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Brevard Deputy Shot In Off-Duty Incident Gets Terminated Deputy Jason Roberts' Termination Sends Shockwaves Through The 18th Judicial Circuit |
May 3, 2019 |
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According to a February 18, 2019 Brevard County Sheriff's Office news release - in the early morning hours of February 17, 2019, an off-duty Brevard County deputy was shot and seriously wounded, in Jacksonville, Florida.
Initially, both the Jacksonville and the Brevard Sheriff's offices were refusing to identify the wounded deputy. (see BCSO News Release & the attached JCSO Incident Report) Shortly thereafter, this publication, and several of our associate publications, started to receive back channel information that BCSO Deputy Jason Roberts was the wounded deputy. This back channel chatter also insinuated that the events surrounding the shooting were not favorable to Deputy Roberts. On Friday, April 26th, 2019 - this publication came to the OPINION that we had done our due diligence, and have enough corroborative information to publish our concerns regarding Deputy Roberts. However, in fairness to the Brevard County Sheriff's Office (BCSO), we sent the attached email, in which we expressed both our concerns, and our intentions to publish, while inviting the BCSO to challenge our assertions. The BCSO never responded to our email inquiry. However, on the following Monday (April 29, 2019), Sheriff Ivey terminated Deputy Roberts' employment, citing Roberts' involvement in the February 2019 Jacksonville shooting, as well as his extensive past disciplinary history within the BCSO. (see pages 9-11 of the attached PDF file) We (VolusiaExposed.Com) can now confirm, that Jacksonville officials ruled the shooting of off-duty Deputy Roberts, an act of self defense (see page 13). Therefore, the shooter of Deputy Roberts, identified as Michael Donn of Georgia, WILL NOT be criminally prosecuted. Interestingly, available reports indicated, that Donn told investigators, that Roberts had discussed moving large amounts of narcotics. These reports further stated that during Donn's and Roberts' discussions, Roberts' fiancee locked herself in the hotel room's bathroom, causing Roberts to become angry, and prompting him in attempting to kick in the bathroom door. As Donn attempted to calm Roberts, Donn found himself being physically attacked by Robert, to such an extent that Donn lost a tooth. In order to cease Roberts' attack, it became necessary for Donn to fire several rounds from his handgun, thus inflicting serious injury to Roberts. (For additional details regarding the shooting incident - please review the attached BCSO and JSO reports, see right of page) Deputy Roberts' Involvement In The John Derossett Prosecution This publication has an additional interest, and concern, regarding Deputy Roberts, due to his connection in the 2015 John Derossett shooting incident (Review our September 18, 2018 article). According to a local media report (WFTV.Com), in August 2015, then sixty-five (65) year old John Derossett was arrested and charged with three (3) counts of attempted first degree murder of a law enforcement officer. According to the Brevard County Sheriff's Office, three (3) deputies had reported to Derossett's Brevard County home, that he shared with his niece, Mary Ellyn Ellis DeRossett. The deputies allegedly were attempting to take Mary "Cougar" Derossett into custody on prostitution related charges. Reports indicate that the deputies were not wearing their full law enforcement uniforms. As the deputies attempted to take Mary into custody at the front door of the home, Mary started yelling for help. Apparently, unsure what was transpiring, John Derossett responded from the rear of the home with a fire arm. Shortly thereafter, shots between Derossett, and the deputies were exchanged. Deputy Casey Smith and Mr. Derossett were wounded during the gun battle. However, back channel chatter has insinuated that the BCSO raid at the Derossett home, had little to do with taking a suspected prostitute into custody, and much more to do with securing Mary's little black book of clients (see our September 21, 2018 article for addiional details). After all, according to media reports, immediately after Mary's arrest, two (2) BCSO deputies had to resign, due to them being identified as clients of Mary. The back channel chatter further alleges that other higher ranking members of the Brevard County social elite were enjoying Mary's services - and that these "gentlemen" had the desire of not being identified, especially within Mary's little black book. |
