Teen’s lawyer questions timing of obstruction charge

A woman the State Attorney’s Office filed obstruction and false identification charges against last Friday was granted immunity three months ago in exchange for her testimony against the son of a Miami-Dade County judge’s son accused of driving under the influence and hit and run, the woman’s attorney said.

The Monroe County State Attorney’s Office issued a summons to Savanna Hamilton, 18, on Sept. 9 on charges she lied to police about the June 27 crash in Tavernier, and that she had a fake driver’s license in her purse that night. Florida Highway Patrol troopers and Monroe County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrested the 17-year-old son of Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Victoria Brennan after he was found in the driver’s seat of his BMW when it came to a stop after hitting a car on U.S. 1 and two parked cars on the side of the road.

Prosecutors now say another man was driving and ran away after the crash, and that Hamilton and Brennan’s son lied to police about who was behind the wheel.

The State Attorney’s Office on Sept. 7 dropped all five DUI and property-damage charges against Brennan’s son. On Sept. 9, the day after The Reporter/Keynoter published an article about the charges being dropped, the State Attorney’s Office issued the obstruction charge against Hamilton. Her attorney, Rayme Suarez, said she had no idea State Attorney Catherine Vogel’s office was considering charging her client and she’s puzzled by the timing.

“Why didn’t the state charge her in June if it was such an issue,” Suarez said. “In my 19 years as an attorney, I have never seen anything like this. To find out three months later is very unprofessional on the part of the State Attorney’s Office. They’re being vindictive against her for some reason.”

Suarez said prosecutors asked Hamilton to testify about the crash in July and her client complied.

“The state gave her immunity. She testified and answered all their questions back in July, and now in September, they’re filing charges against her,” Suarez said.

Vogel said she does not know of any immunity deal made between her prosecutors and Hamilton.

“Not that I’m aware of,” she said.

Prosecutors based their decision to drop the DUI charges against Brennan’s son on body camera footage recorded by Sheriff’s Office deputies who responded to the June 27 crash, which happened around mile marker 92, on the ocean side of U.S. 1. Vogel released a 27-page document Sept. 9 with transcripts from some of the body camera footage.

Three people told deputies they saw Brennan’s son get into the driver’s seat after Hamilton and another male occupant fled the scene, indicating the teen Brennan was not the driver. Hamilton was caught by an off-duty Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission police officer and returned to the crash scene.

Police never found the other man, but Hamilton named him several times to police that night and said she and the male were former schoolmates at Coral Shores High School, from where she graduated last spring.

“She told them everything they asked, they just don’t like the answers now,” Suarez said. “This is for a jury to decide.”

It’s not clear if police or prosecutors ever questioned the man to ask him if he was the driver or a passenger of the BMW, which is registered to Victoria Brennan. The Reporter/Keynoter is not naming him since he has not been arrested or charged.

“Any further investigation into the possible case against” him “at this point is an open and pending investigation and we are unable to comment,” Vogel said.

The case has become a political problem for Vogel, who is running for re-election in November. Vogel addressed it publicly only after stories in The Reporter/Keynoter and the Miami Herald were published in late August about the incident, and one that happened the next night involving Victoria Brennan.

The Sheriff’s Office obtained an arrest warrant in July for Victoria Brennan, who witnesses say bashed the windows out of a Chevy pickup truck parked outside of a Key Largo home she owns on June 28. Police say she was angry after driving down from the mainland to deal with her son’s arrest the night before, only to find three of his friends still partying at her house a day later. The pickup truck belonged to one of the friends, who initially wanted to press charges, but declined after Brennan agreed to pay for the damage to his truck.

Vogel recused her office from Victoria Brennan’s case, she said, because the two worked as prosecutors together in Miami-Dade in the 1990s. In a letter to Gov. Rick Scott’s office, Vogel also stated she wanted out of the case because one of her prosecutors used to date Brennan. The case was transferred to the Lee County State Attorney’s Office, which declined to prosecute Brennan earlier this month.

This story was originally published September 16, 2016 at 9:46 AM with the headline "Teen’s lawyer questions timing of obstruction charge."