HOBE SOUND— A crash killed one person, injured two others tonight and shut down U.S. 1 in Martin County, according to the Florida Highway Patrol and Martin County Fire-Rescue officials.

Few details were available about the crash, which occurred around 9:45 p.m. at the intersection of U.S. 1 and Osprey Street in northern Hobe Sound.

U.S. 1 is shut down in both directions while the crash is investigated and cleaned up, according to FHP officials.

Jurors ended a second day of deliberations Friday without making a decision as to whether Ricardo Sanchez Jr. and Daniel Troya will spend life in prison or be put to death for the 2006 murders of the Escobedo family on Florida's Turnpike.

Family slain

Jose and Yessica Escobedo with sons Luis Julian (left) and Luis Damian (right). Husband, wife and two children from Greenacres found shot to death off Florida’s Turnpike in northern Port St. Lucie. More news, photos

Sanchez and Troya, both 25, were convicted of killing cocaine supplier Jose Luis Escobedo, his wife and his two sons.

Jurors were given three options before they began deliberating Thursday: unanimous life, unanimous death or a unanimous decision to let U.S. District Judge Daniel T.K. Hurley determine the sentence.

Life is the maximum penalty a federal judge can issue under those circumstances. If the jury cannot reach a unanimous decision, then sentencing also will fall to Hurley.

Jurors resume deliberations Monday.

FORT PIERCE — A city police officer was sentenced Thursday to 30 years in prison for molesting a 15-year-old girl in a Hutchinson Island beach parking lot.

Chief Assistant State Attorney Tom Bakkedahl asked Circuit Judge Larry Schack to sentence Dwight Toombs, 34, to 35 years in prison after Toombs was convicted Jan. 22 on four felony charges stemming from the Dec. 18, 2007 incident.

Friends and family asked Schack for leniency after describing Toombs as a family man and a Christian.

Defense attorney Jack Fleischman said he plans to file an appeal.

“We expected a high sentence, and we feel pretty confident about the appeal,” he said.

Before sentencing Toombs, who did not speak on his own behalf, Schack said: “This is really a very sad day on two levels. One because of what was done to that young lady and two, because it was done by someone we all rely on to protect our children.”

Toombs was sentenced after being convicted of lewd or lascivious battery or molestation, attempted lewd or lascivious battery, sexual battery on a 15-year-old by a government agent and lewd or lascivious conduct. Schack also declared him a sexual predator.

Toombs faced a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison.

Authorities said Toombs came across the girl, who was naked from the waist down, and her 20-year old boyfriend in a parked car at the beach and that Toombs fondled the girl using a glove while she was handcuffed.

Bakkedahl said law enforcement agents must be held to a higher standard because of their status within the community and added officers committing crimes undermines the judicial system. (more…)

Thursday, March 26, 2009

STUART — The Martin County Clerk of the Circuit Court laid off nine workers in response to a steep decline in fee and fine revenue, but the clerks in St. Lucie and Indian River counties said they don’t have to go that far yet.

Martin County Clerk Marsha Ewing said she was forced to resort to layoffs in response to projections showing a $400,000 deficit in court-related revenue.

“When your budget is 90 percent salaries, obviously, that’s where the cuts have to come from,” Ewing said. “It was the hardest decision I’ve had to make in my career but, unfortunately, I was forced to lay off nine people.”

Court clerks throughout Florida are facing similar revenue shortfalls because the recession has resulted in fewer people filing lawsuits and paying fines and service charges, Ewing and other court clerks said.

St. Lucie County Clerk Joe Smith and Jeff Smith, the chief deputy clerk in Indian River County, said they don’t anticipate laying off any workers in the near future, but that could change depending on what happens with the economy and the state Legislative session.

“We will not have layoffs this week,” Jeff Smith said. “We are barely holding our own at the present time. Of course, this situation is fluid and could change at anytime in the future, but as of now we don’t have layoffs planned for the near future.” (more…)

Family slain

Jose and Yessica Escobedo with sons Luis Julian (left) and Luis Damian (right). Husband, wife and two children from Greenacres found shot to death off Florida’s Turnpike in northern Port St. Lucie. More news, photos

A federal jury will continue deliberations tomorrow in deciding whether Ricardo Sanchez Jr. and Daniel Troya will spend the rest of their lives in prison or be put to death for the 2006 drug-related murders of Jose Luis Escobedo and his family on Florida’s Turnpike.

The 12-member panel began deliberations in the case early this afternoon, ending a nearly two-week hearing where attorneys for the men tried to get them to opt for life sentences for Escobedo, his wife, Yessica, and their 3- and 4-year-old sons Luis Damian and Luis Julian. Prosecutors say Escobedo was a drug supplier to Sanchez and Troya’s boss, Danny Varela, and the pair killed the man and his family to steal the cocaine he was carrying and relieve Varela from a debt.

If jurors in the case cannot come to a unanimous decision on life or death in the case, then sentencing will fall to U.S. District Judge Daniel T.K. Hurley, who will by law be authorized to impose a sentence no harsher than life in prison.

STUART — Police officers arrested a husband and wife Wednesday afternoon after the pair allegedly threatened each other with guns, prompting the woman’s 12-year-old son to call 911.

The 12 year old, Alistar McEacheron, told police that his mother, Molly Moriarty, 43, pointed a handgun at his stepfather, Tim Moriarty, 43, after he placed a shotgun on their bed during an argument, according to a police report. Alistar said his stepfather then grabbed the couple’s 7-month-old son, Connor, saying that he “wouldn’t go down easy.” (more…)

Christensen

The commission found she and her husband, Frans Christensen, who also was her campaign treasurer, committed 10 violations, which stemmed from a $500 contribution from Homes of East Lake Village LLC and two $500 contributions from The Painting Pros LLC.

They could be fined up to $1,000 for each count, according to the report, for violating state statute election code and campaign financing.

(more…)

PORT ST. LUCIE — A 32-year-old mother was arrested Tuesday after police allegedly found 60 marijuana plants growing in two bedrooms of a home near Gatlin Boulevard and Interstate 95, according to an arrest affidavit released Wednesday.

Yanery Leon, of Davie, faces felony charges of possession of more than 20 grams of cannabis and cultivation of cannabis after police searched the $293,000 home in the 1800 block of Southwest Michelangelo Avenue.

(more…)

PORT ST. LUCIE — A U.S. Appeals Court upheld a lower court’s ruling that Port St. Lucie resident Colleen Demers was wrongly fired by Adams Homes when she took maternity leave four years ago and reinstated the $5,000 in damages awarded by the jury.

Demers worked as a real estate agent for Adams Homes, which builds houses in Viera, Melbourne and West Melbourne, when she became pregnant in 2005. The company dismissed her, claiming she was an independent contractor and not entitled to family leave benefits.

But a trial judge in Orlando last year ruled the company had treated Demers as an employee for 3 1/2 years and offered no evidence that she was an independent contractor. (more…)

PORT ST. LUCIE — By the time 16-year-old Ryan Rust of Port St. Lucie turns 30, he wants to accomplish his dream — to win a NASCAR championship.

But in the meantime, he’ll be working alongside more than 50,000 others worldwide, meeting the needs of American military personnel serving overseas. (more…)