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Mother Seeks Justice Over Her Son's Murder Westeria Harry Is Very Critical Of State Attorney's Office Does Prosecutorial Misconduct Thrive Within The Seventh Circuit's State Attorney's Office? |
February 23, 2015 |
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The State Attorney's Office February 13, 2015 would had been Donnell "DJ" Ellis, Jr's twenty-third birthday, had he not been murdered on April 16, 2011. Donnell's mother, Wisteria Harry, now uses both dates as her opportunities to galvanize the public's attention of how her son's murder was not properly investigated or prosecuted by local law enforcement officials. The police reports support that on that fateful April day, a drug deal was going down within a Holly Hill motel room involving several individuals, to include Wisteria's son, Donnell. Shortly later, several of the participants would be shot, with Donnell Ellis, Jr. suffering a fatal gunshot wound. Since the death of her son, Wisteria has developed an overwhelming suspicion that the police, and the State Attorney's office, were being less than truthful with her over the events of her son's murder. So much so, that Wisteria's own investigation into her son's murder has concluded that innocent persons have been criminally charged and convicted in her son's murder, while the true triggerman to her son's death is labelled by law enforcement authorities as the only innocent man attached to that tragic day in April 2011. “However, after careful examination, Mr. Evans was the only person present that did not commit a crime. D.J. Ellis was shot and killed by a boy named Chauncey Gilmore,” Klare Ly - State Attorney Public Information Officer We will discuss more about Mr. Evans later in this article. |
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Wisteria's Concerns Does Prosecutorial Misconduct Thrive Within The Seventh Circuit's State Attorney's Office? The events of April 2011 have been heavily covered, and examined by several media outlets. We invite our readers to review the above linked Daytona Beach Times' article that appropriately examines those events. Also an Internet search will provide several other media articles that will examine the shooting incident, as well as the criminal trials of Leroy Gadson and Jerry Crew. This article (VolusiaExposed.Com) will focus on a deeper examination of Wisteria Harry's concerns. Why? Well, for several reasons. First, it is very unusual for a mother to come to the defense of individuals that the police say are responsible for her son's death. Wisteria supports that both Leroy Gadson and Jerry Crew have wrongfully been convicted in her son's murder. She further regales to those that will listen, that her son's murderer continues to go unprosecuted for her son's murder. Second, Wisteria is heavily critical of Assistant State Attorney, J. Ryan Will. Interestingly, ASA J. Ryan Will has been brought to VolusiaExposed's attention by several groups and individuals. Some are known to us, and some remain annonymous - but the basic message received is the same. The message alleges that ASA Will's focus is on winning a criminal prosecution, regardless if the facts don't support his investigative conclusions. All of these allegations could easily be relegated to the self-serving realm of vicious rumors. However, these rumors / allegations found some validations in some recent appeal decisions coming out of the Fifth District Court of Appeal (5th DCA). In a recent 5th DCA opinion, involving the criminal prosecution of Jerry Crew for the death of Wisteria's son, Donnell - the court expressed concerns of prosecutorial misconduct directly attached to ASA J. Ryan Will. Further, the 5th DCA, in the Andre P. Brinson appeal, noted additional prosecutorial misconduct within the Seventh Circuit's State Attorney's office. "Unfortunately, prosecutorial misconduct in closing argument is neither a new nor fading phenomenon." - Page 13 of 5th DCA's Brinson Opinion |
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The 5th DCA's discovery of prosecutorial misconduct within the 7th State Attorney's office, provides some credence to Westeria Harry's allegations against ASA J Ryan Will. BUT, is that enough to accuse a well respect member of the Florida Bar, and the State Attorney office of prosecutorial misconduct?.
