{"id":63047,"date":"2018-04-14T04:38:39","date_gmt":"2018-04-14T04:38:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=63047"},"modified":"2018-04-14T04:46:42","modified_gmt":"2018-04-14T04:46:42","slug":"a-familys-battle-against-a-sheriff-to-try-to-prove-relative-was-killed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/news\/a-familys-battle-against-a-sheriff-to-try-to-prove-relative-was-killed.html","title":{"rendered":"A family’s battle against a sheriff to try to prove relative was killed"},"content":{"rendered":"

A family’s battle against a sheriff to try to prove relative was killed<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n

When St. Johns County sheriff\u2019s deputies arrived at the St. Augustine, Florida, home of Jeremy Banks on Sept. 2, 2010, they found his 24-year-old girlfriend Michelle O\u2019Connell lying on the floor with a gunshot wound to the head and dozens of prescription painkillers in her pocket.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPlease get someone to my house!\u201d Banks had told the 911 operator. \u201cPlease. Send — my girlfriend, I think she just shot herself. There\u2019s blood everywhere!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Deputies found Banks, a fellow St. John County sheriff\u2019s deputy, crouched at the bathroom door, clutching his phone.<\/span><\/p>\n

The gun was found on O\u2019Connell\u2019s left with the Tac light on the gun switched on. Later, pictures taken at the scene revealed a shot fired into the carpet.<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite the efforts of the first responders, O\u2019Connell was pronounced dead close to 11:48 p.m. that night.<\/span><\/p>\n

Outside the home, some deputies and detectives started to conclude that O\u2019Connell\u2019s death was a suicide. Some of them were later interviewed as part of the investigation.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t have any suspicions that it was anything other than suicide. I think that\u2019s what we were all kind of discussing, but just making sure that we covered our bases,\u201d St. Johns County Det. Jessica Hines is heard saying in a recording of the interview for the investigation.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt appeared she had committed suicide,\u201d St. Johns County Cpl. Mark Shand said in his interview.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the hours that followed, some fellow deputies took time out to console their coworker and friend, Banks. A squad car was used as a makeshift interview room as Banks was briefly questioned by Hines in an interview that was recorded.<\/span><\/p>\n

During that interview, Banks said that he was sitting on his motorcycle in the garage when he heard a pop and rushed inside.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe bedroom door was locked and I screamed her name again. I heard it go off a second time,\u201d he told Hines.<\/span><\/p>\n

Shortly after, Banks went to his parents\u2019 home and O\u2019Connell\u2019s body was taken to the morgue.<\/span><\/p>\n

A family\u2019s doubt about a woman\u2019s death<\/span><\/p>\n

When sheriff\u2019s deputies notified O\u2019Connell\u2019s family of her death, her mother Patty O\u2019Connell told \u201c20\/20,\u201d \u201cThey just said that she committed suicide, \u2018your daughter killed herself. She committed suicide.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The O\u2019Connell family found it hard to believe that Michelle O\u2019Connell, a single mom who worked multiple jobs to support Alexis, her 4-year-old daughter, would take her own life.<\/span><\/p>\n

In fact, Michelle O\u2019Connell had just landed her dream job at a day care center.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe said, ‘I’m going to the doctor and I’m not even sick, but I have insurance for once in my life,'” her boss Teresa Woodward remembered Michelle O\u2019Connell excitedly saying when she gave her the job. Her death came as a total shock to her.<\/span><\/p>\n

Michelle O\u2019Connell\u2019s brother Sean O\u2019Connell and her sister Chrissy O\u2019Connell were outraged when they realized that the sheriff\u2019s office had spent only a few hours investigating before calling her death a suicide.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe word suicide was thrown around right off the bat without any investigation,\u201d Chrissy O\u2019Connell told \u201c20\/20.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Two days after her death, medical examiner, Dr. Frederick Hobin, officially ruled Michelle\u2019s death a suicide and despite the family\u2019s initial efforts to have local authorities enlist an outside agency to investigate her death, St. Johns County Sheriff David Shoar told them he would not be doing that.<\/span><\/p>\n

