Florida Sentinel Bulletin

The jury selection process began on Monday in the trial of a young man accused of killing a baby four years ago. The state is seeking the death penalty in the trial that is expected to last about three weeks.

About 3:15 a.m., on the morning of May 5, 2009, Ms. Jasmine Bedwell contacted the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office and reported that her boyfriend had taken her baby during a fight. Police responded to the North Tampa apartment and learned that Richard Anthony McTear, Jr., 25, had allegedly thrown 3-month-old Emanuel Wesley Murray, Jr., down on the concrete. McTear is alleged to have then picked up the infant and fled the scene in a vehicle.

Ms. Bedwell also told police McTear was hiding in her apartment when she returned home and had threatened to kill both her and her son.

Emanuel W. Murray, Jr

Around 4:30 a.m., that morning, a passerby discovered the infant on Interstate 275, southbound at Fowler Avenue. The preliminary investigation indicated that the infant had been thrown from a vehicle. The body was identified as that of the infant Murray, who had been taken from his mother’s apartment.

Police launched a manhunt for McTear. He was located hiding in the backyard of an apartment in the Robles Park Public Housing Complex and was taken into custody by the Tampa Police Department.

McTear was charged with several crimes including first-degree murder, felony battery, burglary with battery, aggravated child abuse and kidnapping.

As McTear was being escorted to jail, reporters yelled questions at him about the crime. His response was, ‘It’s a dirty game.’

McTear, who has been in the Hillsborough County Jail since his arrest on May 5, 2009, has entered a not guilty plea.

BY IRIS B. HOLTON

Sentinel City Editor

Members of the Florida A & M University Band will return to the field after a 19-month suspension. The suspension was part of the fallout associated with the death of Robert Champion, a drum major who died as a result of hazing.

Last Saturday, several freshmen, along with current band members attended the audition and practiced into the evening. However, those who are chosen to participate in the world-renowned band will have to adhere to new rules.

One of those rules is the size of the band that once numbered 400 members. This year, only 256 members will be allowed to participate; students must maintain a 2.0 grade point average; and members will only be allowed to be band members for four years.

In respect of the memory of Robert Champion, this year, drum majors will be referred to as “field commanders.”

Champion, 26, died in November 2011 after the homecoming game. He became ill while on the bus in Orlando and complained of not being able to breathe. His death was ruled a homicide.

It was later determined that Champion had been a victim of hazing. He allegedly ran from one end of the bus to the other as fellow band members punched, hit, kicked, and struck him with sticks. Thirteen band members who took part in the hazing were arrested and charged. The charges ranged from misdemeanors to felony charges.

In addition to the arrests, the band was suspended indefinitely, the band director was terminated and the president of the college stepped down as well.

Champion’s parents also filed a lawsuit against the school.

Sylvester Young has been chosen as the new Band Director.

Alumnae Share Comments

Former FAMU band members shared their opinion about the lifting of the suspension.

Andre Walker said, “I’m so happy the suspension has been lifted. A group of us were singing “Oh, Happy Day” Saturday. There are about 150 to 200 members and they were looking good. There are a lot of changes that must take place and I’m happy about that.

“They must be a student at FAMU, they must maintain a 2.0 GPA, they are limited to 4 football season, which is wonderful because they need to get their education and get out of there. They have also changed the names of section leaders to “principals.”

“It should also be noted that B. K. Jackson, who graduated from Blake High School volunteered a lot of his time recruiting kids for the band. He really helped out in that position.”

Rufus Spencer said, “Some thinks it may be a little too soon for the band to return. They are going to get scrutinized coming back this soon. But, the longer you wait, the harder it will be to get the band back together and I understand that.

“I don’t really have an opinion, but the Band Director is going to have to be really strict and have no hitches at all. If anything comes up, it will be detrimental to the band.”

Terry Clark said, “I’m very excited to see the band is getting back on the field, especially knowing that the band will have different personnel than when Champion died.

“It’s good to know that they are not just letting anybody walk in off the street. They must be a student and must be attending classes. I’m especially glad that the new Band Director is a graduate of FAMU and I hope he maintains the high quality of the band, its music, and the precision in which the band performs. And, remember that the Marching 100 is often imitated, but never duplicated.”

BY LEON B. CREWS

Sentinel Staff Writer

For 6 years, Ray DeMoulin, who owns a barbershop and also founded the Renisha Foundation ( in honor of his late daughter), has featured free giveaways for children returning to school.

“We’ve always given away free haircuts, but we usually giveaway backpacks as well.

“This year, we decided to change things up, and offer 100 free regular haircuts (extra for special cuts).”

The free haircuts will be offered over a two-day period, beginning Wednesday, August 14^th, and again on Monday, August 19th at Whoo’s Nexxt Barbershop, 13753 North Nebraska Avenue.

