Subject: Gaston Depo of May 15, 2001
Date: Thu, 24 May 2001 17:24:23 -0400
Organization: The Lisa McPherson Trust, Inc., 33 North Fort Harrison Avenue, Clearwater, Florida 33755 Telephone: (727) 467-9335
Message-ID: <iruqgtoue4g46mi3ai2lc8sced1d76iqj0@4ax.com>
1 IN THE COUNTY COURT FOR PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA Criminal Division E ------------------------x CASE NO. CTC 01-00101-MMANO : POSSESSION OF MARIJUANA STATE OF FLORIDA :
:
vs. :
:
JESSE Prince :
SPN 02157727 :
:
------------------------x DEPONENT: MR. BARRY GASTON DATE: May 15, 2001 TIME: 3:10 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
LOCATION: Criminal Justice Center 14250 49th Street North Room 1100 Clearwater, FL 33762 REPORTER: Crissy Cladakis Stenographic Reporter Notary Public State of Florida at Large ---------------------------------------------------- D & D REPORTING SERVICE 915 Chestnut Street Clearwater, FL 33756 (727) 468-2002 2 APPEARANCES:
For the State: LYDIA WARDELL, ESQUIRE Assistant State Attorney 14250 49th Street North Clearwater, FL 33760 For Jesse Prince: DENIS M. de VLAMING, ESQUIRE Denis M. de Vlaming, P.A.
1101 Turner Street Clearwater, FL 33756 For Brian Raftery: PAUL DUVAL JOHNSON, ESQUIRE 101 South Franklin Street Suite 101 Tampa, FL 33602 For Moxon & Kobrin: HELENA K. KOBRIN, ESQUIRE Moxon & Kobrin 1100 Cleveland Street Suite 900 Clearwater, FL 33755 I N D E X Direct Examination by Mr. de Vlaming ............ 3 Cross-Examination by Mrs. Wardell ............... 81 Redirect Examination by Mr. de Vlaming .......... 98 Re-Cross Examination by Mrs. Wardell ............ 99 3 1 BARRY GASTON, 2 WAS CALLED AND AFTER BEING DULY SWORN WAS EXAMINED AND 3 TESTIFIED AS FOLLOWS:
4 5 DIRECT EXAMINATION 6 BY MR. de VLAMING:
7 Q. State your name, please.
8 A. Barry Gaston, Senior.
9 Q. Mr. Senior -- Mr. Gaston, before we begin, 10 have you been made aware that the Court has issued a 11 ruling to abrogate or set aside or waive the private 12 investigative privilege in this case?
13 A. I am.
14 Q. What do you do for a living?
15 A. I'm a private investigator.
16 Q. And where are your offices?
17 A. My office in is Lake Wales.
18 Q. And what's the address of your office?
19 A. The address, the physical address, is 708 20 Delmar Street, Lake Wales, Florida. Area code -- Zip 21 Code, 33853.
22 Q. And what's the phone number over there?
23 A. Area code 863, 678-1235.
24 Q. And do you have any past law enforcement 25 experience?
4 1 A. I have 14 years past law enforcement 2 experience.
3 Q. Doing what?
4 A. As a police officer, I spent nine years, 5 approximately. And I worked for the Sheriff's Office 6 in Polk County as a correctional officer for 7 four-and-a-half years, almost five.
8 Q. And how long have you been in the private 9 investigative business?
10 A. For three years, almost.
11 Q. And is that your primary source of income?
12 A. Yes.
13 Q. And do you have any other investigators 14 working for you on staff?
15 A. No.
16 Q. Okay. You either man the phones yourself or 17 your family does it or what have you, or do you have 18 someone who answers your phone?
19 A. My wife assists.
20 Q. Mr. Gaston, did the phone ring about a year 21 or so ago in connection with being involved in what 22 has, ultimately, become the State of Florida versus 23 Jesse Prince?
24 A. Yes.
25 Q. And who contacted you, initially?
5 1 A. Joseph Fabrizio.
2 Q. And what did Mr. Fabrizio say he was?
3 A. Mr. Fabrizio is a private investigator. He 4 owns a private investigative agency in -- I think it's 5 Tarpon Springs.
6 Q. And did he identify himself as a private 7 investigator and want, potentially, your services?
8 A. Yes.
9 Q. Okay. What did he tell you he wanted to hire 10 you to do?
11 A. He hired me -- he was looking for someone who 12 would be bilingual, someone who is African American, 13 and he would like for me to consider standing in a 14 place to watch a certain individual or individuals and 15 just to listen.
16 Q. For what purpose? To hear what they had to 17 say?
18 A. At the time, he didn't tell me.
19 Q. Basically, some form of surveillance work he 20 wanted you to do?
21 A. Definitely surveillance.
22 Q. Okay. And did he tell you where he wanted 23 you to do this?
24 A. Not at that time.
25 Q. Did you tell him that you were interested in 6 1 the work?
2 A. Yes.
3 Q. Tell me when you -- did you ultimately meet 4 with Mr. Fabrizio?
5 A. I did.
6 Q. And where did you meet?
7 A. In Clearwater.
8 Q. So you came over there for the -- came over 9 here for the purpose of interviewing and finding out 10 what the job was about?
11 A. Yes.
12 Q. In relation to the investigation, when was 13 that initial, first meeting?
14 A. It was early February.
15 Q. Where did you meet in Clearwater?
16 A. I believe it was at Perkins Restaurant.
17 Q. Was he alone?
18 A. No. He was with Jim Ley.
19 Q. L-e-y?
20 A. Yes.
21 Q. Who was Jim Ley?
22 A. He was another private investigator that was 23 considered to be working.
24 Q. What do you mean "considered to be working"?
25 A. He didn't stick with us long.
7 1 Q. Oh, he was going to work the job with you, 2 you mean?
3 A. Yes. He was going to help with surveillance.
4 Q. But he didn't pan out? He didn't stay?
5 A. Well, he didn't -- he was released within the 6 first week of the investigation.
7 Q. Why?
8 A. I have no idea. They didn't elaborate with 9 me.
10 Q. But you were told, ultimately, you would be 11 working alone, then?
12 A. Joe Fabrizio was still considered to be my 13 employer at the time.
14 Q. And was Mr. Ley an African American?
15 A. No.
16 Q. What was explained to you what you were going 17 to do once you got into Clearwater? What were your 18 duties going to be?
19 A. Once I got in and we discussed the case, we 20 discussed that there was an individual or -- some -- 21 some individuals that were to be watched and to be 22 monitored, their activities. And the consensus was on 23 a possibility of immoral activities and the 24 possibility of illegal activities.
25 Q. Did they tell you what they suspected?
8 1 MRS. KOBRIN: I'm going to object on work 2 product.
3 BY MR. de VLAMING:
4 Q. Well, you just said to monitor for illegal 5 activities. What kind of illegal activities?
6 MR. JOHNSON: Same objection? Is there an 7 instruction with that?
8 MR. de VLAMING: What?
9 MR. JOHNSON: Well, it's one thing to object, 10 and it's another thing to object and instruct the 11 witness not to answer.
12 MRS. KOBRIN: Well, to the extent that 13 anything you were told reflects the thoughts of an 14 attorney or what an attorney -- 15 MR. de VLAMING: I'll rephrase it, based on 16 that.
17 BY MR. de VLAMING:
18 Q. I don't want to know what other people 19 thought. I want to know what you were told to do, 20 what were your duties. And you said to look for 21 either immoral activities or illegal activities, 22 correct?
23 A. My duty -- 24 MR. JOHNSON: I can tell you this regarding 25 the illegal activity, some related to this witness are 9 1 beyond the scope of this particular case. To that 2 extent and since the Judge, so far, has upheld his 3 rulings, stayed consistent with it, if there's 4 something relating to the possession of drugs, I would 5 allow the witness to answer. I think it's beyond the 6 scope if there were other illegal activities beyond 7 drug work.
8 MR. de VLAMING:
9 Q. Okay. I want to know what you were told to 10 do. So why don't you tell us what you were told to 11 do.
12 MR. JOHNSON: I'm instructing you just to 13 answer as it relates to drug work.
14 MR. de VLAMING:
15 Q. Yeah, as it relates to Jesse Prince during 16 this time period.
17 A. At this time period, there was no drug 18 concern.
19 Q. Well, then what were your activities to 20 involve concerning Jesse Prince?
21 A. Surveillance.
22 Q. To see if there were any illegal activities 23 or immoral activities going on and report back to 24 somebody?
25 A. Yes, to report back to Joe Fabrizio.
10 1 Q. Okay. So if during your surveillance you saw 2 any immoral or illegal activities, you would report 3 back to Joe Fabrizio?
4 A. Yes.
5 Q. Did Mr. Fabrizio tell you who he was working 6 for?
7 A. No.
8 Q. Do you know who he was working for?
9 A. Do I or did I?
10 Q. Well, did you?
11 A. No.
12 Q. Do you?
13 A. I do now.
14 Q. Who?
15 MR. JOHNSON: Again, if that comes from me, 16 it's attorney-client privilege, that knowledge, and 17 you can refuse to answer on that basis.
18 MR. de VLAMING:
19 Q. During the course of your investigation 20 before -- at any time before the arrest of Jesse 21 Prince, did you realize that The Church of Scientology 22 was behind this investigation or in any way paying 23 your salary?
24 MRS. WARDELL: Well, so long as you didn't 25 learn that from an attorney, from your attorney.
11 1 MR. JOHNSON: No. I was not involved 2 until -- 3 MR. de VLAMING: No, he wasn't involved.
4 MRS. WARDELL: Why is he objecting to it?
5 MRS. KOBRIN: And I'm going to object, also, 6 to the extent that he was told that by someone from my 7 firm or someone working closely with my firm.
8 MR. de VLAMING: Okay. Well, let's get the 9 answer first, and then we'll find out if it was a 10 lawyer that did it.
11 MR. de VLAMING:
12 Q. Did you become aware that The Church of 13 Scientology was the entity that was hiring you?
14 MR. JOHNSON: Objection, because that's the 15 substance of what we're objecting to. So you can ask, 16 were you, in fact, told. And the answer is yes or no.
17 And then, what was the substance. And that's what's 18 objectionable, is the substance of the conversation.
19 MR. de VLAMING: All right.
20 MR. JOHNSON: You're asking for the cart 21 before the horse.
22 MR. De VLAMING:
23 Q. Were you ever told that The Church of 24 Scientology was the entity that was paying your 25 salary?
12 1 MR. JOHNSON: I'm -- 2 MR. De VLAMING: It would be either yes or 3 no.
4 MR. JOHNSON: I'm not objecting to were you 5 ever told who was paying your salary. Ultimately, 6 that's fine. And then who was -- who were you told, 7 and that -- if it came from me, then I object on my 8 attorney-client privilege. And I assume Mrs. Kobrin 9 is objecting if -- 10 MRS. KOBRIN: As work product.
11 MR. JOHNSON: -- if it came from Fabrizio or 12 from her, since she's already identified Fabrizio as 13 working for her.
14 MRS. KOBRIN: And I'm also going to object 15 that it states facts that are not in evidence.
16 MRS. WARDELL: How about: Did it ever come 17 to your attention that Scientology may be involved 18 with this?
19 MR. de VLAMING: I'll take that.
20 MR. JOHNSON: Again, my objections are the 21 same. If it came from me -- 22 MRS. WARDELL: Well, first of all, did it 23 ever come to your attention that Scientology may be 24 involved?
25 MR. JOHNSON: If I -- again, I object. And 13 1 ask him not to answer.
2 MRS. WARDELL: Well, that's a yes or no. And 3 then if he did -- 4 MR. JOHNSON: Right. That's the substance of 5 the conversation -- that's the substance of the 6 telling. That's what you can't say. You can ask, 7 were you ever told -- 8 MRS. WARDELL: Well, that's -- 9 MR. JOHNSON: -- where the source of the 10 money was -- of your funding was, and that's a yes or 11 a no.
12 BY MR. de VLAMING:
13 Q. All right. Were you ever told the entity 14 behind the hiring of you and paying your salary? Were 15 you ever told, yes or no?
16 A. Will you repeat that?
17 Q. Yes. Were you ever told who was paying your 18 salary? Who was the actual client? We understand 19 Fabrizio was the private investigator. But who the 20 actually client was, just -- you don't have to say who 21 it was, but yes or no you were told?
22 MR. JOHNSON: Do you mean client or source of 23 funds? Those are terms of art.
24 MR. De VLAMING: Let's try source of funds.
25 Let's try that one.
14 1 THE DEPONENT: My direct source of funds was 2 Joe Fabrizio.
