Saying the case “poses an important question,” Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office Friday filed a brief arguing the Florida Supreme Court should take up a case about whether a former Jackson County sheriff’s deputy should have been convicted on a racketeering charge related to planting drugs in vehicles during traffic stops. Moody’s office went to the Supreme Court after a divided panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal ruled that former Deputy Zachary Wester should not have been convicted of violating a law known as the Florida RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization) Act because he acted alone. The appeals court upheld Wester’s convictions on other charges related to planting drugs. In the brief Friday, Moody’s office pointed to potentially broader implications of the appeals-court ruling. “RICO is a critical tool in the fight both against organized crime and against individual perpetrators who infiltrate organizations and leverage them toward their criminal aims,” the brief said. “Individuals backed by the potentially enormous resources of a corporate or governmental entity — whether that organization is witting or unwitting — are far more dangerous than individuals acting alone. Yet the decision below (at the appeals court) hinders prosecutors’ ability to bring the full weight of the law to bear against that category of offender.” The appeals-court majority opinion, however, said RICO law was written to address organized crime and that applying it to criminals acting alone would create “unintended” results. “Here, there is no question that Wester was employed by or associated with the JCSO (Jackson County Sheriff’s Office),” Judge M. Kemmerly Thomas wrote in the majority opinion joined fully by Judge Joseph Lewis. “Further, it is undisputed that he used the office of sheriff to carry out his crimes. That is to say, his acts were ‘inextricably intertwined’ with his law enforcement duties and facilitated the prohibited acts. However, the evidence establishes that he acted alone and not in concert with any other individuals in the commission of the crimes ‘through’ a pattern of racketeering activity.”
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