Jeffrey Weaver's Story
Jeffrey Weaver is on death row in Florida. His story in his own
words appears below. Jeff would very much like Penpals or any
correspondence from those offering legal assistance.......
"Now, in my case a police officer was shot. I was there and I did
fire one shot. The officer's partner (an auxiliary policeman) also
fired one shot. These shots were fired within a second to a second
and a half of each other. However I did not hear the second shot from
the auxiliary officer's gun, and he testified that he didn't hear his
shot either. Witnesses all heard both shots, before they could turn
their heads to the first shot (quick) they heard the second shot. We
three, Policeman, auxiliary policeman, and I were running at full
speed across a six lane highway. Federal highway in Ft. Lauderdale,
Florida. According to the best witnesses, about a lane and a half
apart with the victim in the center. However we were crossing at an
angle, so the distance was a little more. While still running at full
speed, I looked back, and fired a single shot from about the hip into
the road, at an angle that would not hit the officer. I also did not
see the Auxiliary Officer, and assumed he was in line with myself,
and the middle officer. Witness testimonies did confirm this. When I
fired the shot into the road, I was looking back, and the victim was,
as I was, still running full speed, coming after me, facing me at a
full frontal position. As soon as my shot was fired, he pulled up,
turning to the right in a quick stop, with his arms up, as if
protecting his face, like in a boxing match. The closest, and state's
best eyewitness testified to the same. His right side was never
turned toward me. After seeing him stop in that position, my focus
was back in front of me, still running full speed. Thirty or so yards
down the road, I looked back again and the officer is lying on the
road, and the Auxiliary Officer is coming up to him. At that point, I
stopped, wondering how I hit this guy. Sirens began to come from
everywhere and I panicked and continued to run. As I said, I didn't
hear the Auxiliary officer fire his weapon, so at this point and
through at least a few days, all I knew was that I fired, trying to
miss, but there is a guy on the ground. As it turns out, the Officer
was shot with a single shot that went through his right forearm into
the right side and out of his left back. All entry and exit holes
line up at a downward angle. High at entry, low at exit. No bones or
ribs were hit. The state introduced three items left on the road
after the victim was taken to the hospital. 1- a spent 9mm casing
from the auxiliary officer's weapon, 2- a piece of utility belt cut
from the victim by the rescue worker's, 3- a 357 projectile, said to
have dropped from the victim's back when they loaded him to the
stretcher. This, is said to have been witnessed by three or four
officers on the scene, all of which have changed or corrected their
initial reports. It should be noted that their reports were the only
changed reports out of well over 100 reports. Two civilian witnesses
saw two bullet pieces on the ground before the victim was moved. One
did not say this in his initial statement, but did say so at the
trial. The other witness not only reported in his statement that he
saw two pieces, but also said that he saw an officer remove one of
them. This witness could not be found at trial. At the time of trial
he lived in Colorado. Hasty legal steps were taken, but no appearance
in time for defense. The witness at time of a scheduled deposition
stated, to my attorney at that time, that he would not show up if the
State Attorney was going to be there. This is however, second hand
information told to me by my attorney at that time, and there was
never a deposition taken. At the time of arrest, somewhere between 10
to 12 hours later during interrogations, I was told that the officer
was okay. The detectives won't admit this, but they do say that they
didn't tell me that the officer was dead, and that I asked if he was
okay. They also admitted that they didn't tell me that the Auxiliary
Officer had fired his weapon, and that apparently I didn't know. I
assisted in a re-enactment of that night in which they secretly
videoed. (Court ruling says defense's option to use) (and State's
involved witness can testify from memory of.) The state calls it a
confession, but in fact I am saying, "I didn't shoot to hit him." You
may be asking why did I shoot at all. Well I had a weapon that was
and always had been for my protection. I was doing nothing more than
walking down the street. The officers did not follow procedure in
calling in a stop at the time of the stop. In fact we were conversing
eight to ten minutes before he ever made a call. I did not want to
lose my protection for nothing so I ran, they chased, I fired at the
road. There was a ricochet mark on the road, though the state denies
it, there was a photograph showing it. I fired my gun though to
hopefully turn him back to his car or at least to get him to take
cover, giving me time to exit a situation that should not have been
anyway. It was not the right thing to do, but at the most my case