3 BY MR. De VLAMING:
4 Q. Okay. And were you ever told who the actual 5 client was that had hired Mr. Fabrizio, yes or no?
6 MR. JOHNSON: Or source of the funds.
7 MR. De VLAMING: Right.
8 A. Yes.
9 BY MR. De VLAMING:
10 Q. Did you learn -- did you learn the source of 11 that from a lawyer?
12 A. No.
13 Q. Did you learn it from someone other than Mr.
14 Fabrizio?
15 A. No.
16 Q. You learned it from Mr. Fabrizio?
17 A. Yes.
18 Q. Okay. So it was Mr. Fabrizio that told you 19 who the actual client was that was hiring him and who, 20 thereafter, hired you?
21 A. Correct.
22 Q. Do you know how to get a hold of Fabrizio?
23 A. Yes.
24 Q. Do you have a number for him?
25 A. Not offhand.
15 1 Q. Okay. Would you have that back at your 2 office?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. Is he a private investigator here in the 5 Clearwater area?
6 A. Largo -- Tarpon Springs.
7 Q. Okay. So I take it, it was Mr. Fabrizio who 8 was giving you the scope of your employment?
9 A. Correct.
10 Q. And was he the one that had mentioned the 11 name "Jesse Prince"?
12 A. Yes.
13 Q. And did he say that that's the person who 14 you're going to surveil to determine if there's any 15 immoral or illegal activities?
16 A. Yes.
17 Q. Did he tell you how you were going to go 18 about surveilling Mr. Prince?
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. And what did he tell you?
21 A. He told me locations that he is knowledgable 22 of that Mr. Prince frequents; high-crime areas, 23 high-drug areas. And he wanted me to be in those 24 areas to see if and when he shows up and to conduct 25 surveillance from that point of him.
16 1 Q. Were you to work in conjunction with another 2 private investigator so that you could get some leads 3 as to where Prince might be?
4 A. Not I.
5 Q. Well, how were you going to determine where 6 he was so you could surveil him in these areas?
7 A. I went to the locations that were given to me 8 on many days prior to ever even seeing him.
9 Q. Were there times that you sat in surveillance 10 and never saw Mr. Prince?
11 A. Many times.
12 Q. How many surveillances would you say you sat 13 on before you were able to see Mr. Prince?
14 A. At first, it was approximately five days to 15 four days a week for approximately three, maybe even 16 four weeks, even more, maybe. That was broken down to 17 just trying weekends.
18 Q. So on how many days would you say that you 19 put in before you were able to see Mr. Prince and 20 conduct your first surveillance?
21 A. I'd estimate 25 to 30.
22 Q. Were you shown a photograph of Jesse Prince 23 so that you could identify him?
24 A. Yes.
25 Q. Who showed you the photograph?
17 1 A. Joe Fabrizio.
2 Q. And what did the photograph depict? Just a 3 face or a whole body?
4 A. Just his facial image.
5 Q. And was he with his family or was he by 6 himself?
7 A. Just him as an individual.
8 Q. Did you keep the photograph or just look at 9 it? Did you keep the photograph with you so you could 10 match it up or did you look at it and give it back?
11 A. No, I just looked at it. I didn't keep it 12 with me.
13 Q. Did Fabrizio take it back? Does he have it?
14 A. Does he have the photograph? It was a flyer, 15 a page sheet about the size of a subpoena's document.
16 And he may have a copy of it. I don't know.
17 Q. Do you know what -- was it a photograph taken 18 for a certain purpose?
19 A. For me to identify him.
20 Q. But I mean, was it, like, a family 21 photograph?
22 A. No, no.
23 Q. Did the flyer have any writing on it or was 24 it just a picture?
25 A. I don't remember. I remember the photograph 18 1 and the face.
2 Q. Color or black and white?
3 A. Color.
4 Q. Okay. After the amount of surveillance time 5 that you put in, you finally were able to, you know, 6 locate him or see him. Where was that location?
7 A. The first time I ever saw him was at Wilson's 8 Lounge in Clearwater. It may be Largo. I'm not sure.
9 It was on -- is it Belcher?
10 Q. Missouri maybe? Missouri Avenue or Belcher?
11 A. Belcher.
12 Q. Okay.
13 A. And -- 14 Q. Let me interrupt you.
15 Were you told that that's one of the places 16 that he and his fiancee go to?
17 A. I was told that he has been seen there.
18 Q. Who told you that?
19 A. Joe Fabrizio.
20 Q. Did you ever receive any information from a 21 fellow by the name of Brian Raftery?
22 A. Yes.
23 Q. And did he tell you anything about Jesse 24 Prince, as it related to this investigation?
25 A. Well, the investigation began. I saw him.
19 1 He spoke to me briefly. And he said that he wanted us 2 to make sure that everything was done by the book;
3 that if we made contact with Jesse Prince by visual 4 and if we could do surveillance on him, he wanted us 5 to just watch him. He was standing there with Joe 6 Fabrizio, myself and Jim Ley. And he told us that -- 7 and we also told him that we wouldn't do anything 8 unethical or illegal in this investigation.
9 Raftery said, "I wouldn't have it any other 10 way." And he said if it got to the point where 11 anything illegal was occurring, that we would contact 12 law enforcement. Because I was not going to risk my 13 license getting involved unless law enforcement was 14 going to be getting involved somewhere down that line, 15 and he agreed. And that's what he wanted. That's 16 what he told me.
17 Q. Did he ever provide information concerning 18 Mr. Prince's whereabouts during the course of the 19 investigation?
20 A. Not to me.
21 Q. You don't recall taking any calls from Mr.
22 Raftery -- 23 A. I never took calls from Mr. Raftery during 24 the course of the investigation. It was -- it was Mr.
25 Fabrizio who would get those calls in the beginning.
20 1 Q. Who called you after the arrest? Somebody 2 kept calling you wanting you to check out whether 3 Mr. Prince has been charged and so forth. Who was 4 that?
5 A. After the arrest?
6 Q. Right.
7 A. I was in contact with Raftery then.
8 Q. Okay. When you say you were "in contact,"
9 would you call him or would he call you?
10 A. Well, sometimes both.
11 Q. And what did he want?
12 A. He wanted to know had I heard anything about 13 the case. And I would want to know the same.
14 Q. Did he ask you to check with the State 15 Attorney's Office to find out whether they filed a 16 charge or what charge they filed?
17 A. No. He asked me to make contact with the 18 officer I was working with.
19 Q. Crosby?
20 A. Yes.
21 Q. And did you?
22 A. Yes.
23 Q. What did you ask him?
24 A. I asked him where we were on the case.
25 Q. And what did he say?
21 1 A. At different times that I talked to him -- 2 there was a time when he would tell me that there was 3 -- he has to go -- he has to make contact, again, in 4 order to verify -- his supervisor would give him 5 instruction on certain things that he could and could 6 not do and what he could do.
7 Q. We're talking about after the arrest, now, 8 right?
9 A. Oh, after the arrest. Forgive me.
10 Q. After the arrest.
11 A. After the arrest, he would update me on -- 12 wait a minute. After the arrest, I had very little 13 contact with Howard Crosby. I tried, but Howard 14 Crosby was on vacation sometimes. Other times, he was 15 injured and was on light duty. He was transferring 16 his position from what he was working to, I think, a 17 sergeant on the patrol unit. He was very difficult 18 for me to reach.
19 Q. So you don't recall talking to Detective 20 Crosby after the arrest to find out the status of the 21 prosecution?
22 A. I did, but not immediately. Later on, I 23 spoke to him. I'm trying to think of whether he 24 called me after the arrest was made or I called him.
25 I'm not sure. But one of us called each other after 22 1 the arrest was made.
2 Q. Did someone ask you to call to find that out?
3 (Subpoena delivery interruption.)
4 (At this time there was a discussion 5 off the record.)
6 BY MR. de VLAMING:
7 Q. Did anyone ask you to call Detective Crosby 8 after the arrest to find out the status of the 9 prosecution?
10 A. Brian may have asked me -- Brian Raftery may 11 have asked me. It was -- it's so foggy to me. It was 12 a long time ago. Brian may have asked me to call and 13 check and see the status of the case and to let him 14 know. But I do know that I would call him, from time 15 to time, to ask him the status, because I didn't know.
16 Q. Did you ever get annoyed, after the case 17 resulted in an arrest, by the number of calls you were 18 getting by people who wanted to find out the status of 19 the case, even though your job had been completed?
20 A. No.
21 Q. Never got annoyed with those calls?
22 A. I don't remember getting a lot of those 23 calls.
24 Q. Okay. So the first time you saw Mr. Prince, 25 then, was in Wilson's Lounge on Belcher Road. And 23 1 what was he doing?
2 A. He was with his girlfriend, Dee. And they 3 were towards the back -- they walked to the back of 4 the bar. They sat alone and started necking.
5 Q. And what did you do? Did you surveil them?
6 A. Out of the corner of my eye.
7 Q. And anything illegal going on?
8 A. Nothing.
9 Q. Anything immoral going on?
10 A. No.
11 Q. Did you end up meeting Mr. Prince that night?
12 A. On the way out the door, he stopped and spoke 13 to me, shook my hand and introduced himself.
14 Q. Was he friendly towards you?
15 A. Very.
16 Q. Were you standing by a bar or by the pool 17 table or what?
18 A. I was watching the Florida Gators play 19 basketball. It was a championship game. I remember.
20 Q. And you were positioned somewhat near the 21 door that he had to walk by or what have you?
22 A. Yes.
23 Q. And did you greet him as well?
24 A. Oh, yes.
25 Q. Did you exchange names?
24 1 A. Yes.
2 Q. What name did you use?
3 A. Rinzy Trinidad.
4 Q. Okay. Who was Rinzy Trinidad?
5 A. It was me.
6 Q. Does that have -- is that a fake name?
7 A. Yes.
8 Q. Did you ever use that name in the past?
9 A. No.
10 Q. Did you ever use it as an undercover name 11 when you were a cop?
12 A. No.
13 Q. Did you make it up for this case?
14 A. Yes.
15 Q. Did someone give you the name?
16 A. I made it up.
17 Q. Okay. And did the conversation or the 18 greeting last any appreciable length of time or was it 19 very short?
20 A. It was pretty much brief; shook hands, 21 introduced, good to meet you, in and out.
22 Q. He didn't say where he lived? You didn't say 23 where you lived?
24 A. No.
25 Q. You just gave each other's names and said, 25 1 hey, how are you doing, my name is this?
2 A. Yes, sir.
3 Q. Okay. How much time went by before you saw 4 him a second time?
5 A. I guess it was -- I don't think it was much 6 more than a week.
7 Q. Where did you meet him the second time?
8 A. The same location.
9 Q. Did anybody tell you he would be there on the 10 date that you met him on the second time?
11 A. No.
12 Q. In other words, you just took a chance of 13 being there and he came in?
14 A. Yes.
15 Q. Were there any unsuccessful times that you 16 went before that?
17 A. Yes.
18 Q. And he didn't show up?
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. About -- 21 A. Several -- many of those.
22 Q. But, I mean, from the time that you met him, 23 the first time, until the second time, were there 24 times in between where you went and didn't see him?
25 A. Possibly. I don't recall. But my -- I went 26 1 -- I would go, whether he was there or not. Part of 2 -- part of my surveillance was to get to know my area.
3 Q. Did you see any drugs being sold in Wilson's 4 Liquor Store?
5 A. During that day? Prior -- what time period 6 are we talking about?
7 Q. Anytime you were in that store.
8 MR. JOHNSON: You're talking inside?
9 BY MR. de VLAMING:
10 Q. Right.
11 A. No. I didn't see any inside.
12 Q. Outside?
13 A. Sold?
14 Q. Sold or bought.
15 A. No.
16 Q. Did you see any drugs used inside?
17 A. No.
18 Q. How about outside?
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. Okay. Tell me about drugs that you saw used 21 outside.
22 A. It was a day some time in, I believe, April.
23 Jesse and Dee were outside smoking marijuana in a car.
24 And they were -- this time it was the tan-colored 25 Buick. And there were several young people there. It 27 1 was on a weekend, and they were smoking marijuana with 2 them. And there came a point in time when Jesse and 3 Dee got into the car with a group of young people, 4 about three other young people, and drove completely 5 around the building and then came back around to the 6 front later on. I was still at the lounge. And I 7 asked Dee, "Where you guys were going?" And she said, 8 "We just have some business to take care of."
9 When they came back, they stayed in the 10 parking lot. They were smoking marijuana. Dee had a 11 pipe. And my experience -- my experience, the smell I 12 smelled was of a urine-type of smell and that 13 indicated, to me, crack.
14 Q. And where did you smell that?
15 A. Coming from the car.
16 Q. Did you smell any marijuana coming from the 17 car?
18 A. Oh, it was billowing with marijuana smoke.
19 Q. But you could smell urine through the 20 marijuana smoke?
21 A. Yes. When you walk up to the car and speak 22 to people, you can tell the difference between 23 marijuana and crack.
