Nov 2023. Blues Vol 39 No. 11

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who presided over Dial’s preliminary hearing, said she agreed with that argument when she moved to dismiss all charges against Dial last month. Prosecutors immediately appealed that decision, setting the stage for Wednesday’s hearing before Ransom. During the proceeding, Retacco said it was simply not true that Dial’s partner, Michael Morris, had yelled gun. At Dial’s preliminary hearing, she said, Morris repeatedly testified that he had warned Dial that Irizarry was holding a knife. It wasn’t until he was cross-examined by McMonagle that Morris said it was “fair” to suggest that an audio recording of the events made it sound as if someone had yelled gun before Dial opened fire. And in either case, Retacco said, such a critical factual dispute was not a matter to be decided at this early stage of the case. Former Lt. Philip Fairchild 50 The BLUES FORMER LIBERTY POLICE LIEUTENANT CHARGED WITH ABUSE OF OFFICIAL CAPACITY By Bluebonnet News LIBERTY COUNTY, TX. – Philip “Chip” Fairchild, a retired lieutenant for Liberty Police Department, is facing a charge of Abuse of Official Capacity. Fairchild surrendered Friday to authorities and was booked into the Liberty County Jail. He has since been released while the case works its way through the court system. According to sources close to the case, Fairchild is accused of running background checks for local businesses using software licenses owned by Liberty Police Department. Fairchild reportedly performed the background checks for pay an amount estimated to be between ,500 and ,000 based on the charge. The case is being investigated by the Texas Rangers. No other information is available at this time. FLA. DEPUTY SHOT IN HEAD DURING TRAFFIC STOP HOPES TO RECEIVE M IN LOST WAGES, MEDICAL BILLS. By Shira Moolten, South Florida Sun-Sentinel BROWARD COUNTY, FL. — Over sixteen years ago, Maury Hernandez was shot in the head while conducting a traffic stop on a man who was supposed to be in jail. This year’s legislative session will mark the former Broward Sheriff’s deputy’s fourth attempt to receive million in lost wages and medical bills from the state of Florida, and his supporters believe that he will succeed. “I really believe this is going to be the year,” said Matt Cowart, the BSO union president, who spoke on Hernandez’s behalf Saturday. “I can feel it from the dialogue with the legislature. I know we’re going to right this wrong after 16 years.” Though it’s often described as a miracle that Hernandez survived the shooting that day in 2007, his past efforts to receive compensation from the government have proved less miraculous. Hernandez has permanent brain damage and is partially paralyzed, but his insurance provider stopped paying for his medical treatments, according to Cowart. His workers’ compensation provider has filed a million lien against him. And though

Deputy Maury Hernandez, Broward County Sheriff Hernandez filed a lawsuit against the Department of Corrections after a BSO investigation found that the department was at fault, a judge decided that he could not receive the compensation he requested due to sovereign immunity. “It feels like you’re being betrayed,” Hernandez said in an interview with the Orlando Sentinel last April. “Other government agencies are supposed to be in your corner, not against you.” Hernandez’ past attempts to get a claim bill through the legislature failed because of a legal technicality, Cowart said. Last session, he tried to file a regular claim bill, but that kind of bill requires a previous legal judgment or settlement to go before a special master, who then passes it on to committee. A spokesperson for Senate President Kathleen Passidomo said at the time that the bill “does not meet the requirements for evaluation by a special master because there was no legal finding of negligence for the special master to evaluate, nor a settlement or proposed settlement to consider.” This year, Hernandez is filing an equitable claim bill, which seeks to receive “legislative grace.” Cowart described it as compensation that originates more out of a moral, rather than legal, obligation. These types of claim bills are rare, but Hernandez’s supporters are optimistic. Cowart and Hernandez have met with legislators across Broward and the rest of the state, from both sides of the aisle. They just returned from spending three days in Tallahassee. State Rep. Alex Rizo, the bill’s sponsor in the House, said that the union, IUPA, has “brought this issue, I believe, before every single member of the House.” The bill hinges on the argument that Hernandez should never have been shot, had the state Department of Corrections done its job. Hernandez, 28 at the time, was on his way to investigate a robbery when he saw the shooter, David Maldonado, run a stop sign on a motorcycle in Pembroke Park. When Hernandez pulled him over, Maldonado falsely identified himself as a police officer, then pushed him and ran away. During a foot chase, he turned around and shot at Hernandez twice. One of the bullets struck him in the head. Maldonado was on probation at this time and told his rookie probation officer that he was allowed to carry a gun because he was an armed security guard, Cowart said. He was not. The Miramar man was later found guilty of attempted murder. The BSO investigation found that the Department of Corrections had notified the state attorney’s office of repeated violations of Maldonado’s probation that should have put him in jail when Hernandez pulled him over that day. “If the DOC, if that person who’s a parole officer made that mistake and this is a result of that mistake, then it should be an act of legislative grace that we say, ‘that’s fine,’” Rizzo said. Added to the fact that Maldonado should have been in jail is the fact that he should not have had a gun when Hernandez pulled him over. Lance Block, Hernandez’s attorney of the last 16 years, said he would have rather gone the regular claim bill route, but “equitable remedies have passed in Florida before. And this is one that really calls out for justice.” “The wrongful act by DOC here is so egregious that it really can’t be ignored,” he added. “This is more than just simple negligence.” Hernandez was in a coma for three weeks after the shooting. Now, the entire left side of his body has muscle weakness and The BLUES 51