For us here at VolusiaExposed.Com - it's enough - but that's just our opinion. Should you, our readers, need more evidence in order to form your own opinion - just keep reading, there is more evidence available. |
To Review VolusiaExposed.Com's Earlier Article 
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Recently, VolusiaExposed posted an article whereas we requested our readership's assistance in vetting out some rumors of corruption within the local criminal justice system. While we (VolusiaExposed) were aware of the persons and events surrounding these rumors, we opted not to publish any of the names attached to these rumors until more supportive documentation could be secure in support of these allegations. Our readership came through for us. VolusiaExposed received several confirmations from readers, that these rumors, in fact, had a large river of truth running through them. Sadly, these rumors must now rise to the level of allegations against our local State Attorney's office. These allegations echo many of the concerns voiced by Wisteria Harry, and the 5th DCA. And yes, they (allegations) involved alleged misconduct by ASA J. Ryan Will. |
About The State Attorney's Office We Apologize For The Audio Quality - It Was Recorded Next To US-1 Traffic February 13, 2015 A Mother's Love Never Dies |
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Homicide Prosecution. Was There A Giglio Violation? We May Never Know These newest allegations are attached to the January 2011 homicide of Debra Gibson 46, of Edgewater. Gibson was a Volusia County Sheriff Department drug informant. Accused drug dealer James Desmond Booth was convicted of killing Gibson, in order to silence her from informing on his drug dealing activities. ASA J. Ryan Will was assigned to prosecute Booth for the homicide of Gibson. Apparently, Booth's girlfriend, Magean Ward was a key prosecution witness. Although, the evidence suggests that Ward did not witness the murder - the evidence did suggest that she assisted Booth in leaving the scene of the crime. Ms. Ward was was initially uncooperative with ASA J. Ryan Will's prosecution of Booth. In fact, she avoided a sworn deposition ordered by Will, by skipping off, and going into hiding out of state. While in hiding, Ward contacted the Daytona Beach News-Journal and made allegations that ASA J. Ryan Will was "manipulating" her into lying against Booth, in support of ASA Will's prosecution of the Gibson murder. According to a media account, Ward was eventually tracked down, and taken into custody by law enforcement officials in New Bedford, Massachusetts. |
To Review Below Link Media Article  
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Ward was eventually returned to Volusia County custody, and kept in custody for over two years under her own set of criminal charges, and under a state witness status.
VolusiaExposed has examined Ward's court records - and we found several examples of Ward and her family writing the court expressing their concerns regarding the State Attorney's office. |
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The Burger King Deal Having It Your Way It would appear by the documentation that upon Ms. Ward's return from Massachusetts, she continued to be somewhat uncooperative with ASA J. Ryan Will. While being held at the Volusia County Branch Jail, court documents support that she continued her campaign of alleging some type of misconduct by ASA J. Ryan Will. Court documents also support Mr. Will's position, that without Ward's cooperation and testimony, the prosecution of James Booth would be difficult, at best. The attached affidavits of Attorney Michael Lambert and Ms. Ward (see right of page) appear to support, that prior, and during the James Booth trial, that J. Ryan Will, and a named Volusia County sheriff deputy twice removed Ward from the county jail, eventually taking her to dine at a fast food restaurant. According to the affidavits, it appears that during these meetings, a plea bargain deal was hammered out between ASA Will and Ms. Ward, in exchange for her cooperative testimony in Mr. Booth's trial. After these meetings, Ward was returned to jail custody. While is it very peculiar, and probably not a wise decision, for a deputy, and ASA to remove a jail inmate from custody, and then to take her out to eat at a restaurant to discuss a plea bargain - we seriously doubt it is illegal. However, with that said - we highly suspect (Our Opinion) that it is illegal to engage in a plea bargain, and then to conspire to keep that plea bargain secret from the court (judge, jury, defense). We invite you, our readers, to review the affidavits from Ms. Ward and Attorney Michael Lambert - and judge for yourself whether ASA J. Ryan Will's alleged behaviors in this matter is as disturbing to you, as it is to us (VolusiaExposed.Com) |
Sworn Statements Against ASA J. Ryan Will                       |
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VolusiaExposed.Com posted our first mention of the alleged Booth prosecutorial misconduct within a January 13, 2015 article (again - without mentioning any names of the participants). Within a few days of the article's publication - we received several notifications, that there had been some "movement" in the Booth appeal case. Booth had earlier filed an appeal of his conviction with the 5th DCA. His appeal issues apparently had nothing to do with any alleged misconduct by the State Attorney office.