24 And so I couldn't identify exactly what Jesse 25 had, but he was leaning down onto a piece of paper.
28 1 And it could have indicated a couple of things to me, 2 but I didn't see exactly what was there. But I do 3 know that they were smoking marijuana. And I did 4 recognize the scent of -- what I recognized as crack.
5 Q. Do you know who was smoking crack?
6 A. It looked to me like Dee was.
7 Q. And how many people were in the car?
8 A. There were three people in the back and two 9 in the front.
10 Q. Did you ever get a close look at the pipe?
11 A. It was very dark. I didn't get a very good 12 look at the pipe.
13 Q. So you can't swear whether it was a crack 14 pipe or a marijuana pipe?
15 A. All I know is it was a pipe.
16 Q. Okay.
17 A. And it was lit.
18 Q. Were you invited into the car at all?
19 A. No. The car was full.
20 Q. Did you ever smoke marijuana with Jesse 21 Prince?
22 (At this time there was a discussion 23 off the record.)
24 MR. de VLAMING:
25 Q. While we're on the subject, give me a time 29 1 frame on this Wilson's Liquor incident where they were 2 in the car and you smelled marijuana and the 3 urine-type of a smell. Do you remember about when 4 that was?
5 A. I think that was towards the middle of the 6 month.
7 Q. Of?
8 A. April.
9 Q. And you had met him only one time before that 10 time, and that's the time you greeted each other?
11 A. I had -- I had possibly met him twice before 12 then, been with him twice before then.
13 Q. Okay.
14 MR. de VLAMING: Do you want to follow up?
15 MRS. WARDELL: Yeah.
16 BY MRS. WARDELL:
17 Q. Where were you when you were able to observe 18 this?
19 A. Standing in the parking lot.
20 Q. Okay. And you had mentioned that you asked 21 Dee where they were going before they went out?
22 A. Yes.
23 Q. Tell us about how you had formed a 24 relationship well enough that you could ask this 25 random person where she was going, and she felt like 30 1 she could give you the answer.
2 A. Jesse and Dee drank a lot of alcohol. They 3 drank a lot of alcohol through the whole time that -- 4 every day that I saw them, they were partially or 5 total intoxicated prior to even pulling out any 6 marijuana. Dee was easier to talk to about details 7 than Jesse was.
8 I was -- I had truly no intentions of holding 9 any conversation with either one of them from the 10 beginning of the investigation. But they made it so 11 that I had to keep my cover; and therefore, 12 involvement was necessary. So at that point, I made a 13 point to get as much information as I could about the 14 two of them.
15 She was talkative to me a lot. There was a 16 time when she talked to me and Jesse told her to keep 17 her mouth shut.
18 Q. So had you actually been to their house prior 19 to this event at Wilson's that you were talking about?
20 A. Not yet.
21 Q. Not yet. But basically, you had chummed up 22 in the bar and you were talking like, hey, where are 23 you going now, and she said, I've got some business, 24 I'll be back?
25 A. Yes.
31 1 Q. What made you follow them outside?
2 A. I saw a whole lot of the young people getting 3 in the car with them. They were all white. They were 4 all, probably, in their early 20's, maybe a little bit 5 younger. And my curiosity was, "What are these young 6 people going to do with these old people?"
7 Q. How did you keep from tipping them off, if 8 you will? Why did they think you were following them 9 out?
10 A. Because I led them to believe that I was 11 going to be interested in hanging with them, too, 12 outside. We were talking consistently.
13 Q. So they knew -- it wasn't like you were 14 watching them secretly; they knew you were there?
15 A. Yes. Oh, yes.
16 Q. Okay. That's the part I didn't quite 17 understand.
18 A. Oh, yes. We had been talking to each other 19 all along prior to them going to the car.
20 Q. So you were pretty close to the car?
21 A. I was as close as this desk is, this table 22 is.
23 Q. And you had mentioned that they drove around, 24 I thought you said, to the back. Where were you 25 during that?
32 1 A. I was in Wilson's Liquor Store when they got 2 into the car, when they finally got into the car and 3 drove around. The reason I was able to get up to the 4 car was because I walked out and wanted to know where 5 they went. I wanted to know, you know, did they 6 leave, did they -- are they coming back. So I looked 7 around the parking lot, and I noticed they were still 8 driving around the parking lot. They were driving 9 back to the -- a parking space in the center of the 10 lot in front of Wilson's. And at that point, I walked 11 up to the car.
12 Q. So there was no attempt to hide what they 13 were doing in front of you?
14 A. No.
15 Q. Do you remember what time of day this was?
16 A. It was late. It was night.
17 Q. Did they -- 18 A. It was probably about eleven to midnight.
19 Q. And at this particularly junction, did they 20 offer you anything?
21 MRS. WARDELL: Or do you want to pick up from 22 here?
23 MR. de VLAMING: Yeah.
24 BY MR. de VLAMING:
25 Q. Did you have any conversation concerning 33 1 drugs before this particular night where you watched 2 them get in the car and you could smell the marijuana?
3 A. I don't think so, no.
4 Q. So to you, they were a stranger, did not talk 5 about drugs, and you were standing closer than you and 6 I in this room to them smoking drugs?
7 A. That's correct.
8 Q. Okay.
9 A. I wasn't a stranger to them at the time.
10 They didn't think I was a stranger.
11 Q. But you didn't talk drugs with them?
12 A. No.
13 Q. Didn't smoke drugs with them at that time?
14 A. No.
15 Q. Did you smoke drugs or marijuana with them 16 after that time?
17 A. Yes.
18 Q. With Mr. Prince?
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. And with his fiancee?
21 A. Yes.
22 Q. And what location?
23 MR. JOHNSON: Would you define what you mean 24 by "smoke marijuana"?
25 MR. de VLAMING:
34 1 Q. Did you ever smoke marijuana?
2 MR. JOHNSON: Well, you're talking about 3 related to this case or any time?
4 MR. de VLAMING: I'm laying a predicate.
5 MR. JOHNSON: Well, that would be for 404(B), 6 if someone ever smoked marijuana. If you're relating 7 it, specifically, to this case, I'm asking you, for a 8 very specific purpose, what you mean by "smoke 9 marijuana." Do you mean simulate smoke, it actually 10 hits your lungs, you know, what, intentionally 11 bringing it into your lungs, from, you know, what?
12 MR. de VLAMING: You mean a "Clinton"?
13 MR. JOHNSON: I don't know what you mean.
14 I'm asking you to define it.
15 BY Mr. de VLAMING:
16 Q. Was marijuana ever offered to you by 17 Mr. Prince or his girlfriend?
18 A. Yes.
19 Q. Where was it offered to you?
20 A. At his house.
21 Q. What room?
22 A. The living room.
23 Q. In the living room?
24 A. One time in the living room. There were 25 other times.
35 1 Q. Was it before or after Mr. -- or Detective 2 Crosby became involved in the case?
3 A. Beforehand.
4 Q. Is this, to your knowledge, before Crosby was 5 ever even made aware of this investigation?
6 A. Yes, yes.
7 Q. And were you invited into the house by Mr.
8 Prince?
9 A. Several times prior.
10 Q. And did he produce marijuana?
11 A. When?
12 Q. On the "several times prior" in his living 13 room or in the different rooms of the house?
14 A. I was invited to his home several times 15 prior, and I was ducking going. I was avoiding going 16 to his home. I didn't want to go to his home.
17 Q. Okay. My question to you is: Before 18 Detective Crosby became involved in this case, was 19 marijuana ever offered to you by Jesse Prince?
20 A. Yes.
21 Q. And was that at his house?
22 A. Yes.
23 Q. And the first time, do you remember the room 24 that it was offered to you?
25 A. In the living room.
36 1 Q. And how did he produce the marijuana?
2 A. His girlfriend, Dee, went to the back -- to 3 the bedroom and brought out a black, metallic can. It 4 could have been a cigar box or a candy box and it had 5 a design on top of it. And she brought it out and 6 opened it. And she rolled the marijuana and lit it -- 7 gave it to Jesse and lit it for him. And then they 8 passed it around.
9 Q. So this is just the three of you?
10 A. Uh-huh.
11 Q. Dee, Jesse and you, correct?
12 A. That's right. Yes, sir.
13 Q. All right. And did you possess the 14 marijuana?
15 A. When they handed it to me, yes.
16 Q. And did you bring it to your mouth?
17 A. Yes.
18 Q. And did you inhale?
19 A. Only -- I simulated as much as I could. I 20 simulated as much as I could. And when you're being 21 directly watched, you try to make it look as real as 22 possible. I'm sure I breathed some in. I have no 23 doubt about that. The room was full of marijuana in 24 the air. I'm sure I breathed some. I had to.
25 Q. Did you get a buzz?
37 1 A. I was -- no. Not then.
2 Q. Were you drinking any alcohol?
3 A. No. I drank a -- I drank a beer when I was 4 at Wilson's. And they brought out a beer there. I 5 wasn't intoxicated and I wasn't high. I was still 6 very much under control.
7 Q. Do you remember what month this was that that 8 first time in the living room took place?
9 A. April.
10 Q. Do you remember when the law enforcement 11 people were first becoming involved in the case? When 12 were they alerted?
13 A. Possibly -- it could have been a week. It 14 could have been a little longer than a week after 15 that.
16 Q. From the first time you smoked it until that 17 next week, did you use marijuana or have another type 18 of incident again with Mr. Prince?
19 A. Not that I remember.
20 MR. JOHNSON: Are you talking with himself or 21 with law enforcement?
22 THE DEPONENT: Mr. Prince.
23 BY MR. de VLAMING:
24 Q. This is before law enforcement became 25 involved. So what you're saying is before law 38 1 enforcement became involved, the only time that you 2 possessed or simulated or smoked a little bit of 3 marijuana was the April incident about a week before 4 law enforcement was notified, roughly?
5 A. You know, I'm not sure. It was a long time 6 ago. I'm not sure. It may have been another time.
7 I'm not sure.
8 Q. Did you ever smoke marijuana or simulate 9 smoking marijuana with Jesse Prince any place other 10 than his house?
11 A. Yes.
12 Q. Where?
13 A. There was a time that he took me to -- I 14 think the place was called Beez or -- it was a lounge 15 in Clearwater that he took me to. He had some friends 16 with him. And I believe that was in -- I was headed 17 towards the end of the investigation. It could have 18 been late June or July. And we first had dinner at, I 19 think, a place called Joe's Crab House, or something 20 like that, or Crabby Joe's or Crabby Bill's, something 21 like that. We ate dinner there, and when we got into 22 the car, his friend lit a joint, lit a marijuana 23 stick, and passed it around to everybody in the car.
24 Q. Do you know what that man's name was?
25 A. It was woman.
39 1 Q. A woman. Do you know what her name is?
2 A. Teresa.
3 Q. And at that point in time, were you working 4 with Crosby yet or were you not working with Crosby?
5 A. Yes.
6 Q. You were working with Crosby then?
7 A. Yes.
8 Q. And where -- 9 A. Crosby had already made contact at that house 10 by then.
11 Q. Did Crosby ever give you any instructions 12 that you were not to use drugs while you were 13 conducting any confidential, informant activities?
14 A. I don't remember that.
15 Q. So you're in the parking lot. And Teresa, is 16 she the one that lights up the joint?
17 A. Not in the parking lot. In the car.
18 Q. Okay. I assumed the car was in the parking 19 lot. You're driving, you mean?
20 A. Driving.
21 Q. Oh, okay.
22 A. Jesse's driving.
23 Q. And it gets passed around. Did you possess 24 it yourself?
25 A. Yes.
40 1 Q. And did you smoke it?
2 A. I put my mouth to it, too. I didn't -- I 3 didn't -- this time I didn't even really -- it was 4 dark outside. I didn't even try to inhale it. I just 5 brought it to me when nobody was looking. I even had 6 it away from my lips. I remember this night very 7 well. And then I gave it to the next person.
8 Q. Did you ever tell Crosby that?
9 A. About that night?
10 Q. Yeah. Particularly, about this marijuana 11 being passed around.
12 A. That night, you're speaking of?
13 Q. Yes, sir.
14 A. I don't know. I don't think so. I told -- 15 he knows about incidences at that location. But that 16 night particularly, I believe that was the same night 17 that I was supposed to get with him. I called him.
18 He was out of town. He had another detail that he had 19 to work in St. Pete. He was working a drug sweep. I 20 was supposed to work with him that night. I was in 21 town to work, and he was supposed to get together with 22 me and come over. He never made it. He called me 23 late and said he couldn't do it.
24 Q. What was he going to do if he came over?
25 A. Investigate, as far as I know.
41 1 Q. Investigate what?
2 A. Investigate what my -- my allegations of drug 3 use and drug possession.
4 Q. Did you ever tell Detective Crosby about any 5 of the times that you simulated smoking marijuana 6 outside of Crosby's presence?
