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Thread: Juvenile Nicholas Lemmon Lindsey Jr Sentenced to LWOP in 2011 FL Slaying of Police Officer David Crawford

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    Juvenile Nicholas Lemmon Lindsey Jr Sentenced to LWOP in 2011 FL Slaying of Police Officer David Crawford

    A police officer is dead of multiple gunshot wounds and a defendant is charged with first-degree murder. At trial, this scenario typically ends up being a death-penalty case.

    Dontae Morris, accused of killing two Tampa police officers in June, is fighting for his life. He was 24 when the officers were shot.

    But 16-year-old Nicholas Lemmon Lindsey Jr., accused of fatally shooting St. Petersburg police Officer David Crawford on Monday night, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted in an adult court, thanks to his age and a U.S. Supreme court ruling in 2005. That 5-4 ruling made it unconstitutional to execute anyone who committed a capital crime before their 18th birthday.

    The decision of whether to try Lindsey as an adult lies with prosecutors, and that call has not been made. There is some measure of sympathy in charging such a young man with such a heinous crime.

    St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster did not celebrate Lindsey's arrest.

    "This one we lost. This kid we lost," Foster said late Tuesday night. "But there are countless others that we must reach. Now we have this gaping hole, but we can heal."

    Still, the mayor said, "He needs to be held accountable for his actions. He will be paying for the rest of his life."

    The case is complicated by the age of the defendant. Some say he may not have understood the consequences of his actions; that he didn't get that shooting a gun at another person would end that person's life; that if he is caught – and almost certainly he would be – life as he knows it, will be over.

    Lynne Schwartz, a nationally known forensic and developmental psychologist who evaluates adolescents in criminal proceedings in New York and Michigan, said understanding consequences all depends on the individual. But, she said, generally brains that make complex judgments and decisions in the heads of 16-year-olds are not as developed as the brains of a 22-year-old.

    "Can a 16-year-old be capable of doing something like this?" she asked. "That depends on what consequences you're talking about. It depends on that 16-year-old's development. Not all 16-year-olds are alike and they don't' function the same way."

    She said teens are different in how they process information and think things through.

    "There's no way to know without evaluating this youngster," she said, "to find out what he was thinking and how he was thinking and what he was capable of."

    She said the Supreme Court decision in 2005 recognizes the differences between adults and juveniles.

    Lindsey is not the first teen to be charged with serious crimes in the Tampa Bay area in recent years:

    Jose Walle: sentenced to a total of 92 years in prison for kidnappings and rapes in Apollo Beach and St. Petersburg in 2008. Walle was 13 when the crimes were committed. Initially, Walle was sentenced to 15 life sentences, but was resentenced after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down such sentences for juveniles in crimes not involving murder.

    Kendrick Morris: awaiting sentencing in the rape and beating of an 18-year-old woman outside Bloomingdale Regional Public Library in April 2008 and the rape of a 62-year-old day care worker in Clair-Mel City in June 2007. Morris was 15 at the time of the 2007 crime.

    Tavaris Knight: serving a 15-year prison sentence for a rape and kidnapping at a North Tampa park in 2000. He was 12 at the time.

    Valessa Robinson: serving 20 years behind bars in the fatal stabbing of her mother at their Carrollwood home in 1998. Robinson was 15 at the time.

    Tampa attorney Lyann Goudie represented Robinson at her trial. The teenager was convicted of third-degree murder.

    Goudie said that some teens can understand the consequences of their actions, although studies have said people don't fully understand such ramifications until they are in their mid 20s.

    "That's when people really start to get a grip of it," she said.

    She said the bigger problem is the combination of guns and teenagers.

    "What is a 16 year old doing with a gun?" she asked. She is sure that most people with guns never think they are ever going to use it.

    "That's the problem with the gun," she said. "You take a gun to commit crime, to make people give it up easier. You say, 'I'm never going to use this gun.' But, that's not how it works.

    "When you're confronted with a situation you didn't anticipate," she said, "you are going to use that gun."

    She called the officer slaying and arrest of the teenager, "a very, very sad situation across the board. I don't know what the heck went down, but holy cow, for you to pull a gun is pretty unbelievable."

    She said: "It's a tragedy all the way around. This police officer was just out there doing his job and he was shot and killed. And this 16-year-old, for all intents and purposes, just threw his life away. It's very, very disheartening."

    The arrest of the teen shocked everyone, even the St. Petersburg police chief who was taken aback by the age of the defendant.

