Home»US»Former Florida State Attorney Refused To Prosecute Rape & Grand Theft From Rape Victim – Sued Local TV Station Over “Hurt Feelings”

Former Florida State Attorney Refused To Prosecute Rape & Grand Theft From Rape Victim – Sued Local TV Station Over “Hurt Feelings”

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I have been covering the story of Deanna Williams, a Florida woman who was raped in 2009 and subsequently sued by attorneys she had hired that were to be paid by the attorney who settled the case, Gloria Allred.  Allred settled the case but failed to pay the attorneys, which then led to the lawsuit against Williams, which has left her with a judgment against her for over $1 million.  However, what many don’t know is that the state attorney during the rape accusation and during the grand theft of $200,000 by Ms. Williams’ attorney was none other than Steven Russell, and Russell couldn’t be bothered with prosecuting those crimes.  Additionally, a local media outlet exposed the fact that numerous murders remained unprosecuted.  So, Russell decided to sue a local TV station for “hurt feelings,” which ultimately recently resulted in a dismissal of two of four defendants in the complaint after two years.

In a lengthy report by NBC2 in 2017, it was reported that in Lee County, killers walked free based on information they obtained from the United States Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs Diagnostic Center for the City of Fort Myers.

While they named Russell in their report, the report from the USDJO did not name Russell, but it’s clear that Russell would have been the one to determine whether to prosecute the cases just as he did not see any warrant to prosecute either of the claims of Deanna Williams.

At that time, NBC2 reported:

Catching killers has been a top priority for city leaders and law enforcement since a spike in homicides in 2011.

The NBC2 Investigators discovered that over the past six years the vast majority of Fort Myers homicide suspects never faced justice.

Some community leaders aren’t pointing the finger at police but at 20th Judicial Circuit State Attorney Stephen Russell.

“By and large we’re very successful,” Russell told the NBC2 Investigators in an exclusive interview. “We have a great relationship with law enforcement. We are not trying to shy away from cases.”

Russell has been a prosecutor in Southwest Florida since the 1970s and took the top job when he was elected in 2002.

In a business where conviction rates often determine success, Russell said he keeps an eye on the stats but doesn’t let it impact his judgment.

“I would think that, generally, we have roughly a 90 percent conviction rate,” Russell said. “We look at it, generally, but I’m not going to get hung up on statistics. Each case is different. What I’m concerned about is are we doing the appropriate thing in each case.”

But some homicides never make it to court at all even though police have a suspect, according to sources in the law enforcement community.

Following the report, Russell sued NBC2 over what RTDNA claims were “hurt feelings,” which apparently put a chill on Southwest Florida media to the point that they will not run clearly documented crimes, fraud and ethical violations of his office by Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno, which The Washington Standard has made public and provided documentation to these outlets, of which NBC2 is one of them.

RTDNA reported:

RTDNA is offering its support to Waterman Broadcasting’s WBBH-TV in Fort Myers, Fla., which is being sued for defamation, along with two of its anchors and one of its reporters, by State Attorney Stephen Russell after an investigative report that aired in November left Russell, according to his lawsuit, with “hurt feelings.”

…

“As the result of the false and defamatory statements made by [WBBH], Russell suffered and will continue to suffer humiliation, mental anguish, hurt feelings, and injury to his reputation,” according to Russell’s suit, which also names Hodges, and WBBH anchors Peter Bush and Kellie Burns-Garvey, as defendants. Russell is seeking unspecified monetary damages.

Waterman Broadcasting, which would not comment for this story, says in its legal filing that “any and all statements made by the Defendants are protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution and also protected by the Florida Constitution.” The station’s filing also asserts that the defendants’ statements in the story “constituted the substantial truth” and that Russell had not claimed the defendants acted “with actual malice,” a key legal standard to prove defamation of a public official.

“RTDNA offers legal assistance to journalists across the country by making available our expert Washington, D.C.-based First Amendment counsel to consult with, and provide advice to, local new organizations’ and journalists’ attorneys,” said Dan Shelley, Incoming Executive Director, who spearheads RTDNA’s Voice of the First Amendment Task Force. The task force was formed to defend against attacks on the First Amendment and news media access, and to help the public better understand why responsible journalism is essential to their daily lives.

“Any time there is an attempt to chill or obstruct the pursuit of responsible journalism, we are willing to stand with and assist the journalists who are targeted,” Shelley said.

Now, the current state attorney, Amira Fox Dijani, a woman whose family is joined at the hip with Islamic terrorists, has failed to prosecute Sheriff Marceno over his felonies spanning more than a decade of impersonating a police officer, which again, The Washington Standard has documented while both the state attorney’s office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement fail to investigate to prosecute.  Fox’s office would not return numerous calls by The Washington Standard for comment.

Furthermore, Fox got into her current office as it appears that Russell provided her a politically motivated arrest of her challenger, Chris Crowley, over something that Crowley made right before it was ever known by the state attorney’s office.

The lawsuit Russell filed was dismissed against two of four defendants recently after two years.

RTDNA reported:

In the second case, a judge in Fort Myers has ruled in favor of two of the four defendants in a lawsuit brought by a former state attorney alleging defamation against Waterman Broadcasting’s WBBH-TV concerning a November 2016 investigative report that plaintiff Stephen Russell said left him with “hurt feelings.”

The judge’s ruling dismissed WBBH anchors Kellie Burns-Garvey and Peter Busch from the case and ordered Russell to pay their legal fees. Waterman and the reporter who did the story, David Hodges, remain as defendants.

The rest of the complaint was also dismissed.

It appears that those in authority in Southwest Florida don’t like to be questioned about their corruption.

However, before any of that could take place Anonymous exposed the crimes of the state attorney’s office under Russell and then pointed right back at the Lee County Sheriff’s Office and Mike Scott, as well.

Meanwhile, Deanna Williams continues to seek justice but all she is finding is injustice at every turn.

Will you help support her efforts to acquire an attorney?  If so, click here to go to her GoFundMe page.

For previous articles in this series:

Tim Brown

Tim Brown is a Christian and lover of liberty, a husband to his "more precious than rubies" wife, father of 10 "mighty arrows" and jack of all trades. He lives in the US-Occupied State of South Carolina, is the Editor at SonsOfLibertyMedia.com, GunsInTheNews.com and TheWashingtonStandard.com. and SettingBrushfires.com; and also broadcasts on The Sons of Liberty radio weekdays at 6am EST and Saturdays at 8am EST. Follow Tim on Twitter. Also check him out on Gab, Minds, and USALife.
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