7 A. I don't know. I may or may not have. I 8 didn't see the relevance of telling him something that 9 he wasn't going to have firsthand information about.
10 It wasn't going to help him with the case.
11 Detective Crosby's whole deal was, everything 12 that he has to put down on a warrant, he has to have 13 firsthand information about. Information from me, 14 seeing or saying that this happened or me being there, 15 that wasn't going to give him something he could put 16 on his report and say that definitely happened.
17 Q. But you're a prior law enforcement officer, 18 right?
19 A. That's correct.
20 Q. Don't you think that it would hurt the 21 credibility of a confidential informant if that 22 confidential informant is possessing drugs or bringing 23 marijuana up to his lips and looking like he's smoking 24 marijuana? I mean, wouldn't you want to know that if 25 you were a cop?
42 1 A. As an undercover police officer formerly, 2 myself, I've been in situations where you have no 3 choice but to do the same thing, and you have to be 4 around it. You have to be there with them when 5 they're doing it. You have to -- if you're not, 6 suspicion is going to be raised, you know, and then 7 the investigation is toileted.
8 Q. Was there a time when you passed marijuana 9 around in the presence of Detective Crosby?
10 A. Yes.
11 Q. And was that in the computer room of Jesse's 12 house?
13 A. Yes.
14 Q. Tell me about your recollection of that.
15 Before you do, was there any game plan 16 between you and Detective Crosby about what was going 17 to take place in the house when you met with Jesse, 18 about how he was going to be introduced?
19 A. I was going to introduce -- 20 MR. JOHNSON: Is that how you define "game 21 plan"?
22 MR. de VLAMING: Yeah, you know, game plan.
23 That's the best way I can do it. You know -- 24 MRS. WARDELL: What your story was.
25 MR. de VLAMING: Yeah, what your story -- 43 1 thank you. What your story was.
2 A. Detective Crosby and I talked about who he 3 would be to me. And that would be an old friend from 4 my old neighborhood in Philadelphia, a high school 5 buddy, who always stayed in touch. He was going to be 6 a free-spirit type rich kid, do whatever he wants to 7 do, don't really have a specific job. And that's what 8 I told Jesse and his girlfriend that my friend was.
9 It washed.
10 BY MR. de VLAMING:
11 Q. Okay. What did you hope to do inside the 12 house? Did you and Detective Crosby talk about, 13 maybe, being able to buy drugs or get them to traffic 14 in drugs or what? What was the plan?
15 A. The immediate plan -- first of all, I wanted 16 to -- I wanted to be away from him. Me, I wanted to 17 be done with the investigation. Particularly, because 18 the drugs -- I don't do drugs. I don't even drink.
19 And I wanted to bring law enforcement in so that this 20 can end. Law enforcement is the only way that I can 21 -- I have a duty to contact law enforcement, I feel, 22 when drugs are being introduced. And they were 23 introduced.
24 So therefore, Mr. Raftery introduced Howard.
25 Howard comes to me and says, listen, if what you're 44 1 saying is true, that they're cultivating marijuana 2 inside -- on their property, then the only way that I 3 can charge him with anything would be to have 4 firsthand knowledge. So I had to bring him in.
5 Q. To see the plant?
6 A. To see the plants. Several plants.
7 Q. So his purpose, then, was to come in so he 8 could see these plants that were growing so he can get 9 a warrant and come back and arrest him? Was that the 10 game plan?
11 A. Well, when you say "game plan," you're 12 speaking about the -- something that was planned from 13 beginning to end. But we didn't have, particularly, a 14 game plan. He wanted to view what I was saying was 15 there.
16 Q. Did you tell Detective Crosby that you 17 thought he could buy drugs from Jesse Prince?
18 A. I wondered. Because Dee told me that she was 19 a distributor. That was at one of the days -- one of 20 the nights at Wilson's Lounge. She -- that was the 21 time when he said, "would you just be quiet" to her.
22 Q. So you didn't know by bringing Crosby in 23 where it would lead?
24 A. Not exactly.
25 Q. Do you remember having a discussion, inside 45 1 the computer room, about Jesse's computer and about 2 The Church of Scientology and the Lisa McPherson Trust 3 information that he gains from the computer?
4 A. No. No, never.
5 Q. Did he mention anything about what he did for 6 a living?
7 A. His girlfriend did. She said he was an 8 attorney for -- and fighting to help release certain 9 people who were locked into The Church of Scientology.
10 And he didn't, never, say very much about it. He 11 never said very much about it. And I didn't go on any 12 fishing expeditions.
13 Q. But you don't remember him explaining things 14 to you in the computer room, in front of Detective 15 Crosby, about what he does on the computer and about 16 what he posts about information concerning The Church 17 of Scientology? That doesn't sound familiar?
18 A. No. I don't remember that.
19 Q. What do you remember happening inside that 20 computer room?
21 A. I remember he was trying to fix his computer.
22 His computer was having problems. He was having 23 problems booting up or -- or he was on it for a long 24 time trying to fix a problem he had with it. I don't 25 recall him saying anything about posting information 46 1 pertaining to The Church of Scientology.
2 Q. Okay.
3 A. He once told me that he was trying to go and 4 -- he was going to go to California and try to get a 5 guy out of the church over in California. And he was 6 going to take a trip over there for that purpose.
7 Q. Is that the extent of his discussion 8 concerning his work?
9 A. There were times when he told me he would be 10 picketing downtown Clearwater. To be honest with you, 11 I didn't do much fishing about that. That was not my 12 intent. I didn't listen to very much of that. He 13 would -- they would talk about it from time to time, 14 people following him and stuff like that. He would 15 ask me -- she would tell me -- she would mainly say 16 so. Jesse didn't talk too much. Dee did.
17 Q. Okay.
18 A. Jesse was just fun loving, wanted to get 19 drunk and get high.
20 Q. Did you ever go to a concert with Jesse?
21 A. Yes.
22 Q. And who went to the concert?
23 A. He, his girlfriend, Dee, and myself.
24 Q. Did you ever have a date when you were in 25 this town?
47 1 A. The girl at the concert?
2 Q. Was there a girl at the concert?
3 A. The girl I met at the concert. But she 4 wasn't my date.
5 Q. You're confusing me.
6 A. I met a girl at the concert.
7 Q. Oh, inside the concert?
8 A. Yes.
9 Q. Oh, all right. What about her?
10 A. She wasn't my date. I just met her, and we 11 just hung out. I used her to pretend that I had 12 somebody to hang out with. I got to know her. She 13 had something in common with me. We were both from 14 Philadelphia, and we talked all night until Jesse and 15 Dee were ready to go home. She gave me her phone 16 number. When Jesse and Dee left, I threw it away.
17 And I came back to them with a story that we got along 18 real well and we're dating.
19 Q. Oh, all right.
20 MRS. WARDELL: Wait. I'm confused. You met 21 for the first time at the concert -- 22 THE DEPONENT: Yes.
23 MRS. WARDELL: -- or you knew her ahead of 24 time and told her to meet you there?
25 THE DEPONENT: I met her for the first time 48 1 at the concert.
2 MRS. WARDELL: And they just happened to see 3 you meet this girl?
4 THE DEPONENT: Well, me and Jesse were 5 talking about how beautiful her figure was.
6 MRS. WARDELL: And so you walked over and you 7 kind of picked her up at the concert?
8 THE DEPONENT: Yes.
9 MRS. WARDELL: Okay.
10 MR. de VLAMING:
11 Q. Well, did she spend the night with the -- not 12 sleep over. But I mean, did she spend the evening 13 with you, Jesse and Dee, this girl?
14 A. No.
15 Q. All right. What kind of concert was it?
16 A. It was a festival of some sort.
17 Q. It was an open-air one?
18 A. Yes.
19 Q. What's this girl's name? Do you know?
20 A. I don't remember.
21 Q. Did she come over, though, and join you or 22 did you go over to her area?
23 A. We were in the same area, standing in the 24 same close area. We were standing in the same area.
25 Q. Oh.
49 1 A. She was ahead of us, about, maybe, two rows 2 ahead of us.
3 Q. But everybody's standing watching the 4 concert?
5 A. Yes.
6 Q. No blankets there or anything like that?
7 A. Not that I saw. Some people may have had 8 them, but we were standing.
9 Q. But you never saw that girl again after that 10 night?
11 A. No.
12 Q. Did you tell Jesse and Dee that you were 13 married or single?
14 A. I told them I was single.
15 Q. Are you married or single?
16 A. I'm married.
17 Q. Okay. Do you know what you billed for these 18 services in this investigation?
19 A. Hourly or totally?
20 Q. Total.
21 A. I believe my 1099 was $7,000, somewhere 22 around there.
23 Q. What is your hourly rate?
24 A. $50 an hour.
25 Q. And do you charge a per diem too; in other 50 1 words, for food if you're away from the house the 2 whole day or anything like that?
3 A. No.
4 Q. How about lodging?
5 A. I charge for lodging.
6 Q. Where did you stay when you were in town?
7 A. Different locations.
8 Q. But were they hotels?
9 A. Yes.
10 Q. Did you ever stay in a place owned by The 11 Church of Scientology?
12 A. Never.
13 MRS. WARDELL: To your knowledge.
14 THE DEPONENT: Never. Didn't.
15 BY MR. de VLAMING:
16 Q. How do you know?
17 A. Well, to my knowledge.
18 Q. You don't know what they own?
19 A. I don't know what they own, right.
20 Q. Okay. I'll grant you that. Was there ever a 21 time when you were conducting this investigation when 22 you were at Jesse's house where he made a comment that 23 this marijuana was growing and he was pulling it out 24 and throwing it away?
25 A. Not in that context.
51 1 Q. Well, tell me what your recollection was, and 2 tell me what was going on at the time.
3 A. Jesse showed me the marijuana plants he 4 called his "pet plants" in pots around the pool, 5 several of them, pretty large ones. And he told me 6 that he had a whole lot more in the backyard when he 7 first moved in, and he pulled them out because they 8 were pretty -- they were scared that they'd be 9 noticed. And the pet plants, he kept inside the pool 10 area.
11 Q. So he mentioned to you that he had pulled out 12 ones that were planted in the yard itself, not in 13 pots, and threw them out?
14 A. He told me that he pulled out some that were 15 growing in the yard. I don't believe he said that any 16 particular -- said nothing about planting them or -- 17 he said they were growing in the yard. And there was 18 a lot growing in the yard when he got there, he said.
19 And he said he kept some in pots, and he did. He had 20 some in pots around the pool.
21 Q. So what he told you was, when he moved into 22 the house, there were already plants growing in the 23 yard?
24 A. That's what he said.
25 Q. Do you know how long he had been in that 52 1 house?
2 A. No.
3 Q. Were you led to believe that it was a 4 relatively short period of time, you know, within six 5 months or so or what were you -- 6 A. Yes.
7 Q. In other words, that he was new to the house?
8 A. He was new to the house, yes. He was new to 9 the neighborhood.
10 Q. Okay.
11 A. According to him.
12 Q. And the marijuana plants that had already 13 been growing there, he's pulling them out and he kept 14 some, supposedly, smaller ones and called them "pet 15 plants"?
16 A. The ones that were the pet plants were not 17 small.
18 Q. But I mean smaller than the ones that he 19 pulled out?
20 A. He didn't describe the size. He just -- he 21 did say that there were some pretty big ones in the 22 yard.
23 Q. That's what I thought you said.
24 A. Yes. He said there were some pretty big ones 25 in the yard, and he did say that he got rid of them 53 1 because they were too visible and he didn't want -- he 2 was afraid people would notice them. And they were 3 dangerous for being back there, so he got them out of 4 there.
5 Q. Did you ever bring any gifts to Mr. Prince's 6 house?
7 A. A couple of times.
8 Q. What type of gifts did you bring?
9 A. I would bring him Puerto Rican rum. Twice, I 10 think I did. And I brought him a gift at the end of 11 the investigation.
12 Q. What was that?
13 A. I brought him a drink -- a bottle of 14 something. I'm not sure what it was anymore. And I 15 brought him some macadamia nuts. And I think that was 16 it.
17 Q. Did you ever drink any of the alcohol with 18 him that you brought?
19 A. Sure.
20 Q. In other words, the rum, for example?
21 A. Uh-huh.
22 Q. What would you drink it with?
23 A. Coke.
24 Q. Do you know whether you and Detective Crosby 25 were drinking any alcohol at the time that the 54 1 marijuana was passed around?
2 A. It may have been a beer. It may have been a 3 beer. I know that Detective Crosby didn't drink all 4 of his, and I didn't drink all of mine either. We 5 would drink beer with them, all of them. I would 6 drink beer almost every time I went to his house.