Michelle O\u2019Connell\u2019s last hours<\/span><\/p>\n

Through various interviews, authorities constructed a timeline of the last hours of Michelle O\u2019Connell\u2019s life.<\/span><\/p>\n

Michelle O\u2019Connell and Banks attended a Paramore concert that night in 2010 at the St. Augustine Amphitheater, and Banks told detectives the two argued before, during and after the show.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t get along. We fight all the time. I mean, it\u2019s never, never bad fighting. It\u2019s always just arguing,\u201d Banks was recorded saying in an interview with St. Johns County sheriff\u2019s office detectives.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Chrissy O\u2019Connell, her sister wanted to break up with Banks, but decided to go to the show first since she already purchased the tickets in advance.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe said, in true Michelle fashion, \u2018I paid for the tickets. I\u2019m going. I\u2019m breaking up with him. I\u2019m starting my life over,\u2019\u201d Chrissy O\u2019Connell said. \u201cShe said, \u2018I\u2019ll be fine.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Michelle O\u2019Connell\u2019s brother was also seated with her and Banks at the concert and said Banks was \u201ckind of withdrawn\u201d during the show.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was like [to Banks], \u2018Hey, do you mind scooting over, if you’re not going to have fun at the concert with my sister, I’m definitely going to,\u2019\u201d Sean O\u2019Connell recalled.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hours before, Michelle and Chrissy O\u2019Connell had lunch, where Chrissy O\u2019Connell says her sister talked about looking for a new apartment and that she was breaking up with Banks.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis was kind of a culmination. I was concerned with all the violence and how the relationship had turned,\u201d Chrissy O\u2019Connell said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Her family says there had been whispers about verbal and physical abuse within their relationship from both sides.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe said, \u2018There’s going to be a fight because he’s going to want me to go out after the concert,\u2019\u201d Chrissy O\u2019Connell said. \u201cAnd I said, \u2018Don’t even go to the concert.\u2019 Because I knew Jeremy was rageful. I knew in my heart something was going to happen.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Chrissy O\u2019Connell was babysitting her sister\u2019s daughter Alexis while they were at the concert. During the show, Chrissy O\u2019Connell said her sister sent her text messages.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPromise me one thing. Lexi will be happy and always have a good life,\u201d Michelle O\u2019Connell said in a text message to Chrissy O\u2019Connell about her daughter.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPromise you what?\u201d Chrissy O\u2019Connell wrote back.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThat no matter what, Lexi will always be safe and loved,\u201d Michelle O\u2019Connell responded to her sister.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s going on? I\u2019m scared,\u201d Chrissy O\u2019Connell texted.<\/span><\/p>\n

By the end of the concert, Michelle O\u2019Connell texted her sister, \u201cI\u2019ll be there soon.\u201d But Michelle O\u2019Connell never picked up Alexis.<\/span><\/p>\n

Banks told detectives that on the way home from the amphitheater, \u201cShe said, \u2018I\u2019ll have my things out by this weekend.\u2019 And I said, \u2018Are we breaking up?\u2019 She said yes. And I was like, \u2018All right.\u2019 I raised my voice. She raised her voice. We argued. But when we got to the house, we were fine,\u201d Banks said in his interview with detectives.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Banks, Michelle O\u2019Connell was inside the house while he remained outside with two friends. At one point, Michelle O\u2019Connell went outside to retrieve a makeup bag from the car and quickly returned inside.<\/span><\/p>\n

After 10 to 20 minutes, Banks said his friends left and he sat alone in the garage when he heard the popping sound.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI knew exactly what it was. Just instinct and I just said, \u2018S—,\u2019 and I ran inside. I started screaming her name. The bedroom door was locked, and I screamed her name again,\u201d Banks told detectives. \u201cI heard it go off again a second time. I ran into the living room. I grabbed the phone. I kicked the bedroom door in and I found her laying where she is.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Inside the investigation into Michelle O\u2019Connell\u2019s death<\/span><\/p>\n

