Hernando judge focus of search warrant inquiry

The attorney for a former local police detective accused of committing perjury has asked the judge to step down from the case.

The defendant, Shawn Terry, fears he would not get a fair trial before Circuit Judge Stephen Rushing based on the possibility that Rushing tipped off a local businessman about a pending search warrant, according to a motion filed Wednesday.

Ellis Faught Jr., a Brandon criminal attorney, represents Terry, who earlier this month resigned from the Brooksville Police Department. Faught filed the motion and it was signed by Terry.

Faught stated his client is leery of the judge's objectivity "because of specifically described prejudice or bias."

The motion suggests Rushing might have tipped off local insurance salesman Martin "Dan" Patrick, who was investigated earlier on suspicion of committing fraud and money laundering.

The charges filed against Patrick were later dropped by the State Attorney's Office.

Terry's perjury charges are related to a closed drug case and are not related to Patrick.

The afternoon of May 4, Terry and Sgt. John Messer visited Rushing in his office and asked him to sign a search warrant for Patrick's business, located at 832 S. Broad St. They also came with an arrest warrant for Patrick, according to a sworn statement written and signed by Terry.

The former detective recalled Rushing telling him and Messer, "I cannot sign this. I've known Mr. Patrick personally and he goes to my church. Mr. Patrick is a fine person, a long-time businessman and community leader and I will not sign it," according to the motion.

Rushing suggested they take the warrants to another judge.

Eventually, the warrants were signed by County Court Judge Kurt Hitzemann.

Patrick was waiting for them

The plan was for the police to serve them the morning of May 5.

That same day, an article appeared in the St. Petersburg Times in which Patrick said he "knew something was coming" the night before his arrest, according to the motion.

Nowhere in the article did he explain how he knew.

Brooksville police saw Patrick that morning "standing in front of his business and (he) appeared to be awaiting the execution of the warrants," Faught wrote in the motion.

Brooksville police were left fuming over the perceived tip-off and contacted prosecutors, said Chief Assistant State Attorney Ric Ridgway.

No one else outside of a few judges and a few employees of the Brooksville Police Department knew of the warrants, according to the motion.

Other than Hitzemann and Rushing, Circuit Judge Daniel B. Merritt Sr. also knew. He declined to sign the warrants because of a conflict of interest. He had represented Patrick while a defense attorney decades earlier, according to Terry's written statement.

Faught laid the focus solely on Rushing in his motion.

"Because of Judge Rushing's statements to the Defendant ... including that he was a friend of (Mr.) Patrick and attends the same church, reasonably causes the Defendant to fear that he will not receive a fair trial before Circuit Judge Stephen O. Rushing," Faught wrote.

Rushing's aide had no knowledge of the motion Wednesday afternoon. She forwarded a message to her boss. It was not returned.

State Attorney Brad King said his office did not investigate Rushing.

"We found no evidence anyone ever tipped Mr. Patrick," King said. "We brought him in here and we asked Mr. Patrick under oath. He gave a full explanation as to what he did and what was said. The basis of what he said was that no one had told him.

"He figured (the police) would be coming at some point," King continued. "He based that on his dealings with them in the past."

Ridgway said the police not only saw Patrick standing out front, but they also noticed one of the safes in his office had been opened.

"Based on that, all that stuff together, (the police) were concerned he had been tipped off," said Ridgway, who is prosecuting the Terry case.

Assistant State Attorney Mark Simpson summoned Patrick and conducted a sworn interview.

Ridgway read from the transcripts and said Simpson "went down the laundry list" with Patrick.

"He was told by his attorney something was going to happen," said Ridgway. "His attorney didn't tell him a search warrant was coming or anything like that ... but he warned Mr. Patrick that more was coming. He based it on that."

Ridgway said Patrick's answer as to why he was outside with his door open when police arrived was because he saw a client park his car across the street from his office and he walked outside to talk to him.

At the moment Patrick came outside, police showed up, he said.

Of the open safe, Patrick claimed he always keeps it open during business hours, said Ridgway.

Simpson did not return a message seeking comment.

Local prosecutor disputes colleagues

"That's crap," said Assistant State Attorney Don Barbee of Patrick's story.

Barbee works in Brooksville while the other three prosecutors work in Ocala.

Barbee also said he wasn't notified that the inquiry into the alleged tip-off had been dropped by Simpson.

He suggested Patrick could not have known about the search warrant based on his previous dealings with police or through a conversation with his lawyer. The investigation was not a top priority compared to other criminal cases, he said.

"I don't remember it being that hot," said Barbee.

Ridgway said no clerks, judges or other witnesses were subpoenaed after Patrick's testimony. No phone records were searched.

He said his office declined to dig further because there was "no hard evidence," Ridgway said.

A message left with Patrick's assistant was not returned.

Barbee doesn't suspect Rushing committed any wrongdoing and mentioned more than once that the judge hasn't been formally investigated.

He also said fingering someone for tipping off a suspect about a warrant is a strong allegation.

Barbee compared it to the Kijafa Brown case from three years ago. Brown was an employee of the Hernando County Circuit Clerk's Office. She was fired and sentenced to probation after she had disclosed the identity of an undercover detective to a drug suspect.

Warrants are sealed until after they are served. It is done so partially to maintain the element of surprise, which benefits the investigation so that criminals can't hide or destroy evidence.

Secondly, if someone is warned about a warrant beforehand, lives of police can be endangered, said Barbee, who is a former police detective and FBI agent.

"It can disrupt a law enforcement investigation, which obviously is extremely serious," he said.