FALSE STATEMENTS MADE IN THE DADE COUNTY FLORIDA STATE ATTORNEY’S 3/17/17 WRITTEN DECISION TO NOT PROSECUTE DARREN RAINEY’S KILLERS

Katherine Fernandez Rundle

In this blog I’m going to address numerous statements made by the Dade County Florida State Attorney in her 3/17/17 written decision to not prosecute Darren Rainey’s killers.  The Dade County State Attorney’s statements that I’m about to address are somewhat trivial, but I feel I should give them some attention.  Why?  Because they add up to more attempts to cover up Darren Rainey’s murder.  

All the page references herein are to the Dade County Florida State Attorney’s 3/17/17 written decision to not prosecute Rainey’s killers.

1. The last sentence on page 30 says I asked “inmate (Daniel) Medbury if he would talk with reporters.”  Rainey was killed on 6/23/12.  The possibly hundreds of pages of grievances and letters I wrote between July 2012 and February 2014 on the Rainey murder and the events that happened at Dade C.I., will show not one reference to the media.  My writings after March 2014  show hundreds, if not thousands of references to the media.  What does this show?  It shows I never thought about contacting the media between July 2012 and February 2014.  To further prove that I never thought about contacting the media prior to February 2014, not one media outlet in the World will say I contacted them prior to February 2014.  The first media outlet I contacted was in February 2014 and it was through another person.  That media outlet was the Miami Herald newspaper, the Dade County Florida State Attorney could easily verify through Florida Department of Corrections (FDC) Housing Logs and Records that I haven’t been incarcerated with or communicated with Daniel Medberry since prior to December 2012.  Since I never thought about contacting the media in 2012, I would’ve never asked Medberry if he’d talk to reporters.  Again, I never thought about communicating with media / reporters prior to February, 2014.  I did give the Miami Herald in 2014 Daniel Medberry’s name, but since I never spoke with Medberry from December 2012 till the day I’m writing this blog, I never had a chance to bring up the media to Medberry.  I could be wrong, but I don’t believe Medberry made this claim.
2. In the first paragraph on page 43, it says Gregory Shevlin didn’t “have any direct knowledge of the death of inmate Rainey.”  I explained in detail in a blog I wrote just on Shevlin how I believe Shevlin was in fear of his life when the police questioned Shevlin about Rainey’s murder while he was still housed in the Dade C.I. TCU and how Shcvlin was one of the orderlies working on the night Rainey was killed.  
3. In the first sentence, second paragraph, on page 59 it says “inmate-interviews taken later were likely tainted or influenced by the statements made by inmate Hempstead as several of those interviewed mentioned they had spoken with inmate Hempstead.”  I underlined ‘likely’ because this is just the State Attorney’s bias opinion.  The State Attorney presents contradictive positions in her own document.  The Dade County State Attorney throughout her 3/17/17 written decision contends the testimony of other inmates and I were inconsistent.  In the above cited sentence on page 59 the State Attorney contends other inmate’s interviews were likely tainted or influenced by statements I made to the other inmate-witnesses.  If I allegedly “tainted or influenced” their testimony, then that would mean the statements of other inmates had to be consistent with mine.  I’m sure she wouldn’t allege I “tainted or influenced” their statements to be inconsistent with mine.  Because the Dade County State Attorney is attempting to twist the truth, her writings are full of obvious contradictions like this one.  
4. In the last two sentences of the third paragraph on page 61 it states “in addition, Hempstead asserted that Rainey began to scream as if in pain as well as kicked the shower door because the water in the shower was too hot.  Therefore, it is Hempstead’s position that Rainey was deliberately scalded in the shower by the excessively hot water.”  This is another lie and twisting of the facts by the Dade County State Attorney.  I’ve consistently stated from June 2012 in my diary, FDC Grievances, letters and interviews that inmates placed in the shower for punishment could avoid getting the hot water on their bodies, and that the primary punishment with the shower was the extreme heat and steam in the shower caused by the hot water.  I really don’t know what to say about this far-fetched lie and twisting of the facts by the Dade County State Attorney.
5. In the last paragraph of page 61 it states that I encouraged/solicited some of the inmates I spoke with to file complaints and contact the media.  It is a well-known fact that I did ask Daniel Medberry and Mark Joiner to file complaints on the Rainey case.  I didn’t ask any other inmates to do such because the majority of other inmate-witnesses were mentally unstable or very fearful.  If I could’ve spoke with Medberry or Joiner after I started talking with the media in 2014 I would’ve asked them to speak with the media, but to this day I haven’t got a chance to speak with them.  The last time I spoke with Medberry was prior to December 2012 and the last time I spoke with Joiner was January 2013.  Since I haven’t got a chance to speak with these inmates since the foregoing times, when I started talking with the media in 2014, I gave the media these inmates’ names.  This might just be a trivial lie by the Dade County State Attorney, but it’s still a lie.  
6. On page 64 the Dade County Florida State Attorney says I was incorrect in saying Ofc. Thompson found Rainey dead in the shower and that Ofc. Clarke actually found Rainey dead.  Since 2012 I stated in my diary, FDC grievances, letters and interviews, that Ofc. Thompson found Rainey dead, left Rainey dead on the shower floor for approximately eight minutes while Ofc. Thompson told Ofc. Clarke and his co-workers that Rainey was dead, and that Ofc. Clarke came back to the shower and acted like he found Rainey dead.  A review of the Dade County Florida State Attorney’s 3/17/17 written decision to not prosecute Rainey’s killers shows that the Dade County Florida State Attorney just chose to believe what the Dade C.I. staff said who killed Rainey (and have a reason to lie), over what I said (even though I have/had nothing to gain by speaking out in this case.)