“The way we decided to do it is have parents pick up a ticket prior to the 14^th for each child so we will be able to know when we have 100 kids selected,” said DeMoulin.

“We vow to continue to serve the community that has made me and other barbers successful.”

For more information about this event, call (813) 972-5207.

The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law recently honored Senator Arthenia L. Joyner (D-Tampa) with the “2013 Distinguished Civil Rights Advocate Award.”  The former President of the National Bar Association (NBA) received the prestigious award during a reception of the NBA’s 88th Annual Convention in Miami.

A private practice attorney for 44 years, longer than any other African American woman in Florida, Senator Joyner was the first female Black attorney in Hillsborough County, and will soon become the first African American woman leader of the Florida Senate Democratic Caucus. Senator Joyner also serves as of counsel to Vanguard Attorneys, a personal injury law firm in Tampa.

“Senator Joyner’s outstanding life’s work has eliminated barriers to social justice and economic opportunity and she has selflessly helped to move America toward justice,” Lawyers’ Committee President and Executive Director Barbara Arnwine said.

“Her breadth of accomplishments spans several decades and began when as a young woman in high school she participated in sit-ins to desegregate lunch counters at Woolworth in Tampa and joined protests to integrate the Florida Theatre in Tallahassee.”

Senator Joyner is also an advocate for international justice and human rights. She was a leader in the movement to end apartheid in South African and was jailed for protesting against apartheid.

Her long list of accomplishments includes legislation that would restrict the use of restraints on incarcerated women who are pregnant, in labor or postpartum and the expansion of early voting opportunities in Florida.

Senator Joyner has consistently maintained an exceptional commitment to public service activities, including leadership roles in support of women’s rights, diversity and access to justice, and has received numerous local, state and national awards for her dedication.

Since 2001, the Lawyers’ Committee, a non-partisan, non-profit formed in 1963 at the behest of President John F. Kennedy, has worked with the NBA to recognize those leaders who grant a voice to the unheard and open a pathway towards expanded civil rights.

Senator Joyner will now join such Distinguished Civil Rights Advocates Award honorees as: Louisiana Supreme Court Justice Bernette Johnson; U. S. District Court Judge Thelton E. Henderson, CNN, Marc Morial, James Ferguson, Julius Chambers, Fred D. Gray, Dennis Archer, Judge Horace T. Ward, Congresswoman Maxine Water, Cathy Hughes, Trayvon Martin’s parents, Sabrina Fulton and Tracy Martin, and family attorneys Natalie Williams, Daryl Parks and Ben Crump.

BY LIFE

Sentinel Freelance Writer

U. S. District Judge James Moody sentenced 27-year-old Rashia Wilson to 21 years in federal prison on July 16, 2013. A quick Google search shows there has been no shortage of news coverage about Rashia’s tax fraud case, since she was arrested in September 2012. Despite all of the media attention, Rashia said, “I’ve never told my side of the story, until now. A bunch of stuff about my case ain’t right; and I need people to know.”

Rashia is adamant that many things that have headlines across mainstream media about her, like the accusation she acquired $3m-$20M; the picture of her wearing a blonde wig and holding stacks of money; the suggestion that she called herself the “1^st Lady Of Tax Fraud” and taunted law enforcement in Facebook posts; her daughter’s supposed $30K birthday party; her possession of a $90K car; and other luxury things, are misrepresentations of the truth, unfounded facts or flat out lies.

Rashia does not deny getting caught up in the tax fraud hustle, but says she never saw anywhere near three million dollars. “The most I might’ve seen was maybe $200K,” Rashia said. “If I had three million dollars, you think my mother would still be living in run down, foreclosed apartments? I would’ve bought her a house. I would’ve bought her a car. She wouldn’t be riding around in a car with no A/C.”

Rashia said one reason the circumstances of her case were exaggerated was to make her look like a key figure in Tampa’s tax fraud scenario is because she can prove IRS employees, their families and their friends are the real tax fraud criminals. “It ain’t gon’ ever stop. IRS employees keep leaking new ways to do it every year,” she said.

Rashia then explained the picture of her holding the stacks of money, and the “1^st Lady” title associated with her. I never said I was the 1^st Lady Of Tax Fraud,” she said. “I had an entertainment company called 1^st Lady Entertainment. That’s where 1^st Lady comes from.” Rashia continued, “That picture of me with the blonde wig, holding the money was for a party my company was promoting. It didn’t have nothing to do with tax fraud. It was all dollar bills.” The blue straps, visible in a color copy of the photo, indicate Rashia was holding about thirteen hundred one dollar bills, nothing representative of the millions she’s been convicted of stealing.