7 Q. Did you ever bring it yourself or did -- 8 A. Beer? No, they had it.
9 Q. They had the beer?
10 A. Yeah.
11 Q. All right. And you think you brought, maybe, 12 three bottles of liquor, total?
13 A. I think so.
14 Q. And then some nuts or something?
15 A. Yes.
16 Q. Who brought the marijuana out on the time 17 that you and Detective Crosby had it exposed to you?
18 A. His girlfriend.
19 Q. Dee?
20 A. Yes.
21 Q. Do you remember where she brought it from?
22 A. The same location, the bedroom. It was in an 23 end -- a little dresser that sits on the end of the 24 bed. It's a few -- if you walk into the bedroom, the 25 bed extends from the back wall straight to the door 55 1 that you walk into. To the right side of that would 2 be a dresser drawer, end desk or end table, whatever 3 you call it. And she would get it out of that -- one 4 of those two drawers.
5 Q. On the time that you were with Detective 6 Crosby, did you see her get it out of one of those 7 drawers?
8 A. No. Not at that time.
9 Q. How do you know she got it from that location 10 on that -- at that time?
11 A. Not necessarily on that date did I see her 12 get it from there, but from prior knowledge, I know 13 that she would get it from there.
14 Q. So from prior knowledge, you saw her get it 15 from that location?
16 A. Yes.
17 Q. Did you ever tell Detective Crosby where her 18 stash was?
19 A. I think so.
20 Q. Meaning the end table?
21 A. Yes.
22 Q. You told him that she kept it in the end 23 table?
24 A. I told him that she kept it in a -- she 25 brought it out -- brought a can from the bedroom, a 56 1 black can from the bedroom. I don't know if I told 2 him exactly where she had it.
3 Q. Did she roll the joint there in the bedroom 4 -- the computer room?
5 A. I don't know. Because there were times when 6 he did and she did. I'm not sure. You know, I'm not 7 sure. I do remember him rolling a joint once or 8 twice.
9 Q. And was it passed around on the occasion 10 inside the computer room?
11 A. Yes.
12 Q. Did you see Detective Crosby bring it to his 13 lips?
14 A. Yes.
15 Q. And do you know whether he smoked it or 16 simulated it? Do you know either one?
17 A. It's hard to tell. You know, you try to make 18 it look as real as possible.
19 Q. And how about you, on that occasion?
20 A. I tried to simulate it as much as possible.
21 And like I said, you asked me the same question 22 before, I would bring it to my mouth and pretend to 23 smoke. But you've still got the smoke in the room and 24 you're going to be breathing it.
25 Q. But you tried to simulate it on that 57 1 occasion, too?
2 A. I tried to simulate it each time. But if 3 they're looking at you, you're going to have to make 4 sure that the fire lights up a little bit. So you're 5 going to have to pretend to blow or bring it into your 6 mouth at least.
7 Q. Isn't there a way to bring it into your 8 mouth?
9 A. Without taking it down your lungs?
10 Q. Yeah.
11 A. Yes.
12 Q. Right.
13 A. That's simulation.
14 Q. Right. So the light lights up because you're 15 bringing it in, and then you're blowing it out of your 16 mouth without going in the lungs?
17 A. That's right.
18 Q. Okay. And what you're saying is, you don't 19 know whether or not you got some in your lungs because 20 it can't be done perfect?
21 A. Mr. de Vlaming, come on. You know I got some 22 in my lungs. I'm in a room full of people. I'm not 23 going to hold my breath that long.
24 Q. Okay. Was there an agreement between you and 25 Detective Crosby that your identity was going to try 58 1 to be kept confidential?
2 A. Yes, sir.
3 Q. And you were going to be given a 4 confidential, informant number?
5 A. I was.
6 Q. And why did you want your identity kept 7 confidential?
8 A. Because I was an investigator for one thing, 9 and I did not want to be arrested for something that 10 had to do with an investigation. I wanted to be 11 considered an informant. An informant goes into a 12 location alongside an undercover officer, and they 13 give them information.
14 At this point on, I did not want to be just a 15 private investigator. Because it's my duty to work as 16 an informant, at this point in time, and to give 17 information to law enforcement.
18 Q. Did Fabrizio ever give you any kind of 19 instructions about making sure your identity was kept 20 confidential?
21 A. My identity was being kept confidential from 22 the time that I began the investigation. That's why I 23 used a false name.
24 Q. But your employer -- 25 A. That was my intention.
59 1 Q. But your employer, did they tell you to do 2 everything you can to keep your identity confidential?
3 A. I don't remember him saying that, no. I 4 don't remember him saying that, no.
5 Q. Was there a time -- I think at Martin 6 Restaurant, is that the name of it?
7 A. Uh-huh.
8 Q. -- where you were asked to come there 9 ostensibly for a job offer that turned out to be a 10 meeting with Jesse Prince?
11 A. Yes.
12 Q. And someone called you to say that they were 13 interested in hiring you to do some work at a 14 restaurant, surveillance type of work, and that's the 15 reason you came to that restaurant; is that correct?
16 A. Yes.
17 Q. And when you got there, what happened?
18 A. When I got there, I met with Ray Emmons and 19 Jim Patterson, sitting at the table.
20 Q. And they introduced themselves?
21 A. Oh, Emmons introduced himself. Mr.
22 Patterson, he just sat there and seemed like he was 23 going to be the client. And to my knowledge, I 24 thought he was going to be the client.
25 Q. Did you sit down at this point or not?
60 1 A. Yes.
2 Q. And did one of the fellows excuse themselves 3 and come back with Jesse?
4 A. Mr. Emmons did.
5 Q. And when he came back with Jesse, what did 6 you say? Were you surprised to see him?
7 A. Very.
8 Q. Did you stand up or stay seated?
9 A. I stood up.
10 Q. Did you greet Mr. Prince?
11 A. Shook his hand.
12 Q. Do you remember what you said when you first 13 saw him?
14 A. Hello.
15 Q. Did you ask about his family and how Dee was 16 doing?
17 A. How Dee was doing?
18 Q. Or his family?
19 A. No. I asked him about the children. During 20 -- that was some far -- further into the conversation.
21 Q. Okay.
22 A. Because the first thing I asked him was, 23 okay, now, tell me what this is about.
24 Q. Did you kind of figure out, when you saw 25 Jesse, that it was not about what you thought it was?
61 1 A. When I first saw Jesse, I was about to pull 2 my gun from my back pocket, but I said I better just 3 start thinking. Maybe I need to find out what they're 4 doing, what they want.
5 Q. So your first reaction was that you were 6 being set up?
7 A. Yeah.
8 Q. Okay. And when Jessie greeted you with a 9 smile and he shook hands, did you realize, then, that 10 no one was there to hurt you?
11 A. I was very leery.
12 Q. How did the conversation start?
13 A. Mr. Emmons asked Jesse to sit down, and Jesse 14 sat down to my right. Ray Emmons was to my left. Jim 15 Patterson was sitting almost right in front of me.
16 They had already ordered food. I only ordered 17 something to drink, ice tea, I think. They offered me 18 food, but I just ordered ice tea.
19 Mr. Emmons said, I guess now you realize that 20 this is -- I think he said -- not what you think -- 21 not what you thought it was.
22 And at that point, I said, yes, that's 23 correct. I said, that's right. I said, now, why 24 don't you tell me what this is about? And to my 25 knowledge, my recollection, I remember him saying that 62 1 he wanted me -- he wanted to know if I would help 2 them. I said, help? I said, help with what?
3 Would you help Jesse?
4 I said, how can I do that?
5 And he says, well, is there anything you can 6 tell me that might help him in the situation that he's 7 in?
8 And I said, not that I know, not that I know.
9 I said, what is it that you're looking for?
10 And he said -- I'm trying to think of his 11 words. He said, well, you tell me.
12 I think he was trying to leave it up to me to 13 try and discuss with him something that might help 14 Jesse. I just didn't know what to tell him. And I 15 don't remember the exact words that came out of his 16 mouth, it was a while ago, but I remember him asking 17 me -- no, I asked them. I said, so am I being videod?
18 Am I being taped?
19 And he says, no. He said, neither.
20 And I said, okay. And I said, so then what 21 are you doing here and why would you bring him here?
22 You know, I'm still pretty mad about that. And -- 23 Q. Kind of annoys you when you get set up?
24 A. Well, what annoys me is the unethical way 25 that Mr. Emmons brings a defendant to what is 63 1 considered to be a legal informant -- you know, to my 2 backyard. You know, right to my -- two blocks away 3 from my house. This is a man that's going to jail 4 because of my testimony. And as far as -- I mean, 5 I've before a cop for 14 -- I've been in law 6 enforcement for 14 years. I know what that means.
7 And I know Mr. Emmons has been a law enforcement 8 officer too. He knows what that means, too. And -- 9 Q. Did you ask them whether they were followed?
10 A. Yes. I said, so were you followed? I said, 11 you brought him right over here to my backyard, so 12 were you followed to me?
13 I'm thinking, man, they're trying to make me 14 look bad.
15 Q. Well, didn't you -- you wanted to know 16 whether they were followed. And didn't you end up 17 telling them that The Church of Scientology is 18 following Jesse constantly?
19 A. No.
20 Q. Daily?
21 A. They told me that. That's what they told me.
22 Q. But yet, you asked them if they were 23 followed?
24 A. They told me that Jesse is being followed all 25 the time. I said, so were you followed here? I 64 1 said, so were you followed here?
2 He said, no, we made sure we weren't 3 followed.
4 Q. Was the name "Church of Scientology"
5 mentioned at all during the conversation between you 6 and these three men?
7 A. Mr. Emmons brought the name Church of 8 Scientology up.
9 Q. Did he ask whether they were the ones behind 10 hiring you?
11 A. Yes, he did.
12 Q. What did you say?
13 A. I told him no.
14 Q. You told him no?
15 A. Yes.
16 Q. You answered the question?
17 A. I said no.
18 Q. Okay. And who did you tell him did hire you?
19 A. I didn't tell them.
20 Q. Did they mentioned the name "Raftery"?
21 A. I don't remember if they mentioned his name 22 or not. I don't recall -- I don't think I heard that.
23 Q. Did they talk at all about the case itself, 24 the marijuana case?
25 A. No. They were trying to leave it up to me to 65 1 say things. They were trying to leave it to me to say 2 things that would lead to them obtaining information.
3 Q. That would help Jesse in this case?
4 A. Yeah.
5 Q. Did you end up saying or reminding them of 6 the conversation where Jesse said that he had thrown 7 out marijuana that was growing on his property?
8 A. No. But I do remember -- I do remember 9 saying to Jesse, "Jesse, did you tell them everything?
10 Did you tell them? Did you tell them the whole 11 truth?" Because I, you know -- I mean, I knew that 12 you were representing him. And I wondered, do they -- 13 do you know what really happened. Because -- and my 14 thoughts were, they wouldn't be investigating this if 15 they knew what really was going -- what really 16 happened.
17 Q. So you don't recall making the comment during 18 that dinner -- lunch conversation about Jesse saying 19 that there were marijuana plants growing on the 20 property and he threw some out? You don't remember 21 that coming out of that discussion?
22 A. I don't -- I'm not saying that it didn't.
23 But I don't remember it.
24 Q. Did you ever tell Jesse that there were times 25 during the investigation that you wanted to call them?
66 1 A. Call him?
2 Q. Yeah, tip him off, tell him that he's being 3 set up, anything like that?
4 A. No. I would have never done that.
5 Q. Was there a time that you wanted out of that 6 investigation?
7 A. Yes.
8 Q. Why?
9 A. I wanted it to end. I wanted it to be over 10 with. I got sick and tired of the marijuana and the 11 drinking. I don't drink and I don't smoke. That is 12 just not my life.
13 Q. Did you make a statement during that 14 conversation there in the Martin Restaurant that you 15 knew Jesse was not cultivating marijuana?
16 A. Never. I knew he was. He showed it to me.
17 He told me what he was doing. He showed me how he 18 dried it out and ground it up. He showed me how he 19 kept it in low light.
20 Q. Was Crosby there when that was done?
21 A. Yes.
22 Q. And where did he show that to you and 23 Detective Crosby? What room were you in?
24 A. I believe he kept the dried-out stuff in his 25 bathroom that was adjacent to his bedroom.
67 1 Q. But did he -- and then he showed it to you 2 and Crosby or did he just tell you about it?
3 A. Well, he showed it.
4 Q. Okay. Were there any rolling papers ever 5 laying around the house or were they always away?
6 A. Well, they'd make them available whenever 7 they wanted them. I don't know where they kept those.
8 They may have kept them in the same thing. I don't 9 know for sure.
10 Q. But they weren't laying around?
11 A. No, not that I recall.
12 Q. In regards to Wilson's Liquor Store, does the 13 name Joe mean anything? Did you meet a fellow named 14 Joe? Did you have a friend named Joe? Were you 15 hanging out with somebody you introduced as Joe?