These are some of the small lies and twisting of facts in the Dade County State Attorney’s written decision to not prosecute Rainey’s killers I wanted to address.  Please share this blog with your friends and with anybody you believe would like to join us in our fight for the value of life.  Please sign our petition on Change.org entitled THE LIFE OF BLACK, MENTALLY DISABLED MUSLIM PRISONER DARREN RAINEY DOES MATTER.

Harold Hempstead, 'Caged Crusader', Tennessee D.C., 2017

WHY AREN’T THERE ANY REFERENCES TO GREGORY SHEVLIN IN DADE C.I. OFC. WILLIAMS’ HOUSING UNIT LOG?

"In another blog I explained why inmate Gregory Shevlin was an important witness in the Darren Rainey murder and the events that happened with Shevlin on the night Rainey was murdered.
 In the Dade County Florida State Attorney’s 3/17/17  decision to not prosecute the staff who murdered Rainey, their ‘Exhibit One’ is Ofc. Williams’ Housing Unit Log from the night Rainey was murdered.  That log makes no reference to anything with Shevlin.  Did Ofc. Williams and the Dade C.I. staff working on the night Rainey was killed intentionally not place any references to Shevlin in the Housing Unit Log?  Ofc. Williams was the Booth Ofc. for the 4:00 pm till 12:00 am shift.  Did the Booth Ofc. for the 12:00 am till 4:00 pm shift make any references to what happened with Shevlin on the night Rainey was killed in her log for 12:00 am till 4:00 pm on 6/24/12?  Did the Dade County State Attorney and Miami-Dade Police Department investigate this issue?  If they didn’t, why not?  The log would aid in proving the events that happened on the night  Rainey was killed.
Please share this blog with your friends and anybody you believe would like to join us in our fight for justice.  Please sign our petition on Change.org entitled THE LIFE OF BLACK, MENTALLY DISABLED MUSLIM PRISONER DARREN RAINEY DOES MATTER."
Harold Hempstead, a.k.a. Caged Crusader, Tennessee D.C., May 2017.
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With corruption so endemic in our world, it often devolves upon citizens and prisoners to attempt to get the 'legitimate authorities' to uphold their own law and order.  Strange and ironic, yea, but true.

WHO IS GREGORY SHEVLIN? AN IMPORTANT WITNESS IN THE DARREN RAINEY MURDER CASE

Gregory Shevlin was one of the most worked orderlies in the Dade C.I. Transitional Care Unit in 2011 and 2012.  We worked together as orderlies more days than any other orderlies in the TCU in 2011 and 2012.  On the day Darren Rainey was killed Shevlin was one of the two orderlies working.  I didn’t know the events that happened with Shevlin on the night Rainey was murdered until a few days after Rainey’s murder.  On the day Rainey was murdered, Shevlin slept in Wing J1 and I slept in Wing J3 of the TCU.  A few days after Rainey was murdered, I was able to see Shevlin for the first time since Rainey’s murder where I could actually speak with him.  It was at a group meeting with several other inmates.  Shevlin was expressing to Dr Cesar and the rest of the group that he was mad because Sgt. Fanfan wrote him a Disciplinary Report for refusing to clean up the feaces in Darren Rainey’s cell on the night Rainey was killed.  Shevlin said that on the night Rainey was killed, after Ofc. Clarke took Rainey out of his cell to escort him to the shower, Sgt. Fanfan told Shevlin to clean Rainey’s cell.  Shevlin said that when he looked in Rainey’s cell and seen the feaces, he told Sgt. Fanfan he wasn’t “going to clean it up,” to “get Hempstead.”  

