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Finger points to guilty verdictBy © St. Petersburg Times, published January 8, 1999 It goes without saying that a detective investigating a serious crime would be elated to find the one piece of evidence that would point directly at the wrongdoer. In a Tampa trial this week, prosecutors came armed with just that -- the tip of the defendant's own finger, which police say he left behind at a crime scene. Investigators say that Michael Swafford, then 17, and three friends kicked in the front door of a 68-year-old woman's Palm River home in June 1998. She was robbed at gunpoint before the thieves rode off in her car. While in the right front passenger seat, Swafford apparently managed to accidentally shoot off the top portion of his left pinkie finger. The car was abandoned on Interstate-4 while its occupants hastily made off to get help for the wounded teen. A crime scene technician would later make the bizarre discovery of that portion of pinkie inside the car. At Swafford's trial this week, jurors got to see the piece of finger, now shriveled inside a capped test tube. They also got a view of Swafford's abbreviated digit before finding him guilty of robbery, burglary and grand theft. * * *A LAWYER WHO NEVER FORGETS?: No, says Julie Holt, the Hillsborough public defender, Democrat and rumored contender for state attorney, she is not switching parties to become a Republican. But never say never. On this subject, Holt says she is "as interested as everyone in seeing where (new Gov. Jeb Bush) leads the state." "I'm not going to join any party just for an opportunity. I look for philosophies," she said this week. "No one knows what the philosophies will be until he implements his programs." If Holt is indeed to run for state attorney, as is the scuttlebutt, such a party switch would place her squarely against the incumbent Democrat Harry Lee Coe. It might also, if we're dealing in blatant speculation here, put her in a better position for a governor-selected judicial appointment, yet another rumor swirling in the courthouse halls. * * *BUT NO MINI-BAR KEY: Each time an inmate checks into the Hillsborough County Jail, he is charged a $10 "per diem" fee for his stay. That cost may be causing a bit of trouble for a few prison inmates who have a return engagement in Tampa to testify against other arrestees. In a couple of cases, prosecutors have reported that inmates have been reluctant to return from prison to testify in local courts because they will be charged $10 when they check into the jail. (At the county jail's canteen, a 10-spot and 14 cents can buy you a pair of canvas tennis shoes. Ten bucks is 10 tubes of toothpaste, 17 legal pads, 23 hot sausages or four packages of decongestant.) But the problem may be workable. Soon, it's likely that an official note from the State Attorney's Office about the purpose of the visit could waive that check-in charge. * * *NO JOE: Former Hillsborough Chief Assistant Public Defender Joe Registrato, who recently resigned after allegations that he groped a lawyer at an after-hours gathering, will not continue to represent Valessa Robinson, a teenager charged with murdering her mother. Public Defender Julie Holt said the matter would be discussed with Robinson, with whom Registrato had developed an attorney-client relationship. This week, Holt said two attorneys from her office, Dee Ann Athan and David Bass, will take the case to trial "based on the totality of circumstances." She declined to comment further.
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