16 A. A guy named Joe?
17 Q. Yes.
18 A. No.
19 MRS. WARDELL: Do you have a description?
20 THE DEPONENT: No, no.
21 No one went into the liquor store, no. I 22 don't remember -- I didn't hang out with anybody.
23 There was a girl that, every now and then, would show 24 up. But her name wasn't Joe, and she wasn't part of 25 my investigation. And there would be an investigative 68 1 apparatus.
2 MR. de VLAMING:
3 Q. Did you ever introduce anybody to Jesse at 4 the Wilson Liquor Store?
5 A. There was a girl named Karen. She was the 6 only person that I ever introduced, that was shooting 7 pool, with me at the liquor store -- liquor lounge.
8 There were no guys except for Howard. And I didn't 9 introduce him there. I brought him to his house. He 10 was supposed to meet with us over at Wilson's, but he 11 didn't. He was working.
12 Q. How did the conversation end at the Martin 13 Restaurant? Did you say good-bye to everybody? Did 14 you walk out together?
15 A. Uh-huh. We all walked out together and shook 16 hands and was cordial. I gave Jesse a hug.
17 Q. In the parking lot or by the table?
18 A. Parking lot.
19 Q. Did you wish him luck?
20 A. No.
21 Q. What did you do when you hugged him? What 22 did you say?
23 A. I said good-bye.
24 Q. Did he hug you back?
25 A. Of course.
69 1 Q. Sometimes people don't.
2 A. I've got to show the best face I can. I'm 3 not going to let them know that I'm upset, intimidated 4 or even scared.
5 Q. How long were you in the restaurant?
6 A. Probably between 45 minutes, maybe as much as 7 an hour.
8 Q. And some of them had lunch?
9 A. Yeah.
10 Q. Ordered lunch?
11 A. Patterson and Emmons had lunch.
12 Q. Were you ever yelled at during the course of 13 the conversation?
14 A. Unh-unh.
15 Q. That's a no?
16 A. No.
17 Q. Was it a fairly busy restaurant? I mean, was 18 it a restaurant that had a lot of people?
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. Did you feel that you could have left if you 21 wanted to leave?
22 A. Yes.
23 Q. Did you stay out of courtesy? Did you stay 24 because you were curious or did you stay because if 25 you could help, you were willing to help?
70 1 A. No. At first, I stayed because I wanted to 2 know how in the world and why he would bring him to me 3 in my own backyard. My first thought was to just get 4 up and walk out. That was my first thought was to -- 5 my first thought -- no. My first thought was to pull 6 a gun out of my back pocket because I didn't know what 7 I was getting ready to get into, just put it in my 8 hand. And my second thought was to get up and leave, 9 just leave.
10 But then I thought, you know, let me find out 11 what they're up to, what do they want, are they 12 intimidating me, are they trying to crowd me, do they 13 -- what do they want? Why in the world would they be 14 here, you know? And then that was it. That's what I 15 waited for.
16 Q. Did you ever tell anybody at the table that 17 you were sick and tired of either The Church of 18 Scientology or their investigators calling you up 19 after Jesse was arrested?
20 A. No.
21 Q. Never said anything like that about the 22 constant calls to find out about the status of the 23 case and that you weren't being paid any more money 24 and that you were tired about the phone calls?
25 A. No.
71 1 Q. Did you make a phone call after the meeting?
2 Did you call anybody?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. Who did you call?
5 A. Howard Crosby.
6 Q. Is that the first call?
7 A. I called Brian Raftery, too.
8 Q. Okay. And who did you talk to first?
9 A. That's a hard one. That's a tough one. I 10 may have called Brian. I don't know. I think I 11 called Brian first.
12 Q. What was his reaction?
13 A. No, wait a minute. Wait a minute. I called 14 Howard first and I couldn't reach him. Then I called 15 -- I went to call Howard and let him know that I was 16 being -- I felt like it was witness tampering. And I 17 didn't reach him. He wasn't there. He wasn't 18 available. So then I called Brian Raftery, and I told 19 him what had happened.
20 Q. What was his reaction?
21 A. He says, oh, my God. He said, you know 22 that's against the law. You're a confidential 23 informant, he said, but not anymore.
24 Q. Was he surprised they found your identity?
25 A. No. What he was surprised was -- well, he 72 1 did asked me, he said -- he asked me, who told them 2 who you were?
3 I said, I don't know. I said, I'm still 4 trying to find Howard. I want to ask him, did they 5 give any information to anybody, you know. That was 6 my next thing to do was call Howard again. And he 7 said, well, let me know. And I would.
8 Q. Would you say you had more contact with 9 Fabrizio or with Raftery?
10 A. Fabrizio.
11 Q. And would you give him the reports of what 12 you were learning and the status of the investigation?
13 MR. JOHNSON: You can answer that.
14 A. I was debriefed every day after an 15 investigation.
16 BY MR. de VLAMING:
17 Q. By whom?
18 A. By Fabrizio.
19 Q. Did you ever make any written reports?
20 MR. JOHNSON: You can answer.
21 A. Yes.
22 BY MR. De VLAMING:
23 Q. And where are those written reports?
24 A. I posses them.
25 Q. They're at your office?
73 1 A. Uh-huh.
2 Q. And do they chronicle the work that you did 3 in this case?
4 A. Very well.
5 Q. And do they mention the surveillance that you 6 performed, what you saw Jesse Prince do, both 7 innocuous and potentially incriminating?
8 A. Yes. Both.
9 Q. And if you learned nothing, did you write a 10 report and say, I went here, there and there and saw 11 nothing, never saw Jesse Prince? Would you say that, 12 too?
13 A. Yes.
14 Q. So your reports, then, were chronicled every 15 day, whether you found something or not, concerning 16 this investigation?
17 A. Yes.
18 Q. Are they accurate, to your knowledge?
19 A. Yes.
20 MR. de VLAMING: Do you want to get them or 21 do you want me to get them?
22 MRS. WARDELL: Well, do they cover from 23 February to the arrest?
24 THE DEPONENT: Yes, ma'am.
25 MRS. WARDELL: Do you have an objection to 74 1 providing them to me?
2 MRS. KOBRIN: I have a work-product 3 objection. It may not be on every one of them. I 4 don't know for sure, but there's certainly a 5 work-product objection as to, at least, some of them 6 and possibly, all of them.
7 MR. JOHNSON: My understanding, from 8 conversations with members of the firm, is they were 9 going to object to all of the reports but/for the 10 final report, which -- of the meeting, you know, in 11 Lake Wales.
12 MRS. WARDELL: Well, unfortunately, the case 13 law I have says that if he testifies to any reports 14 they he made with regards to what he did during his 15 surveillance, they are fair game. I understand that 16 there may be some things -- 17 MR. JOHNSON: I'm not making the objection.
18 MRS. WARDELL: -- that are redacted.
19 MR. JOHNSON: I'm just telling you from other 20 members of the firm -- 21 MRS. WARDELL: Well, I think they need to, at 22 least, come to me and let me attempt to, maybe, redact 23 them and take them to a judge or something, but...
24 MR. de VLAMING:
25 Q. Well, let me ask you this: Do they have all 75 1 of what you did or do they have so and so told me 2 this, so and so instructed me to do this? Do you 3 understand what I'm saying? Do the reports just say 4 what you saw and did or does it have what other people 5 are telling you?
6 MR. JOHNSON: Do you mind me answering?
7 MR. de VLAMING: No, not at all.
8 MR. JOHNSON: If the law is that because he's 9 testifying, he has to turn over his reports, which I 10 was told they wanted to object to, there will be very 11 little redaction.
12 MR. de VLAMING: Yeah. That's what I would 13 think.
14 MRS. WARDELL: In other words, does it say, 15 met with Fabrizio today and Fabrizio told me A, B and 16 C versus I went to Wilson's today and I saw Jesse 17 Prince do A, B and C? See the difference?
18 MR. JOHNSON: As Mr. Raftery has told you, 19 the information was given on Mr. Prince's whereabouts, 20 and that was relayed. Those weren't direct 21 instruction from the attorneys. Those were things 22 like, here's where he is, we're guessing where he 23 might be and this witness would station himself.
24 MR. de VLAMING: No, that's not work product.
25 I wouldn't think that's work product.
76 1 MR. JOHNSON: No. There will be very 2 little -- 3 MR. de VLAMING: Well, how do we do this?
4 Let's kind of make an agreement and we'll file a 5 motion here. Either we can get it to the Judge and he 6 can decide the redacting or start with Lydia.
7 Whatever you want to do. But I've got to try this 8 case in eight days. I've got to take another 9 deposition of Fabrizio before that.
10 MR. JOHNSON: I have a clean copy of the 11 reports.
12 MRS. WARDELL: It seems like -- I think you 13 can trust me to look at it, and whatever I think 14 should be redacted, maybe, I should share with the 15 Judge. And say, this is what I think should be 16 redacted, do you -- Judge, do you think there is more?
17 MR. JOHNSON: Lydia, I have no objections. I 18 have just been talking with, you know, Helena's law 19 firm and Helena, and they're going to object for 20 whatever rights they can. I don't know that I can 21 give you -- I got mine through attorney-client 22 privilege. I don't think that I can give it to you if 23 they're telling me they're going to assert a 24 privilege. I have recently found that out and so I, 25 you know -- 77 1 MRS. KOBRIN: I'm not unwilling to go back 2 and look them over and see, you know, what -- just 3 clarify our position and then I can let you both know, 4 you know. And we'll do that rapidly.
5 MR. de VLAMING: Okay.
6 MR. JOHNSON: I mean, trial's the 23rd.
7 MRS. KOBRIN: Yeah. I know. I'm not going 8 to delay it. I mean, it'll all get done rapidly.
9 MR. JOHNSON: I mean, if it's to the extent 10 that the Judge needs to review a copy today, I brought 11 a clean copy. There was a slight, slight possibility 12 you would not ask the question, which was your last 13 question. So -- 14 MRS. WARDELL: Well, it would have been mine.
15 MR. JOHNSON: -- we'll read them. There was 16 a slight possibility.
17 MRS. WARDELL: One way or the another, it was 18 coming.
19 MR. JOHNSON: Well, you know, I don't hold 20 all privileges in this case and can't raise all the 21 privileges.
22 MRS. KOBRIN: Let me just cite a case that 23 you can look at that deals with this subject, which is 24 Dorego versus State, 243 South Second, 171 Second DCA, 25 1971.
78 1 MRS. KOBRIN: Do you have it?
2 MRS. WARDELL: No. I have North Corporation 3 v. Willis at 729, Fo.2d, 508 (April '99).
4 MR. JOHNSON: If -- unless Helena has an 5 extremely strong objection, I brought extra copies of 6 the meeting with the three investigators where this 7 witness got exposed.
8 MRS. KOBRIN: And that has already been given 9 to the police, right?
10 MR. JOHNSON: My understanding is, yes. I 11 mean, I don't know that it was ever given to the 12 State.
13 THE DEPONENT: It was not, I don't think, 14 because I asked them too.
15 MR. JOHNSON: I have copies of that, if 16 someone wants to review that, to ask any further 17 questions since I think that will be available.
18 Helena, do you have any work-product 19 privilege objections?
20 MRS. KOBRIN: If it was already given to the 21 police, I don't have any objection.
22 MR. JOHNSON: Would you prefer to see his 23 notes of that final meeting?
24 MRS. KOBRIN: Are you talking to me or to -- 25 MR. JOHNSON: I'm talking to Denis.
79 1 MR. de VLAMING: Oh, yes.
2 THE DEPONENT: The day of that meeting, I 3 jotted those notes down. I typed them out.
4 BY MR. de VLAMING:
5 Q. Okay. After the meeting was over, then, you 6 went out and made some notes and then typed them up?
7 A. Immediately.
8 Q. Mr. Gaston, did you ever see Jesse Prince 9 sell marijuana?
10 A. No, sir.
11 Q. Did you ever see him sell any drugs?
12 A. Not that I can tell, sir.
13 Q. Okay. Was there a time on the second meeting 14 with Detective Crosby where he was asked if he would 15 give you all drugs so you could take them to Key West?
16 A. Yes, sir.
17 Q. What was that conversation about? Was it 18 just before you were leaving?
19 A. Yes, sir.
20 Q. And what did you ask Mr. Prince?
21 A. I asked him if he had anything I could take 22 with me to the Keys. And he said he was pretty low on 23 what he had. He said all of his friends smoked it all 24 up. I said, well, if you've got anything, I'll buy it 25 off of you, anything, you know, anything at all.
80 1 He said, no, I really don't.