should have been tried as involuntary manslaughter, because I had no
intention of hurting anyone, and never had an inkling of a clue that
this action taken by me would result in harm to anyone. Finally, in
my opinion, the reasons I am on death row is as follows: I was
assigned to a specific Courtroom. I was given a Public Defender. Due
to witnesses conflict he had to withdraw, and I was assigned a
special Public Defender (a private Attorney). One year and eleven
months later my case was taken out of my assigned Courtroom and given
to a Probate Judge, who fired my Attorney, because he needed a few
more weeks because he was in the middle of another case. The probate
Judge assigned me another new special Attorney. One year later, this
new Attorney tells me he will not defend me in the manner for
acquittal, and that his, (my), defense is going to be to the jury
quote, " He did it, but he didn't mean to do it." I was scared at
that moment more than any other time in my life. I put in a prose
motion to have him replaced. This was done at the time that he told
me that, which was one and a half months before the scheduled trial
date. The Judge said I had a choice, 1st, I could go with the
Attorney I had and his defense, or 2nd, I could represent myself, and
even though there were 10 big boxes of discovery that I had never
seen, there would be no postponement. I hope you can understand,
there was no real choice. The rest of my life in prison for something
I knew I didn't do or at least trying to show the truth. To
everyone's surprise, I, totally unable to prepare a full and proper
defense, had the jury deliberating for two days in a county that is
notorious for one and two hour deliberated verdicts. The video
re-enactment was done at a time when I had been up for almost 30
hours. Right after and during the time they were booking me, I stated
to the booking deputy that I could have sworn I shot in the ground.
The Judge would not let him testify. Also the night they carried the
Officer to the emergency room, he was talking to his Brother who is
also a Policeman, his brother asked him who shot him and he replied,
"the guy I was with." He then asked him how many shots were fired and
he said one, maybe two. In my opinion, if he was naming me, then
wouldn't he have said the suspect shot me? They never recovered the
auxiliary Officer's projectile either, they found his casing but not
the projectile. The projectile that they said fell out of the
victim's back only had a tiny flake of the Officer's blood, and it
was not seared to the projectile by heat. When they went to do the
testing to establish the blood type, they didn't have to remove it
from the projectile, it fell off. If the projectile that they
introduced killed the officer, it should have had seared on blood and
the fact it would have been lodged against his back and a bloody tee
shirt. Now, you ask how could they have gotten one of my projectiles?
After they had arrested me, they confiscated my car and entered it
before turning the scene evidence over. There was live ammunition in
my car. There is opportunity. Also when the Officer was taken too the
emergency room there is a hospital statement that says that it was
over 2 hours before they started working on him. Also, the Doctor
that was doing the operation had a heart attack while doing the
operation, there was another doctor that took over, but the Officer
died. They would not allow that to be brought out in the trial
either. Also the Auxiliary Officer quit not long after that night.
The only reason I can see that they would do something such as this
is the Officer who died was from a family of an officer in the same
department.
Thank you for your time
Sincerely
Jeffrey Weaver
DC#L23552 Cell# P-2107-S
Union Correctional Institute
P.O. Box 221-A1 Raiford
Fl. 32083
DEAR POSSIBLE PENPALS:
Ladies: If you are looking for an animal or someone to slap you
around then please don't write me. However if you are looking for a
person who, by listening to your words, will do his best to pick up
on your wants and needs and respond with an open heart and mind, then
you should write to me at least one time.
Gentlemen: I am pretty much cut off here. I feel like I'm in a
forest with no light, no sound, and no compass to get my bearings by,
and to top it off, where did I put my danged rifle. I enjoy, very
much, hunting and fishing, so don't be shy and send me a picture of
that buck you killed and that fish you caught. And if they got away,
well I've had a few that got away too. So you know I will believe you
probably. And all you city slickers out there need not be shy about
dropping a letter in the box either. I have been to a big city before
too.
Everyone: Whether or not you decide to write to me is your
decision. If you don't I will probably never even know your name, but
I am sure that we all agree that an innocent person should not be on
death row. Therefore I ask that you please tell your Attorney friends
about this page.
Thank you for your time and may God bless you all. Sincerely, Jeff
You can email Jeff's
mother for more information.
If you would like a webpage like this for your penpal or family
member please contact me - I do free web pages for death row inmates.