    "It breaks my heart," Police Chief Chuck Harmon said hours after the youth was charged. "You don't expect this type of confrontation between a 16-year-old kid and a police officer to end like this. But at the same time, he has to be accountable for his actions."

    http://www2.tbo.com/content/2011/feb...news-breaking/

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    Lindsey attorneys plan manslaughter defense

    Attorneys for teenager Nicholas Lindsey are planning to argue their client is guilty of manslaughter in the death of St. Petersburg police officer David Crawford, rather than first-degree murder.

    Lindsey, now 17, is accused of shooting and killing Crawford in February, 2011. Crawford was investigating a report of a prowler and confronted Lindsey. Police say Lindsey responded by shooting and killing Crawford.

    Lindsey faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison, if convicted of first-degree murder. His trial began Monday at the Pinellas County Criminal Justice Center.

    More: Watch the trial live (only when court is in session) at http://wfts.tv/GEiyhm .

    He is being tried as an adult, but is not eligible for the death penalty because he is younger than 18.

    During the jury selection process on Tuesday, defense attorney Frank McDermott asked multiple potential jurors if they could consider a lesser charge against Lindsey if the defense could prove Lindsey “panicked” when approached by Crawford.

    After the jury was chosen -- made up of 12 jurors and three alternates -- Judge Thane Covert acknowledged the defense was considering arguing for a lesser charge. He asked Lindsey if he was aware of this and accepted it. Lindsey said he was and did.

    A conviction on a manslaughter charge would call for a shorter sentence than a first-degree murder conviction.

    Opening statements are likely to take place Tuesday afternoon.

    Read more: http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/new...#ixzz1pgqwLYGc
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    Nicholas Lindsey David S. Crawford

    Teen's arrest in officer's slaying latest shocker for St. Pete

    ST. PETERSBURG

    The shock over losing a third police officer in less than 30 days had yet to subside in this city when another bombshell dropped late Tuesday.

    The person who fatally shot Officer David S. Crawford, investigators say, is a 16-year-old high school student.

    The arrest of Nicholas Lemmon Lindsey left police and city officials grasping for answers.

    "It breaks my heart," Police Chief Chuck Harmon said. "You don't expect this type of confrontation between a 16-year-old kid and a police officer to end like this. But at the same time, he has to be accountable for his actions."

    Police arrested Lindsey on a charge of first-degree murder about 6 p.m. Tuesday. He is being held at a Pinellas County juvenile detention center.

    If convicted of first-degree murder, the teen could face a maximum penalty of life in prison.

    In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court banned the death penalty for crimes committed by people younger than 18.

    Lindsey was accompanied by his parents when he turned himself in at Seventh Avenue South and 16th Street, Police Chief Chuck Harmon said.

    Investigators received dozens of tips but three tips led them to Lindsey, who resides at the St. Petersburg's Citrus Grove Apartments.

    "This one we lost. This kid we lost," Mayor Bill Foster said. "But there are countless others that we must reach. Now we have this gaping hole, but we can heal."

    Lindsey voluntarily consented to go to police headquarters and his parents were cooperative, Harmon said.

    At first, the teen gave different accounts about what occurred Monday night. Later in the interview with investigators, he gave a taped confession. He broke down, cried and became emotional, Harmon said.

    "He needs to be held accountable for his actions," the chief said. "He will be paying for the rest of his life."

    The teen is enrolled in school in Pinellas County, but authorities did not reveal the school Lindsey attends.

    Police continue to search for the gun.

    Crawford was shot multiple times in the chest shortly after 10:30 p.m. Monday while investigating a report of a suspicious person in the 700 block of Third Avenue South.

    He died at Bayfront Medical Center several hours later.

    Crawford, who was married with an adult daughter and stepdaughter, is the third St. Petersburg police officer gunned down in less than a month.

    On Jan. 24, Sgt. Thomas Baitinger and K-9 Officer Jeffrey Yaslowitz were killed when they tried to arrest Hydra Lacy Jr. from his hiding spot in a St. Petersburg home.

    Nine officers in Florida have been killed in the line of duty this year – as many as all of last year, according to The Officer Down Memorial Page website. Crawford is the 29th to die in the line of duty nationwide so far this year. A total of 162 officers died in the line of duty last year.

    http://www2.tbo.com/content/2011/feb...atest-shocker/

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    Eyewitnesses testify in Lindsey murder trial

    Witnesses in Nicholas Lindsey's murder trial described what they saw on the night of Feb. 21, 2011 when St. Petersburg Police Officer David Crawford was shot to death.