2 I said, we'll just -- we'll have some when we 3 get there. We'll have to buy some when we get there.
4 Q. Would a sale of marijuana case have been made 5 had he sold drugs to you?
6 A. That would be up to Officer Crosby.
7 Q. Was it ever discussed with Officer Crosby 8 about seeing whether Jesse would sell drugs to you or 9 to him?
10 A. I don't know.
11 Q. Well, whose idea -- 12 A. Maybe. Possibly.
13 Q. Well, it must have been somebody's idea to 14 ask him to buy some.
15 A. It was my idea.
16 Q. Okay.
17 MR. JOHNSON: I had several folders created 18 by my secretary, all on my desk, in preparation. I 19 snatched the wrong one. I had multiple copies of 20 this. So I've got one copy.
21 MRS. WARDELL: There's a Xerox there.
22 MR. JOHNSON: However y'all -- whoever wants 23 to Xerox it, but there's three pages.
24 MRS. WARDELL: Do you mind if I ask 25 questions?
81 1 MR. de VLAMING: No, go ahead.
2 CROSS-EXAMINATION 3 BY MRS. WARDELL:
4 Q. I want to get a little bit of a time frame 5 here.
6 A. Okay.
7 Q. So follow along with me and then object when 8 necessary, okay?
9 A. Yes.
10 Q. You were at Wilson's Bar and you come into 11 contact with Mr. Prince and his girlfriend, correct?
12 A. That's correct.
13 Q. That's the first place you, physically, see 14 him?
15 A. Yes.
16 Q. How many times did you see him prior to the 17 car incident?
18 A. I believe it was twice before.
19 Q. Prior to the car incident, were you invited 20 back to his house but chose not to go?
21 A. Yes.
22 Q. Would that have taken place at Wilson's Bar?
23 A. Yes.
24 Q. And of these contacts prior to the car, how 25 long do you think you would have interacted with 82 1 Mr. Prince and/or his girlfriend?
2 A. Can you repeat that?
3 Q. In other words, when you saw them at 4 Wilson's, was it a 30-minute session? Did you see him 5 -- did y'all hang out for a couple of hours?
6 A. Oh, yes. A couple of hours at least.
7 Q. Okay. And there were no visits to his home 8 before the car incident, correct?
9 A. I believe that to be correct.
10 Q. After the car incident, when is the next time 11 you saw Mr. Prince?
12 A. Possibly at his home.
13 Q. Weeks later, days later?
14 A. Days later.
15 Q. And how did you get to be invited to his 16 home?
17 A. That night they invited me, once again, when 18 they were in the car.
19 Q. At the car incident, they invited you?
20 A. Yeah.
21 Q. But did you go that night?
22 A. No, not that I remember.
23 Q. Did they tell you where to come and you just 24 showed up or did you run into them again and 25 get invited?
83 1 A. They showed me where they lived. I drove -- 2 I followed them home.
3 Q. The night of the car incident?
4 A. I think so.
5 Q. And the purpose was to show you where they 6 lived -- 7 A. Yes.
8 Q. -- in case you ever wanted to come visit?
9 A. Yes. They told me how much their home was 10 worth and they wanted to show me where they lived in 11 case I wanted to come back.
12 Q. And so how is it you end up at their house 13 the first time?
14 A. I dropped by unannounced like he asked me to, 15 anytime I wanted to.
16 Q. And the time you dropped by unannounced, is 17 that the time that you referred to, when Deneen went 18 to the bedroom and brought out the marijuana?
19 A. Every time I went there, she did that or he 20 did.
21 Q. All right. How many times did you go to Mr.
22 Prince's house prior to Crosby accompanying you?
23 A. I believe it was twice.
24 Q. And both those times, she brought out 25 marijuana?
84 1 A. Yes.
2 Q. And both of those times, did you see 3 marijuana plants growing at the residence?
4 A. Yes.
5 Q. And where were the plants?
6 A. In the pool area, just past the living room 7 beyond the double-glass doors.
8 Q. All right. For now, I want to talk about 9 those two visits. And we'll call them visit one and 10 visit two, and if the answer is the same for both, 11 that's fine.
12 In either of those visits, did Mr. Prince or 13 his girlfriend tend to the plants, if you will?
14 A. Yes.
15 Q. How so?
16 A. She would be watering them.
17 Q. Where was Mr. Prince when she would water the 18 plants?
19 A. He would be standing next to me watching them 20 and talking about them.
21 Q. How close were you all? Were you out on the 22 lanai when this happened?
23 A. Yes, out on the deck of the pool.
24 Q. Were the plants ever fertilized in your 25 presence?
85 1 A. I never saw that.
2 Q. Well, I don't know what you do to maintain a 3 marijuana plant, but you mentioned low light?
4 MR. JOHNSON: It's self-serving.
5 BY MRS. WARDELL:
6 Q. What are some other things you can do to 7 maintain a marijuana plant?
8 A. Well, that wasn't the maintaining. That was 9 for drying them out.
10 Q. The low light is for drying them out?
11 A. That's what she said.
12 Q. Oh, okay. What, does a marijuana plant need 13 bright light to grow or sunlight or what?
14 A. It was in the sunlight with the rest of the 15 plants around the deck. It was treated like all of 16 the other plants.
17 Q. What was treated like other plants?
18 A. She had a lot of plants.
19 Q. Oh, okay.
20 A. She had a lot of plants around the deck of 21 the pool, a lot of them.
22 Q. So while watering a geranium, she would water 23 the marijuana?
24 A. Yeah.
25 Q. Got it. Did you ever see them actually dry 86 1 out marijuana leaves?
2 A. What I saw was Jesse coming back from the 3 bathroom in their bedroom with dried-out marijuana 4 leaves.
5 Q. Okay. Explain for me. Like a handful or -- 6 A. A handful. Yes, a handful. Showing me that 7 they're in the process of drying out to be smoked.
8 Q. So he was showing you -- 9 MR. de VLAMING: Can we get a time frame on 10 that?
11 MRS. WARDELL: Yeah.
12 MRS. WARDELL:
13 Q. Was that visit one or visit two, if you can 14 recall?
15 MR. JOHNSON: Or some other visit?
16 MR. de VLAMING: Or a Crosby visit?
17 A. I think it was visit three, somewhere around 18 there.
19 BY MRS. WARDELL:
20 Q. That would have been with Crosby?
21 A. Visit three or four, yes.
22 Q. So he was bragging, if you will, on how to 23 convert a green plant into something you can later 24 smoke?
25 A. Yes.
87 1 Q. So he uses the bathroom for the drying-out 2 process?
3 A. Yes.
4 Q. All right. Now, between the car visit and 5 introducing Crosby to the situation here, the two 6 visits at the house, where did you run into 7 Mr. Prince?
8 A. At Wilson's, possibly.
9 Q. Okay. Were drugs introduced at Wilson's at 10 any time other than the car incident?
11 A. I don't think so.
12 Q. And was the concert before or after Crosby?
13 A. After.
14 Q. And were drugs referenced to or -- 15 A. Please, please, one moment. The concert, I 16 believe, it was before the final visit with Crosby.
17 Q. Okay. Because there was quite a time lapse 18 between visit one with Crosby and visit two with 19 Crosby.
20 A. Well, there was a time when Brian told 21 Fabrizio and Fabrizio said to me, do not visit, do not 22 go by there, do not go near him until Crosby has 23 gotten involved, you know, and was he able to get back 24 involved again. Because he had to get surgery on his 25 knee. I think that's what it was, surgery on his 88 1 knee. And he would be out for a little while, and we 2 weren't allowed to touch the situation until it got to 3 be closer. And I was adamant. I was saying, listen, 4 if I don't make some sort of contact, they're going to 5 wonder what's going on.
6 Q. Right.
7 A. You know. The absence is -- you know, and I 8 was absent for quite some time before I made contact 9 with them again.
10 Q. And how did this contact occur?
11 A. Contact occurred when I was told -- I told 12 Crosby that I would be able to go in the area at a 13 certain day and he thought that he would be able to 14 make it that same day too. And I was there and he was 15 going to meet me at Wilson's Lounge, as I was going to 16 be meeting him there with Jesse and Dee. And he never 17 showed. We did, but he didn't.
18 Q. Okay.
19 A. I met them at their house, and we went over 20 to Wilson's.
21 Q. This would be after Crosby's first visit to 22 the house, correct?
23 A. That's correct.
24 Q. And you believe the concert to have been 25 after Crosby's visit to the home?
89 1 A. No. The last Crosby -- you mean Crosby's 2 first visit?
3 Q. Uh-huh.
4 A. Yes. In fact, it was a holiday of some sort.
5 Q. Yeah, try to date the concert for me.
6 Because I can tell you that Crosby visited on April -- 7 A. I think it was the 4th of July.
8 Q. All right. Crosby visits on April -- 9 A. I know it was the 4th of July. There were 10 fireworks.
11 Q. The concert was?
12 A. Yes.
13 Q. Okay. Crosby visits for the first time on 14 April 6th or 7th. The next time he comes is not until 15 August 5th. So I want to go over the contact you 16 would have with Mr. Prince between April 7th and 17 August 5th, okay?
18 A. Yes.
19 Q. We know there was a concert. We know there 20 was a meeting at Wilson's where you thought Crosby was 21 going to show. Was the Crabby Bill's during the 22 interim period?
23 A. Yes.
24 MR. JOHNSON: To the extent you're giving 25 correct time frames. I'm not looking at my notes and 90 1 I don't know that your time frames are precise.
2 MRS. WARDELL: Well, my police report 3 indicates Crosby went to their house for the first 4 time, I believe, it was April 6th or 7th. If you've 5 got something different -- 6 THE DEPONENT: It may have been a little bit 7 past that. Somewhere around that time frame, though.
8 MRS. WARDELL:
9 Q. But regardless, Crabby Bill's was after that 10 first -- somewhere in that middle visit?
11 A. Yes. And I would like to think that it was 12 towards the end.
13 Q. Was it after the concert?
14 A. Somewhere close to it.
15 Q. And were there -- go back to the concert.
16 April 7th was Crosby's first visit. Were there drugs 17 talked about, referenced or introduced at the concert?
18 A. I'm sorry?
19 Q. Where there drugs talked about, produced or 20 referenced at the concert?
21 A. No.
22 Q. Nobody smoked anything?
23 A. I don't remember. I don't remember them 24 smoking. They may have. I'd have to -- I'd have to 25 refer, because, see, almost every time they got in the 91 1 car and I got in the car with them, they lit up a 2 joint.
3 Q. Well, did y'all ride to the concert together?
4 A. Yes -- no. No, as a matter of fact. That's 5 why we didn't smoke together. Because I drove my car 6 to follow them because I told them that I would 7 probably like to meet somebody there and leave with 8 that person.
9 Q. So you don't know whether they did it in 10 their car?
11 A. Right.
12 Q. And nobody was passing around outside 13 marijuana?
14 A. Right. I didn't want to be stuck with that 15 again, because I didn't have Crosby with me.
16 Q. Now, at Crabby Bill's, was that another one 17 that you had hoped Crosby could attend, but he didn't?
18 You mentioned earlier -- 19 A. That was just a contact. I think it was 20 contact.
21 Q. But marijuana was passed around in the car 22 when you left, right?
23 A. Yes.
24 Q. Were these executives that Mr. Prince was 25 with?
92 1 A. No.
2 Q. Were these business executives?
3 A. No, they weren't.
4 Q. Well, did you have -- all right. We've 5 established the concert, Crabby Bill's and possibly 6 Wilson's. Any other contact with Mr. Prince during 7 the -- we'll call them the Crosby visits?
8 A. I made several telephone contacts with him.
9 Q. Did he have a way to reach you, if he needed?
10 A. Yes. I have a cellular telephone and he had 11 my number.
12 Q. And he had your number?
13 A. Yeah. I even had a card made up with a 14 fictitious business on it -- 15 Q. But it had the right number?
16 A. -- with the number on it.
17 Q. Where else did you meet with him?
18 What about some people from Mississippi being 19 in town?
20 A. Tennessee.
21 Q. Tennessee.
22 A. I was wrong. They were from Tennessee.
23 Q. Tell me about that.
24 A. Two friends of his -- two friends of his 25 girlfriend's visited.
93 1 Q. And when was this time frame?
2 A. I believe that was around -- that was the 3 time we went to -- to the restaurant and then went 4 down to the club that same night.
5 Q. That's the Crabby Bill's night?
6 A. Uh-huh.
7 Q. So the woman that -- 8 A. They were there.
9 Q. -- lit the joint was the person from 10 Tennessee?
11 A. Yes.
12 Q. These were business executives?
13 A. No. No, they're not. They were people who 14 worked for businesses -- pretty big companies in 15 Tennessee.
16 Q. All right.
17 A. But they're not executives. I think one is a 18 secretary and the other one's -- one is a -- I'm not 19 sure, exactly, what the other one does. But they both 20 work for very large companies, very large 21 corporations.