Former Brevard County Deputy Jason Roberts 
Brevard Sheriff's Office & Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Investigative Reports CLICK TO REVIEW IN PDF FORMAT 
Click Below To Review Entire File In PDF Format 
Click Below To Review Court Document 
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Impartial Stand Your Ground Defense (SYG)? As covered within our Sept. 18, 2018 article Judge Robin Lemonidis denied Derossett a "Stand Your Ground (SYG) " defense. Further, as was expressed, and explained within this publication's, April 29, 2019 article, we suspect that Circuit Court Judge Robin Lemonidis has an inability of maintaining judicial impartiality. The Derossett's case is just one example of several cases, which Lemonidis struggles with her judicial impartiality. We invite you to review our April 29, 2019 article for additional details regarding our concerns, and further invite you to review the above listed videos, which highlight some of this publication's past interactions with Judge Lemonidis. Please determine for yourself if Judge Lemonidis is holding herself to proper judicial standards. This publication forwards the OPINION that Judge Lemonidis has gone completely "bench bonkers" and "is off the chain" (power mad), and largely because of that, we feel that Mr. Derossett was denied a fair and impartial SYG hearing. During Deputy Roberts' testimony in the Derossett SYG hearing, not only did Roberts confirm his involvement in the Derossett shooting, Roberts testified his belief that he actually shot Derossett. (Click Here - scroll to pages 863-969 of the SYG hearing transcript) So, there is NO DOUBT, Roberts should be a major prosecution witness in Derossett's pending trial. So why didn't the State Attorney, or the BCSO, turn over Deputy Roberts' rather extensive past history of disciplinary action? A disciplinary history, that was extensive enough, to be one of Sheriff Ivey's rationales for terminating Deputy Roberts' employment. As per a 1963 U.S. Supreme Court decision - Brady v. Maryland 373 U.S. 83 (1963, the prosecution has an obligation to turn over to the defense any exculpatory evidence (tends to prove innocence). This "exculpatory evidence" also includes any histories that police officers may have in their employment files, that could call into question the officer's veracity, or tend to support the defendant's innocence. During a May 1, 2019 status hearing in the Derossett case, the State Attorney filed a "Supplement Discovery" declaration, only then declaring their knowledge of Deputy Roberts past extensive disciplinary history within the BCSO, and his involvement in the February 2019 Jacksonville shooting incident. It is of significance to this publication that one of the incidents of past disciplinary actions filed against Deputy Roberts was a 2014 incident whereas he failed to report a use of force in the arrest of a prostitution suspect (see pages 18-19). During this same 2014 arrest, Deputy Roberts was also chastised for not wearing clothing that identified him as a law enforcement officer. These two (2) matters (use of force & law enforcement identification) are also attached to the 2015 Derossett shooting incident. (Click Here - see SYG transcript) The publication finds it extremely difficult to believe that the State Attorney's Office (SAO) was not immediately aware of Deputy Roberts' involvement in the February 17, 2019 Jacksonville shooting incident. This shooting incident was heavily publicized immediately after the incident, including a reference to it on the official BCSO website. Surely, the SAO had an obligation to inquire which deputy was involved, so that they could properly evaluate whether such equated to a mandatory "Brady Disclosure" to affected defense attorneys. Even if the SAO is given the benefit of the doubt, in their apparent lack of knowledge regarding the Jacksonville shooting incident, their failure to know their own witness' past disciplinary history, is unforgiveable, and brings into question whether they were actually aware of this exculpatory evidence, but opted to illegally hide it from the defense? It is the OPINION of this publication that the SAO and the BCSO had corrupt intentions in - attempting to hide exculpatory evidence from Derossett's defense attorney. And there you have it for now....stand by to stand by ...there is surely more to come of this.... We will be adding Deputy Roberts to our Brevard County list of Brady Cops. We look forward to your comments. Drop us a line to let us know what you think.  EMAIL US INVESTIGATIVE SERIES IN THE DEFENSE OF DANA DELANEY LOYD |
