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Deputy found guilty in post-Ivan incident
By TIMES STAFF WRITER
Published February 9, 2007
A federal jury on Thursday found Pinellas County sheriff's deputy Richard G. Farnham guilty of a misdemeanor charge of violating a victim's civil rights without bodily injury. Farnham, 34, had faced a more serious felony civil rights charge for the incident that occurred after he traveled to the Panhandle to help out after Hurricane Ivan in 2004. Farnham was part of a unit of Pinellas deputies sent to help bolster law enforcement in Ivan's aftermath. Farnham was with a deputy from Santa Rosa County when two men fired guns at them, according to a news release from the Sheriff's Office. Farnham was accused of illegally kicking and using a Taser on the suspect during the arrest. Farnham was indicted in November under a civil rights law that has been used only a handful of times against law officers in Florida in recent years. Farnham will remain free pending his sentencing April 24. He will remain on administrative leave, the Sheriff's Office said.
[Last modified February 9, 2007, 01:11:46]
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by Katherine
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02/09/07 02:16 PM
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This comment is for Julie-you need to find out the facts before you suffer outrage. Your deputy kicked in the face and chest a senior citizen who had open heart surgery and tased him while he laying on the ground. His wife was thrown to the ground.
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by Katherine
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02/09/07 02:10 PM
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My question is why has this deputy not been fired? Your Sheriff was defense witness in this case. The citizens of Pinellas County may want to reevaluate who you have elected as Sheriff.Behavior like this should not be tolerated by it's citizens or LE
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by Gil
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02/09/07 01:45 PM
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Yep, you little northern counties are just gonna have to rely on FEMA in the future for assistance. Hope thats what you were looking for in the verdict.
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by Dan
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02/09/07 01:07 PM
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Why would anyone want to be a cop today? First to Border Officers locked up for shooting a drug smuggler and now a deputy for doing his job dealing with two armed and drunk men. Politics seem to outweigh duty to serve the general public good today.
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by james
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02/09/07 11:11 AM
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How can you be hit in the chest with a taser if you trying to get up like the deputy said. The deputy should of been found guilty of a felony instead of a misdemeaor.Why was he in the house without his cop uniform on?
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by Julie
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02/09/07 08:49 AM
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I am outraged at the verdict and presume that any deputy in his or her right mind will not, repeat will not, volunteer to assist in the aftermath of disasters in other locations.
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by W
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02/09/07 08:12 AM
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A different story told up here. Farnham was inside a storm damaged house in the dark of night - why we don't know. 2 neighbors, a ret. NY police Capt. and a ret. military officer thought he was a looter - they fired a warning shot and he attacked.
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Fifty years ago, they were screwed-up kids sent to the Florida School for Boys to be straightened out. But now they are screwed-up men, scarred by the whippings they endured. Read the story and see a video and portrait gallery.
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