22 Q. Any other visits you can recall with Mr.
23 Prince?
24 A. Not without my notes. There were a few more.
25 Q. You think there were more, but you just can't 94 1 remember them now?
2 A. Possibly.
3 Q. Do they include marijuana?
4 A. Yes.
5 Q. Okay.
6 MR. de VLAMING: Would your reports say that?
7 In other words, if you did simulate marijuana, would 8 you say it in the report?
9 THE DEPONENT: Yes. Well, I would -- 10 possibly. I think I did?
11 MR. de VLAMING: Okay.
12 BY MRS. WARDELL:
13 Q. Did you make a habit of going home each and 14 every night and documenting what you all did when it 15 was fresh in your mind?
16 A. I would go to my room and put it in my 17 laptop.
18 Q. And do it?
19 A. Yes.
20 Q. Daily, though, or nightly?
21 A. Every single day, every time.
22 Q. You didn't wait until the end of the week and 23 summarize a week's work?
24 A. Immediately, first thing I'd do.
25 Q. Okay.
95 1 MR. JOHNSON: The notes are broken down in 2 time frames.
3 Lydia, I can't ask questions. But do you 4 mind me just giving you background to help? A lot of 5 what he's doing, he's working off the top of his head 6 because he doesn't have the notes in front of him. He 7 was asked by Denis, how many times did you go out 8 there before you had contact, and he said 20, 25, I'm 9 guessing. It was 11 before contact, 18 before he saw 10 any criminal activity. Different times where he's out 11 there, you know. These were approximations, and I 12 just want you to understand.
13 MRS. WARDELL: I mean, I appreciate what 14 you're doing, but -- 15 MR. JOHNSON: Yeah. We need the reports.
16 MRS. WARDELL: -- perhaps you shouldn't be, 17 you know, filling in the missing holes. Mr. Gaston 18 needs to fill them in or we need to come back later 19 after he's had the opportunity to read the reports.
20 BY MRS. WARDELL:
21 Q. What was your initial reason from dropping by 22 Mr. Prince's house the first time?
23 A. Well, he'd invite me over and over. And 24 eventually, you're going to keep getting invitations 25 and they're going to get suspicious of why you don't 96 1 stop by. So contact was to maintain -- to maintain 2 contact and to maintain the investigation, to keep 3 substance in it.
4 Q. Did you know they were going to be home or 5 were you taking a chance?
6 A. I took a chance.
7 Q. And back to the car incident at Wilson's.
8 Did they offer you drugs at the car?
9 A. Yes.
10 Q. And how did you handle that?
11 A. I would tell them, no, I can't do it right 12 now, I'm getting ready to take a drug test for a job.
13 Q. How many times do you think you -- 14 A. I said that for quite a few times until I -- 15 I told them when school lets out in the summer, you 16 know, because I'm looking for a job in the school 17 system and everything, and they were going to -- 18 school lets out in the summer. That was it. Couldn't 19 do it. Couldn't hold that -- that wouldn't hold water 20 anymore.
21 Q. Were you ever given a direction by 22 Mr. Raftery that once you saw drugs, you were to back 23 off and not go back without law enforcement?
24 A. That occurred. I think the first time, that 25 didn't occur. What did occur was the thought that we 97 1 had to make contact with law enforcement. But the 2 second time, I was told to not make contact with him 3 again after that, because we have to get law 4 enforcement in. And he introduced me to Mr. Crosby.
5 Q. Okay. So my question -- 6 A. Raftery did.
7 Q. My question is: After being given that 8 directive, did you make contact with Mr. Prince?
9 A. No, not until we made contact with Detective 10 Crosby.
11 Q. Right, okay. That would be the April 7th 12 date Crosby is there. But then you did go back 13 subsequent times without Crosby?
14 A. In between that, you mean?
15 Q. Uh-huh.
16 A. I think once.
17 Q. Well, the concert, the dinner, the -- 18 A. Well, I'm not sure when those dates were.
19 There was a time when I was supposed to make contact 20 with Crosby and he couldn't -- I was left hanging. He 21 didn't show up. That happened twice. I was in the 22 area and I was talking to Crosby on the telephone and 23 he was telling me, yeah, I'll be there, I'll be there, 24 I may be late, but I'll be there. I'm making contact 25 with Jesse and Dee and expecting to meet with him, and 98 1 then I'd get a call from him and I'd have to get out 2 of it somehow.
3 Q. Did you communicate to Crosby what you saw at 4 Crabby Bill's, the concert and the other time at 5 Wilson's?
6 A. I believe I did. I believe so. Off the top 7 of my head, I can't tell you because it was over a 8 year ago. But I believe I did. I was in constant 9 contact with Crosby, once we were in contact with one 10 another.
11 MRS. WARDELL: Denis?
12 REDIRECT EXAMINATION 13 BY MR. de VLAMING:
14 Q. Did you ever see Jesse Prince physically 15 touch the marijuana plants that were growing at his 16 house?
17 A. No.
18 MR. de VLAMING: Let's go off the record for 19 one minute and then we can kind of summarize here a 20 little bit.
21 (At this time there was a discussion 22 off the record.)
23 MR. De VLAMING: Back on the record.
24 MRS. WARDELL: Were you done?
25 MR. De VLAMING: Yeah, pretty much.
99 1 RE-CROSS EXAMINATION 2 BY MRS. WARDELL:
3 Q. I want to know, when you made the statement 4 earlier in the depo that you looked at Jesse at the 5 meeting, the lunch meeting, and you said "do they know 6 what I know" and you said you thought, in your mind, 7 that you knew de Vlaming was on the case, and you're 8 like, I wonder if he knows what really is going on.
9 What are you talking about?
10 A. I'm thinking that there's no way in the world 11 that he's going to have an investigation going on and 12 have his attorney investigate this if he told him the 13 whole truth.
14 Q. That's my question to you: What is the whole 15 truth? What is it that you think -- what is it that 16 is out there that hasn't been said that causes you to 17 wonder?
18 A. I feel that -- well, everything that I'm 19 saying is true. Everything that is in my reports, 20 everything that I have told the officer, everything 21 that the officer has seen is true and factual. If 22 he's going to take his attorney through this circus 23 and then be found -- the truth be found, he's wasted 24 time for everybody and money. And that's why I asked 25 him that. I asked him that, you bought two 100 1 investigators to my backyard risking -- risking a 2 charge and all this and you don't think the truth is 3 going to be found. Have you told them everything.
4 That's what I'm thinking. And then he's got -- he's 5 got friends that he may end up dragging down with him.
6 Those thoughts were in my mind.
7 Q. Is there anything more to the "everything"
8 than what was discussed today? Are there some more 9 serious drug allegations out there that, for whatever 10 reasons, you haven't told us about?
11 A. No.
12 Q. Is there more serious drug use?
13 A. No, just a lot of it. Just a lot of it 14 and -- 15 Q. Can you put a number on the times you saw 16 Mr. Prince smoke marijuana?
17 A. Let's see. Anywhere between eight and 18 twelve.
19 Q. And of those, how many times did you 20 participate?
21 A. Maybe six to eight. You know, when that 22 question was -- when I asked him that question, in my 23 mind, I've dealt with cases where people have withheld 24 things from their attorney. And in the end, their 25 attorney finds out and they tell them, finally, the 101 1 truth and when it comes out, one way or the other, and 2 their attorney's, you know, are sitting there looking 3 and wanting to probably throw them out the window.
4 And I don't blame them.
5 And I'm not saying that you're that kind of 6 guy. But in my mind -- and I've done everything 7 exactly the way it should have been done. I don't lie 8 on deposition. I don't lie on report. I don't lie 9 under oath. And I'm not going to be disloyal to my 10 clients. So, you know, I'm not going to leave anybody 11 hanging. But I'm sorry, sir, I think he's left you 12 hanging.
13 Q. Were you ever given a directive to enter 14 Mr. Prince's residence and plant some marijuana?
15 A. I'm sorry? One more time.
16 Q. Were you ever given a directive as part of 17 your assignment to enter Mr. Prince's residence and 18 plant some marijuana?
19 A. Plant marijuana?
20 Q. Uh-huh.
21 A. Never.
22 Q. Did you participate in any way, whether Mr.
23 Prince was there or not, in putting marijuana plants 24 in pots?
25 A. No.
102 1 Q. Are you aware of anybody, whether it be 2 Mr. Fabrizio, Mr. Raftery or whoever else may be 3 behind your hire, being involved in planting marijuana 4 plants in Mr. Prince's -- 5 A. Absolutely not. They didn't have to. He 6 already had them in pots. There was even a time when 7 he said that the alarm went off when they were out of 8 town and the police were there, and they were afraid 9 that they would notice the plants. They didn't even 10 notice the plants. The police came and visited their 11 house, and the dog set the alarm off while they were 12 gone.
13 And they were afraid, so they got rid of a 14 plant. They got rid of the plants during that time 15 period. I don't know what they did with them. They 16 said that they had buried them. They said that they 17 had put them away and they hid them. And they're 18 back. They got them back again the day me and Mr.
19 Crosby had gone over there again. And we saw that.
20 Q. With regards to the ones that were in the 21 backyard that he told he had pulled up, did he 22 specifically lead you to believe that they were there 23 preexisting when he moved in or -- 24 A. He led us to believe that he took them from 25 the backyard, planted them in pots inside the pool 103 1 area and raised them from there.
2 Q. I'm talking about how they got to the 3 backyard in the first place. Did he lead you to 4 believe -- 5 A. Oh, no. He led me to believe that they were 6 there before they got there.
7 Q. In other words, the former owner left them?
8 A. Yes.
9 Q. And he -- carpe diem?
10 A. Yes.
11 MR. de VLAMING: And what?
12 MRS. WARDELL: Seized the day.
13 THE DEPONENT: Took them over.
14 MR. de VLAMING: Oh, didn't hear it.
15 MRS. WARDELL: Okay. Anything else?
16 MR. De VLAMING: No. No further questions.
17 Put him down for a read.
18 (At this time the deposition in the 19 above-captioned matter was concluded at 20 5:00 p.m.)
21 22 23 24 25 104 1 CERTIFICATE OF REPORTER 2 STATE OF FLORIDA ) 3 COUNTY OF PINELLAS ) 4 I, CRISSY CLADAKIS, Court Reporter, certify 5 that I was authorized to and did stenographically 6 report the foregoing deposition; and that the 7 transcript is a true record of the testimony given by 8 MR. JOHNSON.
9 I further certify that I am not a relative, 10 employee, attorney, or counsel of any of the parties, 11 nor am I a relative or employee of any of the parties' 12 attorney or counsel connected with the action, nor am 13 I financially interested in the action.
14 I, the undersigned authority, certify that 15 BARRY GASTON personally appeared before me and was 16 duly sworn.
17 WITNESS my hand and official seal this 17th 18 day of May, 2001.
19 20 21 Crissy Cladakis 22 Notary Public - State of Florida 23 My Commission No. CC 736558 24 Expires: April 23, 2002 25 ERRATA SHEET READING AND SIGNING OF DEPOSITION TO BE ATTACHED TO THE DEPOSITION OF BARRY GASTON TAKEN ON MAY 15, 2001, IN THE MATTER OF STATE OF FLORIDA VS.
JESSE PRINCE BY CRISSY CLADAKIS TO THE DEPONENT: IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE, THIS IS ATTACHED FOR YOUR INSPECTION AND SIGNATURE. ANY CHANGES IN THE DEPOSITION IN FORM OR SUBSTANCE WHICH YOU CARE TO MAKE ARE TO BE MADE ON THIS SHEET WITH YOUR REASON THEREFORE.
DO NOT WRITE ON THE DEPOSITION ITSELF RETURN THIS FORM AND THE ORIGINAL SIGNATURE PAGE WITHIN 14 DAYS TO D & D REPORTING SERVICE.
FOR THE STATE: Lydia Wardell, Esquire FOR MR. Prince: Denis de Vlaming, Esquire FOR MR. RAFTERY: Paul Duval Johnson, Esquire FOR MOXON & KOBRIN: Helena K. Kobrin, Esquire LINE & PAGE NO. CHANGE OR CORRECTION AND REASON ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ BARRY GASTON __________________________ Date ______________ DEPONENT'S CERTIFICATE I have read the foregoing transcript of my oral deposition taken on the date and at the location indicated on the title page of the deposition, and I certify that said transcript is true and correct, with the provisions that any errors appearing therein have been corrected by me by listing on a separate sheet as to page number, line and content of said error(s), and further indicating the language to be substituted.
I also understand that upon completion of the reading, signing and correcting of the transcript, I am to return this original signature page, my list of corrections and said file copy provided for my inspection to the person or company listed on the pre-addressed envelope provided to me.
I further understand that if I do not carry out the instructions stated above within thirty days from the date I receive the transcript, I automatically waive my right to read and Scientology the deposition.
DATE: _____________________ NAME: ____________________ BARRY GASTON MAY 15, 2001
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