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ZRX1200
Herf-A-Holic Topic Starter

12 years ago

CITIZENS’ 2ND AMENDMENT RIGHTS

7 hours ago | Interviews | Posted by Michael Lotfi

Liberty County, FL-

In a developing story, Sheriff Nick Finch was arrested, charged with a felony and suspended without pay for supporting a citizen’s 2nd Amendment rights. It’s not a story you hear every day. It’s certainly not a story you’d expect out of a county named Liberty.

The events began when Floyd Eugene Parrish, a Florida resident, was arrested and detained by one of Finch’s deputies for carrying a firearm without a permit on March 8th, 2013. In the state of Florida, this lands you a 3rd degree felony charge. Finch released Parrish because, in his assessment, Parrish was not a violent criminal and was acting innocuously. Finch called the clerk and told her not to draw up arrest documents until he was there to assess the situation. Note, Parrish had not been officially booked into jail- only detained.

The arresting deputy had multiple complaints for overstepping his authority from citizens over the past several months before Parrish’s arrest. A month after Parrish was released from jail Sheriff Finch decided he needed to launch an internal investigation against the deputy due to multiple complaints and phone calls he had received. Once the deputy found out that an investigation was going to be launched against him, he resigned to keep the investigation from occurring. On May 1st, the deputy, who was no longer employed in the state of Florida, filed a complaint against Finch for the Parrish arrest that took place more 2 months beforehand.

Rick Scott, Florida governor, stepped in and had Finch arrested. Governor Scott then appointed a new sheriff. Finch says he did not vote for the Governor. “I’m not a republican, or a democrat. Just a man who believes in the Constitution,” says Finch. A rally was recently organized by Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Adrian Wyllie. Governor Scott was invited to speak, but was a no show.

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Abrignac
Herf-A-Holic

12 years ago

This is gonna get very interesting.

jeferris
Herf-A-Holic

12 years ago

Florida? Again???

Abrignac
Herf-A-Holic

12 years ago

Seems this story is not 7 hours old. It happened back in the first week of June. I wonder how its played out so fr?

jeferris
Herf-A-Holic

12 years ago

Facebook page indicates it's still going on...(mobile version, sorry)

https://m.facebook.com/SupportForLibertyCountySheriffNickFinch?id=366600746774070&refsrc=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fsearch&_rdr

victor809
Herf-A-Holic

12 years ago

Come on kids.

I support the 2nd amendment, but seriously. The guy actively chose to break the law. The sheriff didn't "support a citizens 2nd amendment gun rights"... he chose to release a felon.

How many times has this board whined about people who don't want to take responsibility for their actions? Well, if one gets caught breaking the existing laws in their state, one should expect to take responsibility for their actions. I thought it was all about personal accountability?

dpnewell
Herf-A-Holic

12 years ago

As much as I am a staunch supporter of the 2nd Amendment, I find myself agreeing with Victor once again. Dang, maybe I caught one of those viruses you get over the interwebs?

ZRX1200
Herf-A-Holic Topic Starter

12 years ago

He released a felon?

Victor please tell me that in a rush to be Cigar bids Resident non conformist..... Did you actually convict this person of a felony I believe due process still exists.

Maybe I should draw you a picture and make it more like a cartoon for you.

2nd amendment isn't the main issue here the issue is the governor removing a sheriff.

victor809
Herf-A-Holic

12 years ago

ZRX1200 wrote:

Ok, I was incorrect. He did not release a felon. He elected not to charge an individual who had been detained on a felony. I dug up a little more info:

Tallahassee – Inspectors with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Office of Executive Investigations obtained a warrant for the arrest of Nicholas Lee Finch, 50, of Bristol, Fla., earlier today on one count of official misconduct, a violation of section 838.022, Florida Statutes.

Investigators allege that Finch destroyed or removed official arrest documents from the Liberty County Jail, making it appear as though an arrest never occurred. The investigation revealed that a Liberty County Sheriff’s Office deputy arrested a Liberty County resident on March 8, 2013 for carrying a concealed firearm, a third degree felony. Shortly after the suspect was booked into the Liberty County Jail, Finch allegedly released the suspect and altered or destroyed documents associated with his arrest.

So he tampered with official documents when he released the guy. I think "Official Misconduct" was the charge, which apparently is a felony.
As for the Governor removing the sheriff, I don't know policy, but are Sheriffs allowed to remain in office when they're charged with felonies?