As for the narrative that she bragged about tax fraud and immunity from prosecution for it, in posts on her Facebook page. “Who would do that? My Facebook page was hacked into on May 22, 2012, four months before I was indicted. If they would’ve showed the comments and not just the statuses, they would’ve seen I didn’t put that stuff on my page,” Rashia said. It is hardly a far-fetched notion that a Facebook user’s account would be hacked.

The Internet has dozens of tutorials on “How To Hack Facebook Pages,” which are routinely hacked. Pamela Wilson, Rashia’s mother, corroborated her daughter’s story, asserting “I was at the house when somebody hacked into her Facebook; I was there. She was crying when that stuff popped up on the computer.”

Rashia talked about the expensive birthday party and the luxury items that were mentioned in the news, including the car, saying while she could have purchased those things with revenue from 1^st Lady Entertainment, which promoted concerts with major acts like: OJ Juiceman, Trina, and Young Dro in ’09, Plies, Yo Gotti, Mystikal and Ace Hood in ’11 and Future in ’12 (the Plies show alone by her count netting her over $100K), most of those things were gifts. About the party she said, “everybody bought stuff for that party,” About her jewelry, “The only jewelry I paid for was my necklace.”

“I was in the entertainment business. People were always paying for this and that. Men bought me stuff.” According to Rashia, the man who purchased the $90K Audi is a Bradenton native, who played for the Philadelphia Eagles, at the time. “He bought the car on May 3, 2012. I wasn’t even in town when he bought it for me and I can prove I was out of town.

In a similar vein, Rashia said there is no proof the evidence used to convict her was in fact tied to her and not her co-defendant, who the Feds were after in the first place.

Rashia says she was convicted not because she is guilty as charged, but because she trusted her defense attorney who she says didn’t fight for her in court. She trusted him so much; he was paid a large sum of money for her defense, up front.

Rashia said, “I feel like he sold me out to the government. He was paid $45K up front to defend me and he didn’t do nothing to defend me. He told me I was guilty and he wasn’t going to trial.”

According to Rashia, $5,000 of that money was for the attorney to hire a computer expert to verify her Facebook account was hacked. That did not happen. Rashia’s mom said, the attorney, “Used the bipolar thing, when he got paid to use a computer expert.”

Rashia expected the attorney to file for an appeal within 14 days of her sentencing. Instead, he withdrew from her case. “This is f*cked up,” Rashia said. “People need to know these people lie. These people lie. People need to know.”

Attempts to interview the attorney were refused by his office that relayed he had no comment about Rashia Wilson.

With the 2013 year a little more than halfway over, the Sulphur Springs community has seen its share of violent crimes. There were two separate shootings this week, a day a part, and Tampa Police say a lack of cooperation has made their jobs difficult.

Tampa Police spokesperson, Janelle McGregor, the last three shootings in the Sulphur Springs area may stem from some prior criminal activity, and none of them were random incidents.

“We’re still trying to see if any of the victims know each other, and if the incidents are related.

“It’s hard to determine that when the victims won’t talk to the detectives and give them anything that will lead to an arrest. In situations like this, we have to rely on latent investigations, and tips from the community.”

McGregor said illegal drug activity may be responsible for some of the shootings.

“So far this year, there have been 13 aggravated battery incidents. By this time last year, we had 17, but for some, it may seem like more, because they’ve happened so close together.”

Sulphur Springs Community leaders, Joseph and Norma Robinson, said every community has issues to deal with.

“We hear different things, and there are good and bad things going on,” said Mr. Robinson.

“I’m not going to point fingers, and there has been a lot of progress made. We have to be mindful of the great things we’ve accomplished, and people have to stay positive.”

Mr. Robinson said they all believe Mayor Buckhorn has stepped up and done a great job in helping them restore their community, and they all appreciate it.

“As with all things, time will tell. We have to just live from now until we see the changes.

“The focus is now on the people and it’s nice to have resources available that weren’t here before. The police are addressing the violence, and we just keep talking about change. We believe Sulphur Springs is on the way up.”

The Tampa Bay Association of Black Journalists in partnership with the George Edgecomb Bar Association will host a Community Forum on the Trayvon Martin-George Zimmerman case at 7 p. m. Thursday, Aug. 8, at the University of South Florida’s Patel Center for Global Solutions.

The forum, which is free to the public, will examine Florida’s ‘Stand Your Ground’ law, media coverage of the Zimmerman trial and reflect on how the nation can move forward in the wake of the verdict.

Participants in a panel-style discussion will include: Dr. Carolyn Collins, president of the Hillsborough County Branch NAACP; Alec Hall, a federal public defender; Joe Caimino, a criminal defense attorney and the only Tampa resident on Gov. Rick Scott’s ‘Stand Your Ground’ Task Force; and Ben Montgomery, a Tampa Bay Times reporter who covered the case.