By January 15-16, 2015 - Magean Ward's attorney (Michael Lambert) had given his own sworn statement, and secured his client's (Ward) sworn statement regarding their knowledge and understanding of ASA Will's possible prosecutorial misconduct in the Booth prosecution. Once again, there is nothing wrong with ASAs entering into plea agreements with witnesses, as long as those plea agreements are acknowledged to the court and the jury. The jury has the duty to judge the veracity of witnessess - and to be able to properly make these judgements, it is necessary for the jury to know whether any witnesses have entered into a plea agreement with the prosecutor's office. Failure of the prosecutor to reveal such a plea bargain, would be what is commonly known as a Giglio violation. Such a violation, could be a due process violation regarding the criminal defendant's right to a fair trial. In many cases, a confirmed Giglio violation entitles the criminal defendant to a new trial. Given the Lambert / Ward allegations in the Booth prosecution, coupling them with the allegations voiced by Westeria Harry in her son's homicide, some of which have been sustained by the 5th DCA, thus awarding Jerry Crew a new pending trial - we (VolusiaExposed.Com) openly wonder how long and deep the river of corruption runs within the local Office of the State Attorney? Have other criminal prosecutions been affected by this alleged prosecutorial misconduct? Release Jurisdiction Back To The Circuit Court A few days after Ward and her attorney, Michael Lambert filed their above listed sworn affidavits. In response, James Booth's appellate attorney, Valarie Linnen filed a motion with the 5th DCA requesting that they relinquish jurisdiction of the case back to the Seventh Circuit Court, so that a Giglio motion could be filed within the circuit court. The State of Florida filed an objection, and the 5th DCA denied, in a one sentence order, the change of jurisdiction request to the lower circuit court, effectively killing any Giglio hearing within the circuit court. On February 12, 2015 - VolusiaExposed.Com spoke via telephone with 5th DCA Clerk of Court, Pamela R. Masters, regarding the denial of jurisdiction change in the Booth case. Masters advised us that the motion for jurisdiction change was denied by a "motion panel" comprised of DCA Judges Lawson, Evander and Edwards. She had no further comment, and has not responded to our confirmation email on this matter. So why did the "motion panel" refuse to relinquish their jursidiction back to the lower circuit court? Well, maybe - just maybe - Westeria Harry unknowlingly mentioned the rationale in her above video? Listen closely to her when we (VolusiaExposed) ask - Who is J. Ryan Will? Westeria answers - the son of Judge Will. Could it be just that simple? Are we (VolusiaExposed.Com) coming to the defense of a homicide suspect (Booth)? NO - rather, we are coming to the defense of the United States Constitution. EVERYBODY - including suspected drug dealing homicide suspects - have the right to a fair trial in this country. After all, we are a country founded on the priniciples of law. Therefore, it is not possible, in this country, to truly enforce the law, by violating the law. Yes, it is probably cheaper and faster to short circuit these priniciples, in order to secure easy convictions - but at the end of the day - who really gets cheated. We (VolusiaExposed) submit to you, that the likes of Westeria Harry, Jerry Crew, you, and the public in general are the real losers, when the likes of James Desmond Booth are denied a fair trial, in defiance of the U.S. Constitution. Criminal Justice professionals that think it's okay to short circuit Constitutional protections, might as well go down to the local military cemetery, and urinate on the graves of the U.S. military veterans that lost their lives in defense of those very same Constitutional principles. After all, disrespect is disresprect, no matter how it is delivered. Given, that in this country, all criminal suspects are assumed to be innocent, UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY IN A COURT OF LAW, and given the probability that Booth's Constitutional protections were violated - we (VolusiaExposed) are inclined to assume his innocence - until he is convicted by a jury of his peers - within the confines of those Constitutional protections. How about you? |
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Self-Defense While Committing A Crime? Is That Even Legal? |
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Westeria Harry strongly believes that Jammie Evans is the man the shot and killed her son, Donnell Ellis, Jr.. However, the law enforcement authorities have assured her that a juvenile by the name of Chauncy Gilmore shot and killed her son in self-defense.
HOLD ON - from the official accounts / documents that we have read - Ellis was shot and killed during a drug deal gone bad. The documents seem to clearly support that both Evans and Gilmore were actively involved in this drug deal. So two questions come to immediate mind. |
To Review F.S. 776.012 
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1. How can the State Attorney hold the position that Evans engaged in no criminal offenses during this drug deal? 2. How can Gilmore avoid a homicide charge, if he was actively involved in a drug deal? Obviously Gilmore was involved in some criminal activity during this drug deal - he received a 5 year prison sentence. So how can he successfully make a self-defense claim, if he was involved in criminal activity during the shooting? (see above F.S. 776.012) In short, Florida Statutes does not allow a person to declare self defense if they are engaged in criminal activity. VolusiaExposed.Com sent an email to Spencer Hathaway, the current Public Information Officer for the State Attorney's office, requesting clarification on how Gilmore could seek protection under Florida self-defense law (F.S. 776.012) - thus far, we have received no reply from Mr. Hathaway.  |
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