14 DAY TRIAL // A former Florida police chief is facing up to two weeks in prison and a $500 (€359) fine for eating a piece of evidence during a court appearance last Friday.
Richard Masten was arrested on a contempt of court charge after defying Judge Victoria Brennan's request to hand over a piece of paper containing information about an anonymous tipster in a cocaine possession case.
The Miami Herald says that the retired police chief, who is now leading the Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers program, explained that he refused to reveal the tip because he took the Crime Stoppers' promise of anonymity for tipsters very seriously and he didn't want to break his principles.
He also said that, if he did turn over the evidence, his gesture would set a bad precedent for future tipsters.
“I make a promise to tipsters out there. It isn’t going to happen on my watch. If you want to put me in jail, fine,” Masten said.
“We promise the people who give us information to solve murders, serious violent crimes in this community [that] nothing about them or their information would ever be compromised,” he added.
Miami-Dade Crime Stoppers has received tens of thousands of tips that have led to thousands of arrests since 1983, when it was founded. Tipsters are guaranteed anonymity and cash rewards for tips that lead to a conviction.
The information Masten refused to reveal was related to a 2013 case in which a Hialeah woman named Lissette Alvarez was arrested for cocaine possession. The woman's lawyer, Jean Michel D’Escoubet, said the contents of the tip were very important to the defense, but they were not interested in the identity of the source.
Judge Brennan asked to see the information in her chambers, but Masten refused to show her the sheet of paper when she said she couldn’t promise it wouldn’t be revealed to the defense. After Masten swallowed the evidence in front of TV cameras, Judge Brennan found him in contempt of court for disobeying her order.
“The court would be remiss to turn a blind eye to a flagrant refusal to honor a court order, and give more value to an individual’s opinion on what is right, than to the dictates of the laws enacted by the people of Florida,” the judge wrote in her decision.
Masten must head back to court next week, when he could be sentenced to up to two weeks in jail.