PD Seeks Dismissal of 6 Cases, Says Defendants Were Arrested During 'Voyeuristic Reality TV Show'
A public defender in Florida is seeking the dismissal of six criminal cases, contending that the defendants were arrested during the filming of a “voyeuristic reality television show” by Broward County sheriff’s deputies who received financial incentives from producers.
The show, Police Women of Broward County, is aired by TLC/Discovery Channel. Assistant Chief Public Defender Gordon Weekes Jr. contends in a motion filed last week for one of the six cases that the cases are tainted because the arrests were made during filmed episodes and represent “manufactured, rather than detected, crime for the benefit of the lowest form of entertainment: a voyeuristic reality television show,” the South Florida Sun Sentinel reports.
Although the sheriff’s office said officers were paid by the show for off-duty time, Weekes argues that the compensation they received creates “what amounts to a financial stake in the defendant’s arrest.”
The arresting officer in the case of Kevin Wallace, which is at issue in the motion, received a payment of $7,500 from the show in 2009 and was given the right to pursue endorsement opportunities, the article says. Wallace was arrested on camera last February.
