand and supply will disappear. In other words, do the job you’re being paid to do. Pretty simple stuff that can be demonstrated by myriad examples. Otherwise what is the value of a law enforcement entity that refuses to enforce the Law, but instead relies on law-breakers to do its job for them, at any cost?
This is America, right? Odd, that it seems like a conversation one might have had in mid-eighties Russia. Is this really America, or is that just the BS the TV is feeding people? Man, wanna talk about apathy?!?
This is such a sad story, and I do sympathize for Rachel and her family. But, at the same time, Rachel was given a choice about the drug sting, and she chose to do it. So, how is TPD to blame for this tragedy? The people who killed her are to blame, and that is it. I agree that TPD should of not given her the opportunity to do the sting, that is what Vice and Narcotics is for, but I’m sure these guys would of only sold to her, no random guys, and she probably knew that. They were giving her a “get out of jail free” card, and she decided, on her own, not forced, to take it. She knew what these men were capable of; she bought drugs from them in the past.
The unpleasant truth no one wants to say out loud is that the VAST majority of violence associated with drugs is a direct result, NOT of the ‘drug culture’, but its illegal status - and the draconian MMMS penalties that await even minor transgressors. But how did we ever get from the path to decriminalization (and eventual legalization) that this country was on in the 1970s, to this climate of bloodshed and paranoia we live in now? Well, it starts with Reagan, was exarcerbated by the Religious Right, and reached crisis levels with a little legal wrinkle called “Asset Seizure & Forfeiture”. In other words, the War on Drugs is now a cash cow for law enforcement, who’ll fight decrim with their last dying breath.
As for Ms Hoffman “willingly” turning informant, I have to smile. I guess nobody here has ever had a pair of cops - one “good”, one “bad” - rhapsodize them with scenarios of years of violent homosexual rape (and gang-rape) in the joint that awaits all Non-Cooperators. “B-but…but…the Constitution prohibits cruel and unusual punishment!”, you bleat. Yeah, well, the Constitution - like justice itself - is now an avenue restricted to those with the means to buy the best lawyers, I’m afraid. (Hooray for the Patriot Act!) Thus “work with us, Rachel, or you’ll be riding broomsticks the hard way for the next ten years” becomes - you should pardon the word - a “legitimate” tactic for crime fighting.
However, even a public defender beats no lawyer at all. Nothing can bring Ms Hoffman back, but the rest of us should learn from this: never talk to the police - not one word, regardless of what you’re being threatened with - until you’ve talked to a lawyer FIRST. Better judged by 12 than carried by 6.
RIP, Rachel Hoffman.
Blaming a girl for her death although you coerced her to be an informant based on the fact that you were threatening to press bullshitted charges if she doesn’t cooperate. Its all bullying and passing the buck.
“You’re in a heap of trouble son”… “If you tell me where you got this stuff I can make it go easy on you”! Been there, done that… Who can’t understand that $10K worth looks so much -BETTER- than whatever amount Rachel had in her apartment. Cop = Judge + Jury. (what as warped reality). To those who blindly believe that Rachel chose to be an informant for TPD of her own free will, just don’t get it, never have and never will.