1st of all, I want you to know that I'm not picking on your post, but I find a few things you said, interesting. Yes, I agree that Ron looking at 10-30, is not golden...but if he gets the 10, while others with less charges, (Hope), get longer sentences, well, there's a problem. & I don't think Ron is looking at anywhere near 30. I would like to see a fairness & logic here. If Hope 's crime was deemed worthy of a 15 year sentence, then where's the logic in Ron getting so many charges dropped? If he has been holding out on Haleigh, & that is his ace in the hole, I think he should have charges added, not dropped...& that goes for all of them, but especially Ron, because he was her father, & he was supposed to put her above all of these people. Also, he had custody, & it was his job to keep her safe, & it was his duty to seek justice for her death, not withhold information. & this is assuming that he wasn't responsible, but was in on the cover-up. Because realistically, what information, besides information on Haleigh, could be significant enough to get so many charges dropped? Also, you said that you find it interesting that LE is interested in testimony against Misty. Could you elaborate please? I try to keep an open mind, so I haven't ruled anybody out as a suspect, but Misty is the hardest one for me to pinpoint. Yes, I know she has lied, but so has everybody else, & they all seem to be self serving. I was wondering if there is anything in particular, that you think points to Misty's guilt. Thanks.
I will deal with your question about Misty first. Why do I suspect her? That's a no-brainer. She was the last person we know of to be with Haleigh. LE says her story contradicts physical evidence at the scene. LE has publicly stated that Misty has lied in her statements to LE about Haleigh. A look at her 9-1-1 call through the tool of statement analysis indicates deception in that call. Her brother Tommy puts himself, cousin Joe and Misty at the mobile home at the time of the disappearance. So Misty is the person responsible for Haleigh and she's already lying by the time she calls 9-1-1. Her brother has told his grandmother and LE that he, JO and Misty were all in the mobile home and that he was present when JO disposed of Haleigh's body. Her grandmother Flo Hollars believes she is guilty and may not have a conscience. Finally, LE claims that they are looking for testimony from Ron against Misty, presumably in the drug case, but perhaps in the matter of Haleigh. I find LE's willingness to deal with Ron "interesting" because it is a strong indicator that Misty is the target in the investigation and not Ron. Why would they deal with a child killer?
As to Ron's sentence potential in relation to Hope and the others, the American justice system works on plea bargains, sometimes just to avoid the expense of a trial and other times to obtain testimony. Hope made her own bed with her arrogant rants about not taking boot camp or whatever it was. Defendants who cooperate, keep their mouths shut, and let their attorney work on their behalf get better deals. The defendants in the drug case have not been charged as a group; their hearings have been separate, and it is likely that they have different levels of involvement in the drug case. We have just seen the sting tapes from the car. LE will have other evidence that shows who initiated and led the drug dealing, who did what and when. We don't have that evidence and information, and it is likely that we will never see it because in the end, everyone will plead out, perhaps even Misty. So we are not in a position to weigh either their relative involvement in the drug dealing or what LE received in terms of evidence or testimony in a plea deal. I would not presume, for example, that Misty had the lead role in the drug ring, even though I saw her tell Ron to "get in the car, baby."
WE do not know what evidence LE has against any of these individuals, other than what we have seen on video, which is probably the tip of the iceberg. And we don't know that any or all of these people will be in front of the same judge. As to the idea that charges "should be added, not dropped," the prosecutors are not in a position to "add" charges for which there is no evidence. The drug case is what it is--so many pills, so many sales, so much cash. Prosecutors can't just add charges because people don't like Ron Cummings. They do drop counts for many if not most cases for the reasons I state above.
I don't disagree that RC was foolish, and fatally so for Haleigh, in allowing Misty or any of the Croslins near his kids. That might make him foolish or negligent or just stupid. I see no evidence that he wasn't "seeking justice" for his daughter. I don't know why he married Misty, but certainly it is possible that he really believed Haleigh was abducted in the beginning (LE certainly thought it was possible) and wanted to believe that Misty was innocent. But all of these people are drug users and most are addicts, who predictably make disastrous choices in order to continue using. So speculation on their behavior is of limited value.
In a post a long while back, I took a look at RC's records in the various counties in which he has been arrested. He is certainly what would be classified as a petty criminal. I lived next door to a houseful of people like Ron--in and out of jail, rehab, etc., fighting with each other, their girlfriends and exes, exposing their kids to all of it. One stood in the yard with a shotgun and threatened to shoot himself in front of the kids, high as a kite. He spent 30 days in rehab, not a day in jail. We finally sold our house and moved. But it never occurred to me that these people were "golden" because they weren't doing hard time in prison. even though they have records a mile long. Like the people in this case, they are addicts and incidentally drug dealers to support their habits. That's a far cry from the two teenagers in my city who broke into a house, interrupted a birthday party and killed three people, one because he lived in the wrong neighborhood. Or the three kids younger than Misty who shot and killed a fireman walking his dog.
If RC was a golden boy, he wouldn't be looking at prison. He wouldn't be in jail for dealing drugs. He was a drug abuser and likely addict who finally ended where all addicts end up if they don't quit or die. All that said, I am still waiting for the FIRST indication from LE that he is a target of the investigation into Haleigh's presumed death. "Holding out information on Haleigh" would not be any sort of "ace in the hole" for RC. That "holding out" is precisely what has Misty and probably Tommy in the crosshairs of LE at this very moment. It seems to me that you are starting with the presumption that RC knows what happened to Haleigh, as in "was involved or is covering up for Misty." If he doesn't know what happened--if he has heard conflicting stories and lies just as LE has--then many things he said and observed while living with and/or married to Misty may help LE make a case against her.
He will know things that LE has no way of knowing. Nothing in this case makes sense if we start with the idea that RC is some Svengali, some mastermind that has mesmerized the whole Croslin clan and the LE in three or four Florida counties. He finally got caught doing a crime with a hardcore mandatory minimum and ended up in prison. End of story. If LE thought he killed Haleigh, they would be offering
Misty the biggest of sweetheart deals to close the case. But it's Misty, her brother, her father and her mother are all looking at jail or prison.
For example, we know that Misty was the only one who participated in all of the transactions; Misty was not a supplier, but a liaison, a go between; the drugs came from various sources, a different one in almost each instance; Tommy was only involved in the first transaction; Ron didn't come aboard until the third; etc.