Monroe County State’s Attorney Dennis Ward joined Good Morning Keys on KeysTalk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s been going on in the county.
When it comes to fentanyl overdoses, the dealers are starting to face stricter charges, especially if a death occurs.
Ward said, “We’ll probably take that information to the grand jury and up file, get an indictment from the grand jury and charge this guy with first degree murder, where the penalties become a little more significant, and it gives us better bargaining power with resolving these cases. The sheriff and I told these people, don’t bring your fentanyl down here and start selling it, because somebody’s going to die. We’re going to trace it back to you, and we’re going to charge you with murder, and then we’re going to get it before the grand jury and indict you for first degree murder, and then you’ll spend the rest of your life in jail. They need to heed this warning. It’s been reduced a lot since we started doing this. I think we got five or six of them now. It’s a lot of work by the sheriff’s office and by my office, certainly the Florida Department law enforcement, our crime lab is significant. They’re a big player in this as well, and we’re not going to put up on the selling of these killer drugs on our streets.”
A recent domestic violence incident turned into quite an event.
Ward said, “He got in the back of the police car after he tried to take the deputy’s gun, which was a horrifying experience and if you listen to the body worn camera, you can hear in the deputies voice. This deputy is a great law enforcement officer, and a great person, a great human being and he was horrified. You can hear it in his voice. Having been in a similar position when I was a law enforcement officer, I very well know what this guy’s going through. Here’s a guy who hunted down his ex wife, who left him because he beat her, he previously broke her nose and he found her. He ran into the house, broke into the house, terrorized his children, started beating his wife. His eight year old daughter, called the sheriff’s office. There wasn’t a backup available for a quick response, so (the deputy) was on his own. This guy had been beating his wife, punching her in the face, and then telling her that she was going to die. He stuffed a rag from a bucket in her mouth. Today is the day you’re going to die and I’m going to kill myself, and that’s what the deputy walked into and if you think these experiences aren’t life threatening and horrifying for these law enforcement men and women on the street, you need to listen to this and read the reports. This guy, we’ve charged him with a number of charges. I plan on seeking a life sentence for him. He said in the back of the police car, well, I didn’t kill anybody, so I’ll get 15 or 20. I can do that easy. It’s not going to be 15 or 20. It’s going to be more than that, my friend. Just listening to that is unbelievable.”
He’s a previous felon, so this isn’t his first brush with the law.
Ward assured, “But it’s going to be his last time. Domestically calls, over the years, so many law enforcement officers have been killed or severely wounded responding to domestic disturbances and also traffic stops. Those are the two most dangerous.”
An incident in New Orleans on New Year’s Day saw 14 people killed when a man drove into a crown on Bourbon Street. He also had a gun.
Ward said, “What a creep this guy is, and another, stellar performance by law enforcement. You can see the law enforcement officers when this started and went down, you could see them running to the sound of the guns an a couple of them got into a gun battle with this jackass, and they’re hospitalized now, but he’s dead. He’s right where he belongs. Too bad it didn’t happen sooner.”
There was also an explosion of a Tesla truck outside of the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas.
Ward said, “Some striking similarities, I think, another former Army personnel. Interesting that it was a Tesla, I guess. I guess there was some comments by Mr. Musk about how the people that planned this didn’t realize that the vehicle that they make the explosion would go straight up, and it didn’t even blow out the front door of the resort. The guy, I think the perpetrator, was killed, and another fine ending to that event. It’s just too bad that didn’t happen sooner.”
There is a lot that goes into crowd protection here in the Keys.
Ward said, “They do a great job. I mean, they’re fantastic. It’s no small feat trying to put together a plan to keep everyone safe and making sure that nothing drastic help happens. You get your usual drunk people or people on drugs, and if that’s all you have to worry about. These things could happen anywhere.”
The Republican Party of Monroe County dismissed Ward recently.
He said, “It was like a purge of people that were going to vote against the chairman, and she eliminated them by saying that they filled out the wrong paperwork. I mean, we personally emailed her our paperwork, and she said, you guys are good to go. Then when it came time to vote for the chairman position, my girlfriend and I were declared ineligible because we filled out the wrong paperwork, paperwork that she approved and she excluded a number of people. Strikingly it appeared that the ones that were denied the ability to vote were people that were going to vote against her. She’s got a problem with the truth, but she’ll be in Washington for the inauguration, and the party itself has been taken over by these extreme right wing fanatics. Most have only been here for, I don’t know, two, three years, four years, they fled their former states and came down here, and they’re going to change the way we do politics down here. So it’s unfortunate, but I’m with a strong group of people that feel the same way. It’s just, I’ve investigated all types of crimes, I’ve prosecuted all types of crimes and murders, rapes, robberies, drug dealing frauds, and she’s right up there with the best of if her lips are moving, she’s lying. So it’s unfortunate, but that’s what we’ve got running the party here in Monroe County now. I’ve been involved working, keeping the community safe since I was came home from the Marine Corps and joined the police academy, and I was 20 and a half, then. Now I’m 73.”
The inauguration of President Donald Trump will happen in a handful of days.
Ward said, “I hope they do something with the FBI. It’s not the agents on the street, it’s, it’s the bureaucracy that the people that are running the agency, that are trying to preserve their own jobs and doing whatever they can, even compromising their integrity, which should never happen in any law enforcement organization.”
Jimmy Carter passed away at 100 years old on Sunday.
Ward said, “He was a great human being and a great citizen of the world. He only tried to make things better. Unfortunately, he got some bad luck there, especially with the attempt to rescue our hostages that the Iranians had taken. That was just a bad break for him. I’m certain that if that thing got pulled off, he probably would have got reelected. But a good man and a good American.”