Ever since I was charged with nine misdemeanors after photographing police against their wishes, many people I’ve talked to within the legal community have said that it is virtually impossible for a judge to grant a defendant’s request for a deposition if that defendant is facing only misdemeanor charges.
A deposition is a pretrial process that allows attorneys to gather evidence in order to prepare for the trial.
Under normal circumstances, an attorney files a request for deposition to the judge, then if granted, the attorney subpoenas witnesses and asks them a series of questions. A court reporter records the entire interview and a transcript becomes part of the case file.
But because this can become a timely and costly process, most judges deny depositions in misdemeanor cases.
Fortunately, that did not happen with my case, which is the reason my trial, originally scheduled to begin today, was postponed.
Last week, Miami-Dade County Judge Karen Mills Frances granted my lawyer’s request for a deposition on two of the five officers who arrested me.
On May 15th, my attorney, Joseph S. Shook, will interview Miami police officers Marylyn Reid and Anthonius Kurver, who are respectfully pictured to the far right in the header photo.
Reid is the officer who accused me of stating, “this is a public road and I can do what the hell I want” when all I really said was, “this is a public road” and only after she told me to “keep moving, this is a private matter.”
Keep in mind these are public-funded officers standing on a public-funded street investigating a case that would have eventually become public record. How is that a private matter?
Kurver is the officer whom I strongly believe said, “if you don’t shut up, I’m going to tase you” as I protested the extreme violent way they handcuffed me.
Of course, because my head was getting bashed into the sidewalk at the time, I did not actually see Kurver utter those words. However, he does have a unique accent and one hell of a temper.154