Debra Maynard, a former St. Johns County sheriff\u2019s deputy who was one of the first to arrive, questioned what she was hearing on the scene.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cImmediately, it was almost like they were taking Jeremy’s word that she shot herself at that point,\u201d Maynard said. \u201cWe were told it was a suicide. They automatically said it was a suicide, though we are trained to every scene is a homicide until proven otherwise. But they did immediately start calling it a suicide.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Maynard was later fired by the sheriff, reportedly for untruthfulness. She claims it was because the sheriff asked her to lie in an unrelated case and she refused.<\/span><\/p>\n

A later police interview with Banks revealed he had gained access to a report about the investigation.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve already read the report. I know I probably shouldn\u2019t have. I just wanted to know what went down on the other side,\u201d Banks told a detective.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some in the department later admitted to having doubts about what happened that night.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first walked into that room, the first thought that went through my mind was, \u2018This is not good for Jeremy,\u2019\u201d Sgt. Scott Beaver, who worked on the case, told investigators. \u201cI was in the homicide unit for a few years, and it didn\u2019t add up. But I didn\u2019t do more investigation into this.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Shoar, the St. Johns County Sheriff, would later acknowledge missteps were made by his department. Among them, deputies failed to canvas the neighborhood for witnesses, failed to interview the decedent\u2019s family members and failed to isolate, interview and photograph Banks in a structured environment.<\/span><\/p>\n

As for why Banks didn\u2019t take Michelle O\u2019Connell\u2019s pulse or perform lifesaving measures, his attorney Mac McLeod told \u201c20\/20,\u201d \u201cI don’t think his frame of mind was as a deputy at the time as I was saying. I think his frame of mind was completely shocked and freaked out.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Michelle O\u2019Connell\u2019s family insists she wasn\u2019t looking to take her own life.<\/span><\/p>\n

In her appointment book, found in the car, Michelle O\u2019Connell had signed up for CPR training for two days after her death. Michelle O\u2019Connell also had plans to meet with her friend Mindy Fox the night she died.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition, the pills found in her pocket at the time of her death were from Banks\u2019 prescription bottles, and none of the pills was found in her system. All the pills were accounted for.<\/span><\/p>\n

While the sheriff\u2019s department and Michelle\u2019s family are at odds over how she died, it is undeniable that she was killed with Banks\u2019 service weapon.<\/span><\/p>\n

When asked how Banks secured his firearms in the home, McLeod said, \u201cnot well.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think that the policy was to secure your firearm; which primarily for law enforcement officer means you put it in either a gun lock or in a secure place up higher so that children and things, and other people in the house can’t get to it. However, in practice, like other law enforcement officers, he came in, would take his gun belt off, and would place it on a chair or place it somewhere else,\u201d McLeod said.<\/span><\/p>\n

It took four months, but Shoar finally bowed to pressure from the family, knowing that his department\u2019s investigation had fallen short. He asked state investigators to take a fresh look at the case.<\/span><\/p>\n

A second look at the death of Michelle O\u2019Connell<\/span><\/p>\n

Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) investigator Rusty Rodgers was assigned to the case. In his investigation, he found something that the sheriff\u2019s department had not: Two women who say they heard two screams for help from a woman and two gunshots the night Michelle O\u2019Connell died.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe two girls heard her scream for help. If she was suicidal, if she was killing herself, she\u2019s not going to scream for help,\u201d Patty O\u2019Connell said.<\/span><\/p>\n

As to the two gunshots, Sheriff Shoar says it is not uncommon for some suicide victims to fire off a test shot before firing the fatal shot.<\/span><\/p>\n

