Woman: Encounter with cop destroyed my
life
By Susannah Bryan,
Trial of ex-cop accused of road
rage to resume Monday; Pletcher won't take stand
Verdict expected next week in
trial of ex-cop accused of road rage
Woman who accused cop of road
rage has been arrested twice since then
A verdict is expected next week
in the trial of Paul Pletcher, the ex-Broward sheriff's deputy accused of road
rage more than three years ago.
Both the prosecution and
defense rested their case Friday and will present closing arguments Monday
morning.
Pletcher, 40, will not take the
stand. He has pleaded not guilty to four counts: Burglary, battery, criminal
mischief and petty theft.
Friday, defense attorney Al
Milian made several motions for a mistrial, all denied by Broward Circuit Court
Judge Michael Usan. The judge also denied Milian's motion for an acquittal.
Neyda Osorio, Pletcher's
accuser, has been arrested twice by two different police agencies since
accusing Pletcher of road rage on May 23, 2011, Milian told jurors.
Osorio's brief encounter with
Pletcher on the streets of Plantation has changed her life, she testified.
Prosecutors say Pletcher pulled
over Osorio while off-duty, snatched her cellphone when he saw he was being
recorded, then drove off with her phone and tossed it in pieces out the window.
The state's key piece of evidence is a 21-second recording of Pletcher yelling
at Osorio to turn over her phone or go to jail.
"Since Mr. Pletcher, my
whole life has been destroyed," Osorio said through tears, a Spanish
interpreter translating her words. Before the road rage incident, she had never
been arrested, she told jurors. Since then, she's been arrested twice.
"They almost killed me
last time," she said, crying. "They hit me on the head and in the
ribs. That is why I am here, for justice, so this doesn't happen to someone
else."
Osorio, 40, told jurors that
officers had accused her of prostitution and drug use.
With the jury and Osorio out of
the courtroom, Milian accused her of perjury, saying Osorio had been charged
with other crimes, not prostitution or drug possession.
The first arrest came less than
three months after Osorio's encounter with Pletcher.
Fort Lauderdale police stopped
Osorio in August 2011 and arrested her on charges of carrying a concealed
firearm.
Prosecutors dropped the case
after police failed to provide details about the size of Osorio's purse despite
three queries from the State Attorney's Office, prosecutor Deborah Zimet said.
After Milian accused the
state's key witness of perjury, Zimet fired back that Osorio encountered four
officers that day who failed to mention their initial line of questioning in
the police report.
"Mr. Milian assumes that
everything a police officer says is true," Zimet said, her voice rising.
"And we know that is not true in this county … or this country. She's the
one who encountered four officers that day on a charge that was dismissed by the
State Attorney's Office."
The gun, Zimet said, was not
even operable.
Milian called a deputy to the
stand who said Osorio punched him twice while he was working an off-duty detail
at a nightclub. Her June 2013 arrest resulted in three pending charges: Battery
on a law enforcement officer, resisting arrest with violence and depriving an
officer of his communication device.
The deputy was not permitted to
testify before the jury.
If convicted, Pletcher could be
sentenced to 11 years in prison.