    An eyewitness, who said he watched someone wearing a black hoodie shoot Crawford, admitted he had been smoking marijuana at the time.

    Ashton Ware testified in a Pinellas County courtroom that he was walking by, when he saw Crawford get out of his patrol car and motion to a man walking away from him.

    "He turned around and drew a gun from his waistband and I saw fire come out of the barrel," said Ware.

    After being questioned by Assistant State Attorney Jim Hellicksonm Ware said Crawford had not drawn his weapon when he was shot. Ware said he was frightened and turned and ran away before getting a good look at the gunman.

    A dance studio owner, who drove by immediately after the shooting, testified he saw Officer Crawford fall to the ground.

    Initially, Michael Ponce De Leon said he thought the officer had a heart attack. He backed-up his car and told his passenger to call 9-1-1.

    "I ran toward the officer and yelled, 'Officer, Officer, Officer.' I wanted him to know I was there to help and not harm him," said Ponce De Leon.

    Other witnesses took the stand to testify they saw a young black man, in a dark hoodie, running near the area.

    The defense does not dispute that Lindsey was the shooter. During yesterday's opening statement, defense attorney Frank McDermott asked the jury to consider the lesser charge of aggravated manslaughter.

    Even though Lindsey is being tried as an adult, he will not face the death penalty because he is under 18. If convicted of first-degree murder, the maximum sentence is life in prison.

    http://www2.tbo.com/news/news/2012/m...ail-ar-383483/
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    Grand jury indicts teen in shooting of St. Petersburg officer

    LARGO —- A grand jury on Monday indicted Nicholas Lindsey, the 16-year old accused of fatally shooting St. Petersburg Police officer David S. Crawford.

    As a result, he will be tried in adult court on a charge of first-degree murder. He was being transported from the Pinellas County Juvenile Detention Center to the Pinellas County Jail.

    Because of his age, Lindsey will not face the death penalty. But a conviction for first-degree murder would give him a sentence of life in adult prison without the possibility of parole.

    Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney Bernie McCabe and chief assistant Bruce Bartlett will be personally involved in the prosecution of Lindsey. They'll be joined by longtime Assistant State Attorney Jim Hellickson.

    Criminal defense attorney Dyril Flanagan says he has been hired to represent Lindsey. That means the Pinellas-Pasco Public Defender's Office, which had been poised to represent Lindsey, is off the case.

    Flanagan, who was hired by Lindsey's family members, said it was too early to get into a discussion of the case. But he said he would review the videotaped statements obtained by St. Petersburg Police officers in which Lindsey reportedly admitted to the killing. Flanagan also said he wanted to learn whether investigators obtained any DNA evidence linking Lindsey to the crime scene.

    Police say Crawford stopped Lindsey on the night of Feb. 21 while investigating a call of a suspicious person . They say Lindsey pulled out a semiautomatic weapon he had bought for $140 and fired at least four times, killing the officer.

    http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/...fficer/1155765

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    A jury has found 17-year-old Nicholas Lindsey guilty of first degree murder in the death of St. Petersburg Officer David Crawford.

    The jury reached a verdict after less than four hours of deliberation.

    After reading the verdict, Judge Thane B. Covert sentenced Lindsey to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

    Because he is a minor, Lindsey was not eligible for the death penalty.

    Earlier Story:

    Clearwater, Florida - At 1:58 p.m., the jury in the case of accused teen cop-killer Nicholas Lindsey began deliberations in the high profile murder trial.

    Shortly after lunch, the defense began its closing arguments, calling this case an "epic tragedy."

    Lead defense attorney Dyril Flanagan told jurors that the death of veteran St. Petersburg police officer David Crawford at the hands of Nicholas Lindsey was "senseless" and that the city lost "one of the finest."

    Flanagan started out by saying that he wanted to correct prosecutors in calling Lindsey "a man."

    "He was a snot-nose, whimpering boy. He is a boy. A mama's boy," said Flanagan. "His destiny is sealed."

    The defense added that this is not a first degree murder case, rather a situation where manslaughter occurred.

    "The true and correct verdict," said Flanagan, "is manslaughter."

    Prosecutors say Lindsey admitted during a videotaped confession that he killed Officer David Crawford in February 2011 when the veteran cop tried to question the teenager as the then 16-year-old was breaking into a car.

