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A former Army drill sergeant rejects a deal and stands trial on principle. Acting as his own lawyer, he even questions his son on the stand.
By CARY DAVIS
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 5, 2001
NEW PORT RICHEY -- John Redbrook said he was fed up with his youngest son. For two years, he said, he had endured a parent's nightmare. The boy had called him every name in the book, disobeyed his orders, run away from home numerous times and gotten suspended from school.
So on Sept. 26, 1999, after 11-year-old James refused to clean his room and started yelling obscenities at his father, a frustrated Redbrook went for a leather belt branded with cowboy scenes. He said he went to James' room and gave him about 15 smacks on the arm, leg and buttocks.
Pasco County Sheriff's Office detectives were called to the Moon Lake house, saw a welt on James' arm and arrested the 56-year-old father for felony child abuse.
He hired two lawyers, and when they didn't tell him what he wanted to hear, he fired them. If prosecutors wouldn't drop the charge, he wasn't making any deals.
Just before jury selection Monday in Circuit Judge William Webb's courtroom, prosecutors offered a sweetheart deal most defendants would jump at: If he attended parenting classes for 20 weeks, the case would disappear. Redbrook, a self-described "hard-headed" former Army drill sergeant, turned it down.
"I may be a stubborn man, but I'm no child abuser," he told a Times reporter just before his trial began Wednesday. "This is about principles. I've got eight children, and I always tell them that you have to stand up for the truth. If I had come in here and pleaded, I would have been a liar."
Not only did Redbrook roll the dice with a trial Wednesday, he committed what usually amounts to legal suicide: He acted as his own attorney.
While Redbrook bungled his way through the trial, Assistant State Attorney Tom Stathopoulos hammered away at the defendant's claim of innocence.
Twice during the incident, Redbrook walked out of James' room and went to watch television, only to return again with the belt when the boy wouldn't stop cursing at him. Redbrook, Stathopoulos said, had plenty of time to reflect on what he was doing, realize the belt wasn't working and choose some other course of action.
"James was defiant to me," Redbrook said. "I was trying to get him to concede to what I wanted him to do."
Stathopoulos, in his closing argument, put it another way: Redbrook's brand of "military justice" and "need for order" crossed the line.
"The law says a man can discipline his children," Stathopoulos said. "But he may not cross the line. And he did not just cross that line. He destroyed the line."
Minutes before the trial started Wednesday, Redbrook grabbed local defense attorney Keith Hammond outside the courtroom and hired him as a legal adviser for the day. Hammond whispered suggestions throughout the trial, but the lawyer couldn't ask questions of witnesses or make arguments.
Not knowing the law led to a huge tactical error when Redbrook made a reference to his history of disciplining his children. Normally, jurors aren't allowed to hear of prior events that might influence their verdict. But when the defendant, or his attorney, raises the issue, prosecutors can probe into the past.
Stathopoulos jumped at the chance: Isn't it true that sheriff's deputies had been to Redbrook's house 55 times? Isn't it true that child welfare workers had been there on 13 occasions to investigate allegations of abuse?
It was true, Redbrook said, but they were all just allegations. None of the visits ever resulted in an arrest, he said.
"I might not be a perfect father," he said. "I make a lot of mistakes. But abuse? I'll not carry that title."
James Redbrook took the stand as a prosecution witness and testified that he deserved the punishment he got from his father.
"I started cursing and running my mouth and calling him pretty much every name in the book," James said.
"Do you feel that you was out of control, James?" his father asked.
"Yes," the boy said, adding that he loved his father and didn't want to testify against him because he feared that it would get Redbrook in trouble.
The six middle-aged jurors all had raised their hands when they were asked during jury selection if their parents had used corporal punishment on them. Now they deliberated for one hour before reaching a verdict:
Not guilty.
"We just felt there was not enough evidence," jury foreman Frank Sykes said Wednesday night. "He was not taken to the hospital. . . . If we had seen pictures of bad welts, maybe we would have gone the other way. All we saw was a mark."
Said Redbrook: "I took the biggest chance of my life. But look at what I had to go through to prove this whole thing is a farce."
Then he added one final piece of advice: "Tell people to discipline their children with a firm hand," he said, giving himself a gentle spanking. "A firm hand."
- Cary Davis covers courts in west Pasco County. He can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6236 or (800) 333-7505, ext. 6236. His e-mail address is cbdavis@sptimes.com.