Following his investigation, Rodgers presented his findings to the medical examiner, Dr. Hobin. According to a recording of an interview with Dr. Hobin by Jacksonville reporter Anne Schindler, Hobin came to believe that Michelle O\u2019Connell\u2019s death was \u201cprobably a homicide.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Hobin filled out an amended death certificate and listed homicide as the manner of death.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I said that, based on this, I would amend the autopsy and change the manner of death from suicide to homicide,\u201d Hobin said in the recording of his interview with Schindler. \u201cI did that, but just internally. I mean, I didn’t, I didn’t send it out, it wasn’t filed with anybody, wasn’t sent to the funeral director, wasn’t disclosed, anybody except the state attorney.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Hobin didn\u2019t officially file the amended death certificate, he told Schindler, because he was told to hold off by the state attorney while the investigation continued.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo we had people almost, almost close to doing the right thing, and then we have people above them that said, \u201cNo, we\u2019re gonna do it a little different.\u201d Patty O\u2019Connell said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hobin was later reprimanded by the state medical examiner’s office for keeping that document and others at his home rather than at the medical examiner\u2019s office.<\/span><\/p>\n

A new medical examiner, Dr. Predrag Bulic, was then consulted. Bulic believes Michelle O\u2019Connell\u2019s death was a suicide.<\/span><\/p>\n

In his investigation, Rodgers also called in a crime scene reconstructionist with four decades of experience, who performed a field test outside to try to see if Michelle shot herself or was shot by someone else, based on where the shell casings landed in his test. His conclusion: This was a homicide.<\/span><\/p>\n

Shoar and Banks fought back. Shoar penned a 152-page review of the case, which is mostly a positive assessment of his department. He ridiculed the field test over the fact it was done in an open field and didn\u2019t take into account the variables at the scene, such as walls, a ceiling, furniture and Michelle O\u2019Connell\u2019s extremities.<\/span><\/p>\n

Banks fought back in the form of filing a lawsuit against the FDLE and Rodgers for allegedly violating his civil rights. The case dragged on for years.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey did their own investigation,\u201d Sean O\u2019Connell said. \u201cThey investigated, their, themselves, and then later on they finally bring in FDLE, who paints this picture that it’s not jiving, it doesn’t look good, and they don’t like it. So they attack the FDLE agent and go after him hard, tooth and nail.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In the absence of evidence that Michelle O\u2019Connell\u2019s death was not by suicide, special prosecutor Brad King broke the news to the O\u2019Connells.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe calls us in for a meeting and basically says, \u2018There’s not enough evidence.\u2019 So our family was just pushed aside and this meeting was very hostile,\u201d Chrissy O\u2019Connell said. \u201cMy mom was devastated, and I think I’ve said before it was like the second worst day of my life. You know the first losing Michelle.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Michelle O\u2019Connell\u2019s body is exhumed<\/span><\/p>\n

Five and a half years after Michelle O\u2019Connell\u2019s death, her family had her body exhumed and got in touch with Dr. William Anderson, a forensic pathologist and former deputy chief medical examiner for Orange County, Florida. He was asked to examine the original autopsy report and to do a second autopsy.<\/span><\/p>\n

While examining the x-rays taken during Michelle O\u2019Connell\u2019s original autopsy, Anderson noticed there was another injury on her body.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we did the exhumation\u2026 the jawbone was in two pieces, so indicates there was a fracture,\u201d Anderson told \u201c20\/20.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

After Shoar learned of the exhumation, he issued a statement about the family, saying in part, \u201cMolesting Michelle from her place of rest using some freelance type approach is beyond unconventional. It was reprehensible.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEven if he doesn\u2019t agree with it, or whatever, he should in no way shape or form ever speak, public release, whatever to a family using those words ever,\u201d Sean O\u2019Connell said of Shoar\u2019s statement. \u201cIt really shows his character.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

“Despite rumors and statements to the contrary, we did this totally pro bono,\u201d Anderson said.<\/span><\/p>\n

News of the fracture brought into question the work of Hobin, the original medical examiner. Banks’ attorney Mac McLeod told “20\/20” that Hobin \u201cnoted mandibular separation. It\u2019s not in the autopsy report. It\u2019s in his field notes.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