    "This boy was lost. He is a child," said Flanagan, trying to emphasize to jurors that the teen didn't realize the consequences of his actions.

    Flanagan spent the majority of his closing arguments telling jurors that his client was tortured in the South St. Petersburg neighborhood where he lives.

    "He was known as a mama's boy," Flanagan told jurors. "He had to find a way to look tough."

    Flanagan went on to say that now 17-year-old Lindsey was trying to "break away" from his mother who was trying to protect her "baby boy" from neighborhood kids.

    "He was beaten up by the other kids," Flanagan maintained. "What he did was wrong, but for these kids in that area, you have to survive."

    State Attorney Bernie McCabe gave the state's rebuttal and told jurors, "Leave sympathy and emotion out of the jury room."

    He added, "This was premeditation. Nicholas Lindsey is guilty of first degree murder. It's sad for Officer Crawford's family and the city of St. Petersburg."

    Earlier in the day, Assistant State Attorney Bruce Bartlett told jurors, "He made a conscious decision to take the police officer out."

    If Lindsey is convicted of first degree murder, he could spend the rest of his life in prison. His defense attorneys are hoping for a verdict of manslaughter so their client will eventually get our of prison during his life.

    Lindsey cannot be sentenced to death because he is a minor.

    http://www.wtsp.com/news/topstories/...p-killer-trial
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

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    Accused teen killer appears in adult court

    CLEARWATER - The 16 year old accused of killing a St. Petersburg Police Officer appeared in adult court Tuesday.

    Nicholas Lindsey was indicted on murder charges as an adult on Monday.

    He was moved from juvenile detention to adult jail, and today he went before a judge on adult charges.

    Lindsey is accused of killing officer David Crawford last month.

    Although he's charged as an adult, he will not face the death penalty if convicted because of his age.

    http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/dpp/new...court-03082011

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    Two profiles of Nick Lindsey heard in resentencing hearing

    Was Nicholas Lindsey, who shot and killed a St. Petersburg police officer in 2011, a decent kid, at heart – one who became the man of the house after his father left, who taught his little brother to read, who loved to play football?

    Or was he a street thug who began smoking more than three joints a day at age 11, who repeatedly stole cars and who, even after he was sent to prison for murdering a cop, cut up a fellow inmate?

    Those were the two portraits of Lindsey that emerged during testimony Monday at his resentencing hearing. At issue is whether Lindsey is capable of being rehabilitated – and, therefore, should be given a shot at parole in 25 years – or whether, for the public’s sake, he should spend the rest of his life behind bars for murdering Officer David Crawford.

    More than a dozen police officers crammed into a Clearwater courtroom, along with Crawford’s daughter, for the hearing, which lasted more than 4 1/2 hours. Circuit Judge Thane Covert said he would issue his decision on Oct. 11.

    Crawford’s daughter, Amanda Crawford, told Covert she wants him to put Lindsey away for the rest of his life. She said she is still haunted by her father’s death.

    “This wound is not more closed than it was on Feb. 21,” 2011, the night Crawford was shot, she said.

    “I just want the piece of mind to know I’ll never have to walk on the streets and come across my father’s killer as a free man on the same sidewalk.”

    Lindsey, now 18, was originally sentenced March 23, 2012, after a jury found him guilty of first-degree murder. Lindsey was 16 when he killed Crawford, a veteran police officer.

    Three months after the sentence, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that giving a juvenile an automatic mandatory life sentence without any chance of parole is unconstitutional. A sentencing hearing is required. The court also mandated that other factors must be considered, including the person’s mental development and background.

    The high court’s ruling became an issue in Lindsey’s case because, under Florida law, the only possible sentences for someone convicted of first-degree murder are the death penalty or life in prison. The sentence is automatic in cases where prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty.

    The first impression of Lindsey was given by his great-uncle Joe Lindsey, who described him as a shy kid who grew up in a dangerous neighborhood in south St. Petersburg. Two of Joe Lindsey’s nephews were shot to death in the same neighborhood, he testified.

    A woman who used to go to the Lindsey apartment as part of a home-based program for preschoolers spoke of his love for his younger brother. Another woman who struck up a correspondence with him after his prison sentence was handed down said he was remorseful.

    “He said he wishes he could turn back time,” said Bonnie Buron, a Pinellas County wastewater treatment plant operator.

    There is no doubt Lindsey’s home life was less than idyllic. He was born prematurely and suffered from an array of conditions, including asthma, eczema, a heart defect and eventually, hearing loss.

