Warrant issued for suspect in robberies

By Times staff writers

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 22, 2000

TAMPA -- Although operating in the quiet of early morning, a group of robbers targeting convenience stores has used all the subtlety of a freight train.

Using crowbars, trash cans, bricks and trucks, the thieves smash through the front doors of the store, taking whatever they can get their hands on. Usually, that doesn't amount to much since cash registers are practically empty at that time of day. The real cost for the businesses comes with the smashing, not the grabbing.

Wednesday, the Sheriff's Office issued a warrant for the arrest of a suspect they said is responsible for at least one of the nearly 20 such robberies in the city and county since May 22.

On June 11, authorities said, Golden Reed, 51, an ex-convict still on probation for other crimes and with no known address, smashed through the front glass of a Texaco station at 8145 W Waters Ave. He and another man filled up large trash cans with cigarette cartons and left, they said.

Detectives said the store surveillance video shows Reed for several minutes. After the tape aired on television, several people called the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office to say the person on the tape was Reed.

Letters favoring Wood outnumber negative ones

As Gov. Jeb Bush considers whether to reappoint Joan Wood as Pinellas-Pasco medical examiner, he has received six letters on the subject -- five in favor of Wood and one against her.

Wood, the medical examiner for the past 18 years, wants another 3-year term. But she has come under fire for changing her autopsy finding in the 1995 death of Scientology member Lisa McPherson.

Pinellas prosecutors blamed Wood's "serious forensic error" when they dropped their criminal case against the Church of Scientology.

The governor is to decide within the next 10 days.

Wood, a veteran pathologist, has repeatedly been called in to consult on cases in other parts of Florida. In the past week, Bush has gotten letters supporting Wood from officials around the state:

State Attorney Harry Shorstein of Jacksonville, who needed Wood's help to investigate a medical examiner accused of poisoning his first wife and covering up the murder;

Dennis Haley, a Florida Department of Law Enforcement agent who worked with Wood on a 1991 murder case in which a Panhandle teacher shot his wife inside their burning home;

Palm Beach County public safety director Paul Milelli, whom Wood helped search for a new medical examiner;

Orange-Osceola State Attorney Lawson Lamar;

Largo forensic dentist Barry Lipton.

The only letter critical of Wood was sent to the governor's office by Largo resident Betty Upson-Schmitz.

Man gets new trial in girlfriend's killing

LARGO -- A St. Petersburg man serving a life sentence for killing his girlfriend in 1998 was granted a new trial by an appeals court Wednesday.

The 2nd District Court of Appeal ruled that Robert Franklin "Rocky" Wells should be retried because a circuit judge mistakenly refused to excuse two jurors from the case because of possible prejudice against Wells.

Wells, 49, a former Marine with a long history of domestic violence, killed his girlfriend, Sherry Lynn Ramey, with four shots from a .22-caliber handgun on March 28, 1998. Wells shot her after they began arguing because she wanted to split up with him, prosecutors say.

At trial, defense attorneys asked that two jurors be excused for cause because of bias toward their client.

Circuit Judge George Greer refused to dismiss these two jurors for cause.

Later, the defense ran out of peremptory challenges and was unable to excuse a third person who also indicated an unhappiness with Wells' intoxication defense.

The judge refused to dismiss that juror for cause, and the juror ultimately voted to convict Wells of first-degree murder along with 11 other jurors.

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