Sgt. Fanfan then told Shevlin to lockdown in his cell and that he would be receiving a Disciplinary Report for disobeying a verbal order.  Shevlin said when he got back to his cell he was mad so he took a razor and made a big cut on the top (not the palm) of his hand.  Shevlin further said that as Sgt. Fanfan and the security staff dealt with the issues going on with Darren Rainey, he (Shevlin) stood in his cell bleeding.  He said security staff refused to help him so he almost bleed out and had to go to the hospital late on the night Rainey was killed.  Shevlin knew I had been studying law for a long time, so while he was sharing the foregoing with all of us, he asked if I’d help him “fight the Disciplinary Report.”  He wanted to get it thrown-out.  I of course said yes.  I wanted to see the Disciplinary Report right away.  I knew the Disciplinary Report and the events that happened with Shevlin on the night Darren Rainey was killed was more evidence to prove Rainey’s murder.  

Gregory Shevlin’s nickname was ‘New York.’  He was a very loud and vocal inmate when he wanted to be.  The Disciplinary Report Shevlin received and the medical records relating to Shevlin cutting his hand on the night Rainey was killed are evidence.  Another thing that I’d like to point out is that when prison staff, medical staff and law enforcement were at Dade C.I. on the night of Rainey’s murder, Shevlin was in the same general area of all of these people.  If I know Gregory Shevlin like I believe I do, I can assure that my old vocal work-partner made sure that everybody he seen on the night Rainey was killed knew what was going on with him (Shevlin.)  

Finally, the cell Shevlin was housed in on the night Rainey was killed (even though it was in Wing J1) had a direct view of the shower Rainey was killed in (even though the shower was in Wing J3.)  What this means is, when Shevlin was in his cell bleeding on the night Rainey was killed, he could see (but not hear) everything going on with Rainey in Wing J3.

Obviously all of the foregoing made Gregory Shevlin a very important witness and all the documents relating to what happened with Shevlin are very important to prove Darren Rainey’s murder.  I provided all of this information and a lot more details to the MDPD, Dade County Medical Examiner and State Attorney, and Department of Justice and FBI.  When I seen on page 42 of the Dade County, Florida State Attorney’s 3/17/17 written decision to not prosecute Rainey’s killers, that the MDPD interviewed Shevlin while he was still housed in the Dade C.I. TCU, I could only say “why?”  

Why would the MDPD interview Shevlin while he was housed in the Dade C.I. TCU where inmate-patients had a long history of being murdered, tortured, starved and abused?  They knew Shevlin was an important witness and that he’d have to be willing to place his life in danger to speak about what he knew about the Darren Rainey murder while he was still housed in the TCU.  

Why would they place Shevlin’s life in danger?  The detective assigned to the Darren Rainey murder case had been in law enforcement for many, many years.  They knew what they were doing.  They knew they were placing Shevlin in danger.  They knew they were placing Shevlin in a position to not tell them (the police) everything he witnessed on the night Rainey was killed.  The MDPD interviewed Gregory Shevlin while he was housed in the Dade C.I. TCU because they didn’t want Shevlin to tell them what he witnessed and knew about the Rainey murder.  

Another thing I noticed when I was reading the Dade County State Attorney’s 3/17/17 decision to not prosecute Rainey’s killers was there was no references to the Disciplinary Report Shevlin received or any of the other documents relating to what happened with Shevlin on the night Rainey was killed.  I believe it’s reasonable to say the State Attorney, police and medical examiner in the Rainey case didn’t even try to obtain the foregoing report and documents.  Why?  Because these agencies didn’t want to prosecute Rainey’s killers so they didn’t take the investigation into Rainey’s murder serious and the police interviewed Shevlin in the Dade C.I. TCU knowing that would place him in a position to not talk about what he witnessed and knew about Rainey’s murder.  Why do you think all these problems have happened with the Rainey case that I’ve presented and will continue to present if it’s God’s will?  I believe the answer is obvious, and so obvious it really doesn’t require repeating because of how many times I mentioned it in other blogs.  However, because this might be the first blog you read that was written by me, I’m compelled to state again what I’ve stated in so many other blogs.  To the Dade County, Florida State Attorney and Miami-Dade Police Department, Rainey’s life wasn’t worth how much it’d cost to prosecute his killers.  Why?  Because Rainey came from a poor family, he was a black, mentally disabled Muslim prisoner, in prison for minor possession of drugs.  It shouldn’t matter what or who Rainey was.  What should matter is Rainey’s life had value.  What should matter is those who tortured and killed Rainey violated state and federal law.  Will you please join us in our quest for justice for the murder of Darren Rainey?  Will you please join us in our fight for the value of life?  Will you please share this blog with your friends and anybody you believe would like to join us in our fight for the value of life?  Will you please sign our petition on Change.org entitled THE LIFE OF BLACK, MENTALLY DISABLED MUSLIM PRISONER DARREN RAINEY DOES MATTER.

Harold Hempstead, a.k.a. Caged Crusader, Tennessee Dept. of Corrections, USA, April 2017