But Anderson said the fact that was it was left out of the autopsy report was \u201cvery disturbing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBecause if everything else is very carefully described, and you leave out a major finding out of your report, it\u2019s not good practice,\u201d Anderson said of Hobin\u2019s omission of the fracture from the autopsy report.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s significant because Anderson said the fracture reveals how Michelle O\u2019Connell could have died.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe only explanation that I can see that’s reasonable is that, uh, there was another force, a blow to the chin that broke the mandible prior to the time the gunshot wound was inflicted,\u201d he said. \u201cIn my opinion, it was a homicide.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Banks has always denied hurting Michelle the night of her death and he has never been charged with a crime. He remains a sheriff\u2019s deputy with the St. Johns County office.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat the family wants to believe or what the theory \u2026 being proposed was\u2026 that she must have been hit really hard,\u201d Banks\u2019 attorney McLeod said, adding that there “was a problem with that” because no medical examiner “worth his salt … will tell you that in an intraoral gunshot wound, such as this, with a high-powered weapon that more often than not you expect to see mandibular separation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Anderson said it is possible in some cases that a shot could split the jaw, but he doesn’t believe that’s case with Michelle O\u2019Connell, based on the evidence he reviewed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a gunshot wound to the mouth that put a hole in the tongue but didn’t do any other damage to the teeth, to the gums, to the floor of the mouth, the very soft tissue that basically would’ve been destroyed if there had been enough force from that blast to break the jaw,\u201d Anderson said.<\/span><\/p>\n

McLeod argued against that, saying if O\u2019Connell had been hit, \u201cyou would see bruising. You would see abrasion. You\u2019d see something. There\u2019s nothing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Anderson said he had conducted about 8,000 to 9,000 autopsies over his career and “if you die quickly enough, you will not have bruising.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Having gotten the answers the family was looking for, Michelle O\u2019Connell\u2019s body was returned to her grave, but her death is still an open question for the family.<\/span><\/p>\n

Where the case of Michelle O\u2019Connell\u2019s death stands today<\/span><\/p>\n

Last year, the Florida Medical Examiners Commission reprimanded Hobin and Bulic after determining they had mishandled some of the components of the investigation.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c[Hobin] brought some material home and hadn\u2019t kept it, you know, in the medical examiner\u2019s office,\u201d reporter Anne Schindler said. \u201cBulic, I think, had just showed autopsy photos that he wasn\u2019t supposed to show to nonfamily members.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Hobin was also called out for his poor recordkeeping in failing to document the jawbone fracture in his autopsy report.<\/span><\/p>\n

The medical examiners and a states attorney declined to comment for this report.<\/span><\/p>\n

The sheriff’s office told “20\/20” in a statement that “this case has been extensively reviewed by numerous investigations” who “have continually ruled the death a suicide.”<\/span><\/p>\n

The latest development in the case is that just weeks ago, a judge found that FDLE agent Rusty Rodgers had probable cause to detain Banks for homicide and dismissed Banks\u2019 civil lawsuit in Rodgers\u2019 favor.<\/span><\/p>\n

The dismissal of the civil lawsuit has reinvigorated the O\u2019Connell family\u2019s quest for justice. Michelle O\u2019Connell\u2019s mother hopes that Gov. Rick Scott assigns a new special prosecutor.<\/span><\/p>\n

The governor\u2019s office told \u201c20\/20\u201d they will always listen to the O\u2019Connell family\u2019s concerns. The family is also crusading for a law that would prevent departments from investigating one of their own.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBecause they work together, and you know, they look out for each other. I just feel like something’s got to change,\u201d Sean O\u2019Connell said.<\/span><\/p>\n

McLeod said the case has ruined Banks\u2019 life.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHis neighbors that walk up and down the street at 2 [a.m.] at night and will scream at him, \u2018murderer,\u2019\u201d McLeod said.<\/span><\/p>\n

But Michelle O\u2019Connell\u2019s family said it\u2019s her daughter Alexis, now 12, who feels the biggest void.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou can’t grieve until you, um, get justice,\u2019 Patty O\u2019Connell said. \u201cYou have to have your justice. And it never goes away.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-http:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/US\/familys-battle-sheriff-prove-relative-killed\/story?id=54429754<\/span><\/p>\n

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