Your kids are in far more danger from not having proper lights and helmets while biking or crossing the road than something like this.
Murder in Seagrove
- Thread starter Matt J
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Please don't let what happened ruin your vacation. This is a safe are, and Cassine Gardens is great. Kids no matter what age should have parents involved in the decisions about where they roam to anywhere, not just here at the beach. This is a good oppurtunity to school your children about the dangers of talking to strangers, and never going off with them, and being aware of your surroundings at all times. And Scooterbug is right, please have your kids where helmets, have them yield to traffic and use a light on the bikes after dark.
I agree. I would say also that if you have a few kids, talk to them about sticking together...no matter what. No covering for your bro/sister with mom and dad so he/she can go meet someone. It's just not worth it.
DeFUNIAK SPRINGS — Steven Cozzie, the Seagrove Beach man charged with the murder of 15-year-old Courtney Wilkes, has requested a new court-appointed attorney.
Cozzie, 22, sent a handwritten request to his public defender, Lenny Platteborze, earlier this month requesting that new counsel be appointed “because he does not feel comfortable with his current representation,” according to a motion Platteborze filed last Thursday in Walton County Circuit Court.
In the motion, Platteborze requested a Nelson hearing, at which Circuit Judge Kelvin Wells will decide whether new counsel should be appointed. The hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday at the Walton County Courthouse.
Read more: http://www.nwfdailynews.com/articles/steven-42218-murder-new.html#ixzz1TOr9qTV0
Cozzie, 22, sent a handwritten request to his public defender, Lenny Platteborze, earlier this month requesting that new counsel be appointed “because he does not feel comfortable with his current representation,” according to a motion Platteborze filed last Thursday in Walton County Circuit Court.
In the motion, Platteborze requested a Nelson hearing, at which Circuit Judge Kelvin Wells will decide whether new counsel should be appointed. The hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday at the Walton County Courthouse.
Read more: http://www.nwfdailynews.com/articles/steven-42218-murder-new.html#ixzz1TOr9qTV0
If he wants a better lawyer, he can hire one himself instead of wasting my tax dollars with these stall tactics.
Private attorneys appointed in Cozzie murder case
September 09, 2011 8:47 PM
Lauren Sage Reinlie
Daily News
DeFUNIAK SPRINGS —Two private attorneys have been appointed to represent Steven Cozzie, the 22-year-old Seagrove Beach man who is charged with killing a teenage girl last June.
His public defender, Lenny Platteborze, stepped down this week because of a conflict of interest with a witness in the case.
“The public defender’s office represents a material witness in the defendant’s case,” Platteborze said in a document filed in Walton County Circuit Court late last month. “The prosecutor agrees there is a conflict.”
On Thursday, Circuit Judge Kelvin Wells appointed attorneys Sharon Wilson from Pensacola and Jeremy Keich from DeFuniak Springs to represent Cozzie.
The state has said it intends to pursue the death penalty in the case.
Cozzie is charged with the murder of Courtney Wilkes, a 15-year-old girl from Lyons, Ga., who was killed June 16 while she was vacationing in Seagrove Beach with her family.
Wilkes’ body was found in some woods less than five hours after her family last saw her on the beach with Cozzie. She had been strangled with a shirt, badly beaten and sexually assaulted, according to court records.
By the middle of last month, Assistant State Attorney Bobby Elmore, who is prosecuting the case, had provided Platteborze with lists of at least 100 names of possible witnesses.
The lists include 18-year-old Michael Spencer, who Walton County sheriff’s deputies said led them to Wilkes’ body. Spencer told deputies Cozzie had taken him into the woods to show him what he had done shortly after the killing, according to court records.
Spencer also told deputies that Cozzie had talked about wanting to rape someone several days before the crime, according to court records.
Wilkes’ parents, Cozzie’s mother, employees at a Tom Thumb store near where Wilkes’ body was found and several students at Northwest Florida State College also were on the witness lists.
Copies of DNA evidence reports were provided to Platteborze on Aug. 3, according to court records.
Elmore said he doesn’t expect the change in representation to slow down the case.
“It really to my mind shouldn’t affect it too much,” Elmore said.
A pretrial hearing is scheduled for Dec. 15 to determine when both sides will be ready to argue the case.
Read more: http://www.nwfdailynews.com/articles/cozzie-43478-defuniak-murder.html#ixzz1ZRJgU0Q2
September 09, 2011 8:47 PM
Lauren Sage Reinlie
Daily News
DeFUNIAK SPRINGS —Two private attorneys have been appointed to represent Steven Cozzie, the 22-year-old Seagrove Beach man who is charged with killing a teenage girl last June.
His public defender, Lenny Platteborze, stepped down this week because of a conflict of interest with a witness in the case.
“The public defender’s office represents a material witness in the defendant’s case,” Platteborze said in a document filed in Walton County Circuit Court late last month. “The prosecutor agrees there is a conflict.”
On Thursday, Circuit Judge Kelvin Wells appointed attorneys Sharon Wilson from Pensacola and Jeremy Keich from DeFuniak Springs to represent Cozzie.
The state has said it intends to pursue the death penalty in the case.
Cozzie is charged with the murder of Courtney Wilkes, a 15-year-old girl from Lyons, Ga., who was killed June 16 while she was vacationing in Seagrove Beach with her family.
Wilkes’ body was found in some woods less than five hours after her family last saw her on the beach with Cozzie. She had been strangled with a shirt, badly beaten and sexually assaulted, according to court records.
By the middle of last month, Assistant State Attorney Bobby Elmore, who is prosecuting the case, had provided Platteborze with lists of at least 100 names of possible witnesses.
The lists include 18-year-old Michael Spencer, who Walton County sheriff’s deputies said led them to Wilkes’ body. Spencer told deputies Cozzie had taken him into the woods to show him what he had done shortly after the killing, according to court records.
Spencer also told deputies that Cozzie had talked about wanting to rape someone several days before the crime, according to court records.
Wilkes’ parents, Cozzie’s mother, employees at a Tom Thumb store near where Wilkes’ body was found and several students at Northwest Florida State College also were on the witness lists.
Copies of DNA evidence reports were provided to Platteborze on Aug. 3, according to court records.
Elmore said he doesn’t expect the change in representation to slow down the case.
“It really to my mind shouldn’t affect it too much,” Elmore said.
A pretrial hearing is scheduled for Dec. 15 to determine when both sides will be ready to argue the case.
Read more: http://www.nwfdailynews.com/articles/cozzie-43478-defuniak-murder.html#ixzz1ZRJgU0Q2
Forgot to add my comment, which is, is it common for the public defender to represent witnesses? Is the witness being charged with something?
My guess (just based on the article) is that the witness committed a separate crime and the public defender represented them or is scheduled to.
My question is why not just have that witness get a new lawyer?
My question is why not just have that witness get a new lawyer?
