IF IT'S NOT OKAY, IT'S JUST NOT OVER!
Wednesday, April 11, 2001 10:36 AM
To: Wanda Valdes
Cc: lise.fisher@gainesvillesun.com; kathy.ciotola@ gainesvillesun.com
A LITTLE BIT OF JUSTICE, BUT SMALL VICTORIES MEAN A LOT
"I'll let them do whatever they're going to do...I'm expecting them to beat me up up there (FSP). Not that it will happen, but I just expect it. Because it's a Griffith. They have families that control the prisons up there. The victim in the case is a Griffith and one of the families up there that are controlling in the prisons is the Griffith family. You have the Whiteheads, you have the Crewes[sp], and you have the Griffiths. And that's a Griffith."
Frank Valdes
Palm Beach County Jail
May 1999Two months later, on July 16th, 1999, an FSP guard, Montrez Lucas, allegedly hit Mr. Valdes and broke his jaw, although he has since beat all charges. The next day, on July 17th, nine guards at Florida State Prison woke Frank Valdes up and finished the job: They brutally and viciously beat Mr. Valdes to death then tried to say he did it to himself jumping off his bunk.
After two years of a stalemate in the Valdes murder by guards, I don't know who got on the ball, but bless their hearts for this, and Thank You to the ladies at the Gainesville Sun Sentinel for the good news this morning.
Kay Lee
2613 Larry Court
Eau Gallie, Florida 32935
321-253-3673
Wednesday, April 11, 2001
Man is charged in prison death
By LISE FISHER and KATHY CIOTOLA
Sun staff writers
Lise Fisher can be reached at 374-5092 or lise.fisher@gainesvillesun.com.
Kathy Ciotola can be reached at 338-3109 or kathy.ciotola@gainesvillesun.com.
One of nine correctional officers originally suspended from work but never arrested after the 1999 death of a Florida State Prison inmate now faces charges of manslaughter and perjury in connection with the case, prosecutors and investigators announced Tuesday.
Dewey Marce Beck, 53, an officer at New River Correctional Institution near Raiford, was arrested at his Gainesville home Tuesday, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement reported.
He is charged with manslaughter by culpable negligence, accessory after the fact to murder, official misconduct and perjury relating to the death of Frank Valdes.
The first two charges each carry a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison. Official misconduct and perjury each are punishable by up to five years behind bars.
Beck, who was released from the Alachua County jail on a $20,000 bond Tuesday evening, said he had no comment on the charges.
This latest arrest may not be the last in the Bradford County case.
"I can't preclude the possibility of others being charged," said Spencer Mann with the State Attorney's Office.
Investigators believe Valdes, 36, was beaten to death in July 1999. Autopsy results report numerous injuries to his body including 22 broken ribs and a fractured collarbone, jaw, nose, shoulder and spine. Boot imprints also were found on his body.
Valdes was sentenced to death in 1987 for killing Glades Correctional Institution correctional officer Fred Griffis in West Palm Beach. He shot the man during a botched escape attempt of an inmate who the officer was escorting to see a doctor.
Four former prison officers face a second-degree murder charge for Valdes' death. Charles Brown, 27, Jason Griffis, 27, Robert Sauls, 38, and Timothy Thornton, 35, are set for trial in July on murder and official misconduct charges.
In prison reports, the men say Valdes injured himself by throwing himself around his cell. Earlier on the day of his death, they also reported they struggled with Valdes when trying to remove him from his cell.
All four have entered not guilty pleas.
The manslaughter charge against Beck stems from his failure "to summon medical assistance when physical injuries were obvious," court records show. The records also allege Beck helped the four charged with Valdes' murder to "avoid or escape detection, arrest, trial or punishment."
The perjury charge relates to a deposition taken last Feb. 1, the records report.
The charge of official misconduct alleges Beck falsified or caused others to falsify records.
Beck, who was assigned to the prison wing housing Valdes, filed a report that he checked on the inmate every 15 minutes in his cell and saw him throwing himself against the cell door and bunk, said Chief Assistant State Attorney Greg McMahon.
But Beck's testimony about what happened the day Valdes died doesn't match information prosecutors have collected, including medical evidence, McMahon said.
Mann said the recent arrest in the case, months after murder charges were filed against the other four, is the result of ongoing investigation.
"Basically this has been a fluid investigation from the very beginning as we continue to develop other evidence and testimony," Mann said.
McMahon said Beck will be tried separately from the others charged in Valdes' death.
The Department of Corrections hired Beck in August 1994, said spokeswoman Debbie Buchanan. He transferred from Florida State Prison to New River in November 2000.
After Valdes' death, Beck was among the original nine officers placed on administrative leave by the department, along with Brown, Griffis, Sauls and Thornton. Others were Montrez Lucas, Donald Stanford, Andrew W. Lewis and Raymond Hanson.
Lucas was indicted last year for aggravated battery, battery on an inmate and coercion to influence a report. The charges related to allegations Lucas punched Valdes on July 16, the day before the inmate died. But a Bradford County jury acquitted Lucas of all charges in an October trial.
Lise Fisher can be reached at 374-5092 or lise.fisher@gainesvillesun.com.
Kathy Ciotola can be reached at 338-3109 or kathy.ciotola@ gainesvillesun.com.
IF IT'S NOT OKAY, IT'S JUST NOT OVER!
Petition to move the Valdes Trial - Please, please sign.
http://www.angelfire.com/la/kaylee/valdespetition.html
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~