The event’s moderator is Eric Deggans, Tampa Bay Times’ TV/media critic and author of “Race-Baiter: How the Media Wields Dangerous Words to Divide a Nation.”

Jenise G. Morgan, President of the Tampa Bay Association of Black Journalist, said, “This should be an exciting discussion. We want to help the community understand the ‘Stand Your Ground’ law. I attended the National Association of Black Journalists Convention last week in Orlando and it seems as though many of the reporters are confused about the law and how it works.

“This will be an opportunity for the community to come together to see where we’re going as we move forward.”

Parking for the evening is free.

BY LEON B. CREWS

Sentinel Staff Writer

Early Friday morning, former Tampan, Andre White, convinced the opponents involved in the skateboarding rink (Bro Bowl) debate to sit down and talk.

With White acting as a mediator, Fred Hearns, who opposes the effort to have the Bro Bowl declared a historic landmark, met with Shannon Bruffett, who represents the Skateboarding Heritage Foundation, and initiated the effort to have the skateboarding rink at Perry C. Harvey Park declared as a historic landmark.

“After reading and hearing so much about this issue, I decided to try to build bridges to make peace,” said White.

“It’s not easy with so much hostility, but my dad came to me in a dream, and told me I needed to get involved by uniting everyone.”

So on Friday, White joined Bruffett and Hearns at the skateboarding rink where they joined hands in prayer. Afterwards, all three men walked across the street to have a closed-door meeting at Bethel Baptist Church.

After the meeting, Hearns said he thought it was productive, but now he’ll just have to see what’s going to happen in Washington, D.C.

“If it makes the National Register, I believe Shannon may be open to some compromise. If it doesn’t it will be up to the city and Tampa Housing Authority to decide the fate of the rink.

“In the meantime, I will continue to lobby for the nomination to not be approved.”

Hearns said he appreciated the effort of White bringing he and Bruffett together, and without that, he believes they would have never had any one-on-one contact.

“Andre was very instrumental in at least getting us to sit down and talk to each other. No one wants to end skateboarding. We  just want to relocate it in the park.”

Bruffett said all-in-all, Friday was a great day, and he thought it was great he and Hearns found some common ground.

“I was happy to walk away with some friends after the meeting. I still want to proceed and make sure all the  history is acknowledged, and just work together with everyone in a positive manner.

“I think we can find it in our hearts to work together, and come up with something that will benefit everyone. I’m saddened about all the negative press that has come out of this, because that’s not who I am.”

White said he believes things will work out, and he plans to contact Bruffett again.

“There are a lot of things that haven’t been discussed, and not on the table. I think people need to be more honest about what’s at stake.

“It seems everyone knows what’s at stake, with the exception of the public. There are a lot of issues here, and I believe we will get things straightened out.”

BY IRIS B. HOLTON

Sentinel City Editor

Five years ago, Mrs. Tonja Brickhouse assumed the duties of Director of the City of Tampa’s Solid Waste Department. On Friday, she submitted her letter of resignation, effective immediately.

While her resignation may seem abrupt to the public, Mrs. Brickhouse said the decision did not come without much prayer and thought. “I prayed on this and gave serious thought to my decision for about the last 6 months. But, when God says ‘it’s time,’ you move.

“I have worked in public service first in the Air Force for 26 years and then here for 5 years. It is time for me to work in other areas and use some of the gifts and talents that God has given me,” she said.

Mrs. Brickhouse said the Trayvon Martin issue had an affect on her decision as well. “We read about all of the murders and crimes, but if our people are not economically empowered, nothing changes. People need to use the gifts and talents that God has given them to try to break the cycle.”

During her tenure with the City of Tampa, Mrs. Brickhouse is proud of the things she has accomplished in the position. She points to the number of Solid Waste employees who are currently enrolled in college; the improvement of services, the positive changes in orders and standards, and the business transformation, to name a few.

“I’m really proud of being able to empower my employees. Many of them have returned to school and are doing positive things. It is encouraging to know that.”

A native of Virginia, Mrs. Brickhouse graduated from the University of Virginia, as an Economics and Psychology major. She then became a member of the U. S. Air Force, where she remained for the next 25 years.

Mrs. Brickhouse earned her Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Troy State University, and retired from the military in 2007. The family decided to make Tampa their home.

Her future plans include returning to school to obtain her doctorate degree in Economics and Psychology. Mrs. Brickhouse she has not decided on which institution of higher learning she will attend, but she is weighing her options. She does know that she will begin classes in 2014.

She also plans to continue her work with the Alpha House of Tampa.

Mrs. Brickhouse is married to Raymond Brickhouse, Sr. They are the parents of Raymond, Jr., and Ashley.