Handling It
Just shy of my first month at the Broward County Public Defender’s Office, I tried, as co-counsel, my first felony case. This is another one of those cases where truth is stranger and much funnier than fiction. The complainants in this case were employees of a bakery, located in a desolate industrial park.
The complainants stated that on a few occasions they looked out through the front glass pane window only to see a man with a baseball cap and a trenchcoat. When the man knew that he was being observed, he would open his coat, revealing his nakedness, and proceed to masturbate. On one occasion, one of the complainants ran after the man and was able to obtain a partial license plate number and the make of the vehicle. The police were able to trace the vehicle and ended up arresting Donovan F, the son of the vehicle’s owners.
The trial focused on the lack of positive identification of Donovan and the lack of DNA evidence, despite one of the complainants claiming that Donovan ejaculated on at least one of the instances. The jury acquitted Donovan of all the felony counts and guilty of the misdemeanor counts. Donovan had already served over a year in jail, so he was time served on the misdemeanor counts.
