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Good on you Jeff. I know this was hard. Good job sticking it out.

Travis.

There does exist the distinct possibility that the gun was sent to the state lab to have ballistic tests done. Sorta to see if the gun was ever used in a crime previously. I wonder what the S.O.P. down in the state or county is regarding guns such as Jeff's.

Depending on the situation they could have done a trigger pull analysis to see if your father could have been the one to pull the trigger and if it coincided with the crime scene and to run ballistics to make sure the bullets coincided as well. Due to being sent to the crime lab, this takes months for them to even get to it. Here in Colorado if I send anything to CBI it takes forever to get it back. I have seen a simple drug analysis on some Meth to take 6-8 months. I have lost two drug cases because even after hounding them they couldn't get me results before trial. So it is not totally inconceivable that it took the lab that long to get the gun back into the sheriffs dept hands. It isn't like CSI. You can't just turn to your resident ballistician and get results back in 30 seconds. Suicides, even the obvious ones are treated like homicides and the evidence is collected until the determination is the case can be cleared. Also, as far as cops stealing the gun, there are some bad apples, but I have a hard time believing an officer is willing to throw away a career for a handgun and that everyone in such a large organization is going to cover for him. I know its frustrating and the beauracracy sucks. Its one of the parts of the job I can't stand, but most of us are just trying to do the best job we can. Ryan

There's not a damn thing wrong with sticking up for personal (and property) rights!

NOTHING!

And it's certainly not "evil."

Jeff, my concolences on your loss. Hope your mother and other kin are dealing okay with everything.

My father passed a few years ago from a long illness, but even knowing to expect his passing was still HARD. My mother was depressed for 3 1/2yrs before resuming her life.

Thank you for sticking it out to have your property returned to you. I used to live in Florida myself, but your story taught me a lot that could apply elsewhere too. I know it wasn't your goal to be one, but you're an inspiration. Congrats on fighting a good fight.

Godspeed, and take care.

Jeff

I glad to hear that this all got resolved for you. Terrible situation to have to deal with, and I am very sorry for your loss.

Jeff,

Was there EVER any shred of doubt that it was a suicide? I don't know the SOP's, but it seems odd that they'd go through the motions of the ballistics tests if there was no crime. The state labs are swamped with real work. I can't see there being "make work" sent to them. Like I said, in my dad's case, there was no doubt, and we had the gun back in 2 days. That "check out date" seems long after the fact too. Had there been any questions, I could see the gun being sent to the lab with in a few days, but not 3 months after the fact. I'm willing to bet that a large majority of guns in suicides are left unclaimed by grieving family who want no part of the gun that was used by their loved one to take their own life, and that some cops take liberties knowing that, but it's just a suspicion. None of us wanted that gun of my fathers, but we weren't going to just give it to the police.

It was a nice gun. They probably figured that the family would never come around asking for it. I imagine the percentage of people asking for a gun used like that is pretty low.

I'm surprised it didn't turn up as a "THROWAWAY" at some other supposed "Crime Scene" involving an law enforcement officer.

W7ACT, That is a scenario that is far more myth than reality, doing something like that would land an officer behind bars for the rest of their natural life. Don't believe what you see in the movies and stories from the 30's.

Btw, in 30 years of Police work I NEVER met an officer that carried a "throwdown" weapon of any kind.

T I don't doubt the veracity of your statement, but my guess is folks probably read you pretty quick, I doubt an officer of average
intelligence even if he chose to possess a throwdown, would see much upside as to making you aware of it.

Houston of the late 70's it didn't seem to be an uncommon practice.


Jeff glad you persevered and condolences on your loss. Good luck sir.

I have been accused of being too honest for my own good, but I do sleep well at night. Seriously though, i have know many officers over the years and most had some foible or another, myself included, but the planting of evidence to cover a crime was not one of them.

honest cops help us all sleep well at night T.


and I'm thankful for every one of them, you included, even if your time behind the badge has passed now.

I thank you Sir, I just did my best.

I agree. I worked with some good guys mostly, and a couple of turds...never saw anyone plant or manufacture evidence.

Not in my mind, even thought he had left quite a bit of information relating to dealing with his personal affairs in an obvious location he didn't leave a specific suicide note so to speak.

I don't think the homicide detectives would be doing a quality job if they didn't leave all options open concerning their investigation. All they had for facts at the time was a dead guy on a secluded beach with this gun layin' beside him. Their search of his condo turned up his personal paper work an empty holster and a box of shells with six rounds missing. That's truly not enough to form a solid opinion one way or another with. For all they knew dad might have loaded that gun every day and carried it along for his morning walk, I can't even say that he didn't do that.




This could have accounted for the delay of more extensive tests. It just wasn't high priority.

I'd like to think they checked for fingerprints before it went into lock-up to confirm who pulled the trigger but there is no indication if that happened or not.



Yes, and I do find the dates being a little odd. If I am interpreting the notes for anywhere near what their meaning may be, it was checked out on Christmas Eve. The meaning of the date written on the re-sealing job (12/26) is pretty much a given. This makes for the gun to have only been out of the sealed bag for Christmas.... I'd gone in to attempt to pick it up in late January and was told it was not in the evidence lock-up being it had been checked out by the FDLE for a "trigger pull" test.
When I called back a couple weeks ago they couldn't tell me anything about it due to it still being listed as active evidence. I just took it for granted that meant it was back but they couldn't say that due to policies about offering information on active evidence.

So it laid around somewhere for quite a while presumably starting the day before Christmas.

Yesterday, as I sat at the evidence lock-up waiting and waiting:-)
I watched officers and detectives come in and check out evidence. It's a huge police department and the evidence lock-up is a pretty sophisticated operation, we're talking heavy glass dividers with microphones to communicate, "buzz in" only doors, cameras every where and all that kinda crap. It was plain to see anyone wanting to check anything out of there was going to leave a hell of a paper trail.

I'd inquired about waiting until this fall to pick it up when I plan to return to Florida in case I hit another snag in my attempt to retrieve it. I was told by the Sheriffs lawyers, 6 months would be the maximum length of time I could request a hold on it. So, apparently items in the lock-up "time-out". I can only assume after that time things are either destroyed or sold. I suppose it could be possible that after the holding time-out period concluded items could have a chance to go astray. If thats the case, I could see it becoming a pretty competitive game. If a guy was to see something of his interest come along and there was a good chance it would never be claimed, it might get set side or "checked out" for an extended period of time.

Most departments also can't take anything unclaimed and it can't be given or taken for personal use. Our dept. requires that all unclaimed items, guns included, must be auctioned off. These funds are then returned to funds for victim advocacy or DARE.

I am not going to change the cop bashers opinions on anything but I will try and take the time to lay out the facts of what happens for those that want to know. Ryan

Absolutely correct! My Sheriff came to me asking about several guns and monies in evidence on cases long since disposed of. He asked me how to "file" on them the condemn them. The guns, after condemnation will be destroyed, the money goes somehwere to the dept. However, there's always that room for "human error" when evidence is stored for long periods of time and people forget about it. It should also be noted that some item that goes missing that is no longer of any use to the dept or the DA, well, nobody will worry about it too hard...until someone with a right to it wants it back! One of our departements had quite a bit of evidence go missing not to long ago. Drugs and money I believe.