And don't try to pretend this isn't about 2nd amendment. Your article has "2nd amendment rights OUTRAGE!" liberally (pun intended) scattered throughout.

HockeyDad
Herf-A-Holic

12 years ago

#10

Liberty County FL...Backwoods Hickville Outrage.

ZRX1200
Herf-A-Holic Topic Starter

12 years ago

#11

Victor so now you admit that you were wrong before but now you're taking for fact of these charges.

So once again you're convicting someone and willing to buy past due process?

victor809
Herf-A-Holic

12 years ago

#12

Victor so now you admit that you were wrong before but now you're taking for fact of these charges.

So once again you're convicting someone and willing to buy past due process?

ZRX1200 wrote:

Where?
I agreed, the guy he released had not officially been arrested of anything.

I then stated he's being charged with a felony and asked if Sheriff's are allowed to be in office if they are charged with a felony (because I don't know).

Now your turn to admit that this is being thrown around entirely because of the 2nd amendment aspect. No one outside of wherever that is cares about the governor removing a sheriff from office. And, not to point out the obvious, but if the governor did it, there must have been a procedure in place for him to have done it.

dpnewell
Herf-A-Holic

12 years ago

#13

I missed the Felon thing in Victor's post. That part I don't agree with. If the guy was carrying illegally, then he should have been charged, in my opinion. I do feel that we have way too many laws targeting the good guys, but the law is the law. It's easy enough for the law abiding to get a CC in Florida, so I don't have pity on this guy. Stinking interweb virus thingy.

ZRX1200
Herf-A-Holic Topic Starter

12 years ago

#14

So should LEO more importantly the duly elected constable (sherrif) have any discretion?

Do you two like mandatory sentencing?

Do you think we don't have enough non-violent felons already?

There's alot of implications here I don't think you're grasping.

victor809
Herf-A-Holic

12 years ago

#15

ZRX1200 wrote:

That's not the sheriff's job (at least I don't think it is). If someone is breaking the law, they get arrested and the judge decides if it's worth actually doing anything about it.

I would be less skeptical, if the sheriff just chose not to arrest someone. But he actually went and released someone another officer arrested. the whole thing kind of smells to me.

I don't know if the sheriff should have been removed, that depends on what the laws there say. but he DID do something wrong.

rfenst
Herf-A-Holic

12 years ago

#16

Seems to me the issue here is whether the sheriff committed misconduct. Even if the arrest was bad and the guy was later released by the police, one would expect there to be some official records documenting the whole matter. As much as i hate Rick Scott, Florida's governor, I agree with the sheriff being charged and a substitute being appointed at least until the felony charges are investigated and resolved. Thanks to Victor for looking i to the matter further...

Bitter Klinger
Aficionado

12 years ago

#17

I might disagree, no removal should occur until/unless the sheriff is actually found guilty of misconduct. The first article says "detained", Victor's snippet says "arrested", but seemingly at a later date, following the deputys complaint.

It looks like the deputy is just retaliating against the sheriff, and the Gov. didn't like the sheriff either.

It will be interesting to find out who the deputy is, and what (if any) ties to the Gov. he may have.

Something seems off somewhere here...

HockeyDad
Herf-A-Holic

12 years ago

#18

There is only 25 people in Liberty County. They're all related. This is just a family spat.

rfenst
Herf-A-Holic

12 years ago

#19

Bitter Klinger wrote:

Quibbling over the minor variances in the definitions of "detained" and "arrested" is a waste of time. If the person was not free to leave, he was seized. Simple as that. It is a red herring.

Removal upon arrest/charges is the norm for a public officer here and I agree with it 100%. The mere appearance that he committed a crime is adequate to remove the individual until the charges are resolved. The standard need not be "beyond a reasonable doubt" (criminal conviction) to make sure the sheriff’s office is seen as "clean" by citizens.

Now, of course, the deputy is retaliating. But, he’s not wrong in doing so. However, the allusion that the deputy he has some special relationship or influence with the Governor is unrealistic and totally unsupported speculation.

Edited by user 12 years ago | Reason: Not specified

DrafterX
Herf-A-Holic

12 years ago

#20

is unrealistic and totally unsupported speculation.

rfenst wrote:

I wanna say that in court someday.....😟

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