    While his mother was pregnant with him, his father was in jail for operating a drug house and is in prison now on drug charges. The couple, who often pushed and shoved one another, split about the time Lindsey turned 13, prosecutors said. His mother eventually lost a job as a nurse because of her cocaine use, prosecutors said.

    Another issue raised Monday is whether Lindsey was at a disadvantage because of his psychological problems.

    Testifying for Lindsey’s defense team, forensic psychologist Richard Carpenter said he found Lindsey suffered from a mixed anxiety depressive disorder and a kind of post-traumatic stress disorder. An IQ test showed Lindsey’s is 77, Carpenter testified.

    But Assistant State Attorney Jim Hellickson attacked Carpenter’s testimony, noting that Lindsey, while in prison, scored 86 on an IQ test, a number that falls in the normal range. Lindsey has also done well on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, Hellickson said.

    As for Lindsey’s lingering post-traumatic stress disorder, which Carpenter attributed to Lindsey having been exposed to a murder when he was 11, Hellickson asked Carpenter if he ever checked to see whether the killing was real.

    “It’s not clear that it happened,” Carpenter conceded.

    Assistant Public Defender Stacey Schroeder, one of Lindsey’s defense attorneys, told Covert juveniles such as Lindsey are “constitutionally” different from adults, as their minds are not yet fully formed. They are impulsive and they have less of an appreciation than adults for the consequences of their actions, she said.

    Sentencing a teenager to life without parole constituted cruel and unusual punishment, she argued. Even a 50-year sentence is equivalent to a life sentence, based on the life expectancy of a black male such as Lindsey, she said.

    But Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney Bernie McCabe said there was nothing impulsive about the shooting.

    “This was not some impulse,” McCabe said. “This was pulling the trigger five times.”

    Lindsey shot Crawford five times after the officer stopped his squad car in the teen’s South St. Petersburg neighborhood to question him about car break-ins in the area. The only thing Crawford had in his hand was a note pad.

    “This particular crime stands out above the rest,” McCabe said. “When someone kills a police officer in a cold ... senseless fashion, that has to be viewed as an uncommon event with an uncommon penalty.”

    While some witnesses and attorneys portrayed Lindsey as one worthy of a second chance Monday, prosecutors spoke of a street kid who abused marijuana and alcohol, skipped school and who had several brushes with the law, usually after he stole a car.

    Lindsey got into a fight 19 days after beginning his prison sentence for killing Crawford in March 2012, Hellickson said. He spent 30 days in solitary confinement; but he continued getting in trouble, interrupting a head count of inmates in July and stabbing a fellow inmate in December. For that, he got 60 days of solitary, Hellickson said.

    http://tbo.com/news/crime/resentenci...rder-20130923/
    An uninformed opponent is a dangerous opponent.

    "Y'all be makin shit up" ~ Markeith Loyd

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    Suspect in Officer David Crawford shooting wants confession thrown out

    CLEARWATER --

    The defense for 16-year-old Nicholas Lindsey Jr. wants to suppress a confession made to police about the shooting death of St. Petersburg Officer David Crawford.

    Shackled and handcuffed during a hearing, Lindsey appeared in court while his lawyers argued the motion to suppress statements Lindsey made to police in the hours after his arrest.

    "I think we've got 55 minutes of recorded confession," Lindsey's attorney Dyril Flanagan said. "But there's approximately three or four hours prior to that we're alleging the boy, Nicholas, as well as his parents … asked for counsel or asked to speak to his mother and vice versa."

    The statements are key to the prosecution because no murder weapon or witnesses have been found.

    Police say Lindsey shot Crawford at least four times after Crawford confronted the teen for questioning about a car burglary attempt near downtown St. Petersburg.

    Crawford returned fire but missed.

    Crawford was the third city police officer to die in a shooting in a month's time and the fifth in Tampa Bay since last year's slaying of two Tampa city police officers.

    If a jury convicts Lindsey of first degree murder, the only possible sentence is life in prison. The death penalty is off the table due to his age.

    Lindsey appeared in court for a review of hearing dates, part of the fast track his case is following. It is expected to go to trial in December.

    Flanagan, said he understands the push for a trial date just 10 months after the Feb. 21 slaying.

    Flanagan now has help from attorney Frank McDermott, who said he's working at no cost to Lindsey.

    http://www2.tbo.com/news/news/2011/a...ing-ar-254326/

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