Officer Carter case re-filed

BY KAUSTUV BASU • FLORIDA TODAY • November 23, 2010

The State Attorney's Office dropped original charges against former Melbourne police officer Frank Carter but re-filed a part of the case against him.

Carter was arrested in January by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement on charges related to writing false tickets on three traffic stops. The 43-year-old was fired by the Melbourne Police Department in August after an internal investigation.

Defense attorney Kepler Funk characterized Carter's prosecution as political and the state's case against Carter as weak.

"After our office conducted a thorough legal analysis, not one based on political and personal motivation, the state, on the eve of trial, dismissed the case against Frank Carter," Funk said.

Carter's trial was scheduled for next Monday after his attorneys filed a demand for a speedy trial.

Chris White, the chief of the staff of the Seminole State Attorney's Office, said the dropping and re-filing was a tactical move. His office, which is part of the 18th Judicial Circuit with Brevard, is prosecuting the case because Carter was familiar to many assistant state attorneys in Brevard in his role as a police officer.

Last month, Carter's attorneys requested the judge sever the original charges against him, meaning that the charges based on three traffic stops became three separate cases.

"It was improperly done, the way they did it. The judge agreed with me," Funk said.

White said when the single case was separated into three, Judge Robert Burger decided to go forward on one of them at the defense's request.

White did not say whether the state will pursue the two other cases.

"We will present our case in court and reserve our comments until then," he said.

Carter's arrest was controversial, with the Melbourne chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police saying that Melbourne Police Chief Donald Carey was targeting Carter, who had worked for Melbourne police for more than two decades. Carey, who has since left the department, in turn called Carter "a bad cop."