Over 250 cases in question after JCSO deputy fired for planting drug evidence

Rickey Stokes

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Posted by: RStokes
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Date: Sep 20 2018 1:35 PM

So far prosecutors have identified 10 cases that involved misconduct in which incarcerated people’s sentences will need to be vacated, and 15 pending cases that have or will be dismissed.

PANAMA CITY – Prosecutors are now reviewing more than 250 criminal cases involving Jackson County Sheriff’s Deputy Zachary Wester after video emerged in the past month of him planting drugs in a vehicle during a traffic stop.

Wester, 26, of Marianna, was fired Sept. 10 after more than two years as a patrol deputy with JCSO. His career is now under investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) after evidence arose that he’d planted drugs during a February traffic stop in Marianna. As that investigation proceeds, though, the 14th Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office is reviewing hundreds of cases to determine Wester’s role and whether any misconduct took place.

State Attorney Glenn Hess said his office has so far identified 263 cases in which Wester played a role, either as the lead officer, backup or an essential witness. So far prosecutors have identified 10 cases that involved misconduct in which incarcerated people’s sentences will need to be vacated, and 15 pending cases that have or will be dismissed. When FDLE concludes its investigation at an undetermined date, authorities will decide whether to pursue criminal charges against Wester.

“It’s speculation,” Hess said. “But if you’re accusing someone of planting drugs, they must have possessed drugs. And I don’t know of any provision in the law that authorizes a deputy to possess drugs outside of evidence they seize in the pursuit of an investigation.”

Hess said FDLE came to his office days ago to brief him and senior prosecutors about an investigation into Wester. During that briefing, Hess said he viewed a video and photographs from a traffic stop that resulted in the arrest of a woman on narcotics possession charges.

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