2010.05.13 -Ronald & Hank Jr. Hearing: Ron negotiating for 15yr sentence, Trial 7/19

[dodie20]

Maybe we can see something like this in a bit.........

"Tommy Croslin was due in court today but because he is no pi$$ed at the news of Ronald Cummings making a plea deal, his court appearance has been rescheduled due to the fact he is now spilling his guts about the Haleigh Cummings case."

I don't see that happening. Tommy's gonna be looking out for Tommy, regardless of what Ronald does.

 

[truckengirl]

Anyone hear anything on Tommy being in court yet? At work and need updates please.

 

[dodie20]

Didn't Hope get 15 years? She got a raw deal if Ron ends up somehow getting 15 years and I know she had outstanding recent priors. But I simply do NOT understand what the SA needs Ron to testify to. MOO

exactly. anything they can get from him, should've already been gotten from that undercover cop.

 

[Whisperer]

RC is a slick character. He wants to see what misty and tommy are going to say or do. He is waiting to see if the State brings charges on them. This will garner sympathy for him if ths State arrests them.

Rc had mentioned that St Johns Courts are much tougher than Putnam County. Why did he get the opportunity to be the only one jailed in Putnam County?

RC will never go to trial but he wil ride it out to the last minute.

 

[aoibhinn]

bbm--this makes sense but in my mind, I can turn the same statement around and interchange Misty with Tommy or Ron. Seems they all could "rat" out each other but it sounds like Shoemaker and Ron think they have something really worthwhile for the SA. But, if it was so good, wouldn't they be happy to get these cases off the docket asap? :waitasec:

I'm wondering also if it's a lot of spin by Shoemaker. After all, he did have to admit the deal attempt had stalled on Wednesday. Seems they weren't interested but Shoemaker is putting all the right propaganda out there and getting the public to try and see Ron in a positive light. Look at these statements from today:

"In exchange for testimony at possible trials of his former wife and her brother, Ronald Cummings ..."

Ron is willing to testify against the woman he married.

"When this first happened, law enforcement always said that Misty feels comfortable about you so she's not going to talk," Shoemaker said, described what Cummings had told him. "They would say, Well, if you weren't married to her, then she would talk.
"There has always been kind of a 'get her out of her element and she may talk more,'" the lawyer added. "I guess getting her in jail is a way of getting her out of her comfort zone."

Bolded - Shoemaker relating Ron's thought's on the matter? And once again explaining why he married and divorced her?

"He said Cummings, 26, was a realistic person.
"You can only work with the hand you are dealt," he said."

Where's the volatile, heavily-armed and threatening lunatic we have all grown to know and love. Hmm? I now see his statement about being disappointed in Misty, in a new light.

Ron is sporting a new military style haircut as well, looking much healthier.

In the opposite corner you have Misty and Tommy, who are singing, but how much of that information has been valuable or true? All of their personal problems and squabbles are aired and they have even less credibility as a result. Their lawyers aren't talking them up in any way. They're creating the exact opposite impression.

Is it possible that by being seen as trying co-operate with the prosecution, getting the right statements out there and an image change might be Shoemaker's way of getting his client to be seen in the best light possible. If it came to a jury trial it might matter a lot.

I've no idea how courts work, so all of this is pure speculation.

 

[Whisperer]

Well we know misty and tommy are not going to go to trial on any drug deal. What trial is rc or Shoey speaking about? IF rc had evidence that these two were involved in the crime of Haliegh, he should have spoken sixteen months ago.

Shoemaker and ron are playing games. They put that out there to scare tommy and misty. ron is still playing Billy-Barney-Bad Azz.

 

[dodie20]

If Misty is involved, nothing will snap her out of it, IMO. Why confess to a murder when you can go to prison on drug charges instead? LE may just want to send her to prison with the longest sentence possible for that reason.

but that's just not right. If they have evidence that she killed Haleigh, they need to get her for that. If they just think that she PROBABLY killed Haleigh, then they need to look at all of their options-because they really, really, need to solve this case, & not be satisfied with a drug sentence. Haleigh deserves justice.

 

[LaLaw2000]

I just hope there is no deal of any kind for Ronald. He has had his share of the deals in the past when he was caught and slid out of it.

JMO

 

[aoibhinn]

Well we know misty and tommy are not going to go to trial on any drug deal. What trial is rc or Shoey speaking about?

Hey Whisperer, it's possible trials. Very carefully worded statement by Shoemaker.

In exchange for testimony at possible trials of his former wife and her brother, Ronald Cummings is negotiating for a 15-year sentence on drug-trafficking charges, his attorney said this morning.

http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/2010-05-13/story/haleighs-father-negotiating-15-year-sentence-drug-case

.

 

[impatientredhead]

Didn't Hope get 15 years? She got a raw deal if Ron ends up somehow getting 15 years and I know she had outstanding recent priors. But I simply do NOT understand what the SA needs Ron to testify to. MOO

She did get a raw deal but she took a no contest instead of trying to negotiate a deal or go to trial. She sealed her own fate on that one.

The upside for the state with Ron testifying is that they save the cost of one trial, and should the remote possibility that the tapes get thrown out of court at another trial or one of them tries to appeal their sentence Ron's testimony will come into play there.

I think it does show that the state does not believe Ron killed Haleigh though. They are probably leveraging Misty by telling her if she doesn't do something here soon she is going to go to trial with the tape and testimony against her and she will wish she could get 25 years.

 

[Whisperer]

So the game is ON..The next move would be for tommy to ask for a continuance. Wil the judge in Stl Johns be as kind?

 

[raisincharlie]

So the game is ON..The next move would be for tommy to ask for a continuance. Wil the judge in Stl Johns be as kind?

Tommy was brought to Putnam this am - all of his charges are in Putnam. Only Donna and Misty have charges in St. John's county.

 

[Quiche]

What could be taking so long? :waitasec:

 

[Dr.Fessel]

I thought Tommy's hearing was in Putnam?

 

[Bipolar Express]

What could be taking so long? :waitasec:

Hmmm...last minute phone calls? A lot of scrambling going on, last minute scrambling perhaps? Here we go....hopefully.

 

[maureen718]

I am wondering how many inmates were due in Putman County court at 1:30pm today versus how many were due in court @ 9am this morning with ron. By 9:30am we had news of what went on w/ ronald, it's been over two hours since tommy was brought into court and no news. So many possibilities as to what is going on, 1)tons of inmates in court today ahead of tommy
2)tommy is not news worthy and we will have to wait for some media outlet to air with breaking news weeks from now
3)LE has told everyone in the courtroom today to swear silence on anything they have heard about tommy until they release the info along with the info from PDM on ron's work hours
4)tommy has a deal worked out and it's going down today
5)I am overly vested in this case and am too impatient to wait for a report

 

[grandmaj]

LOL all of the talking heads and lawyers on the talk shows say that the one to talk first gets the deal. I think in this case the one who gives up the most information on Haleigh is going to get the deal. Ronald may have found his terms for negotiation were less than worthy of a deal.

 

[Helplessly Hoping]

a couple of pix from today:

http://jacksonville.com/news/crime/...father-negotiating-15-year-sentence-drug-case

 

[Whisperer]

Tommy was brought to Putnam this am - all of his charges are in Putnam. Only Donna and Misty have charges in St. John's county.

Thanks raisin.

 

[Donjeta]

Shoemaker's statement about his client hoping he could do better but you've got to make do with the cards that you're dealt annoys me.

As far as I'm concerned his client dealt his own cards in the drug case and quite possibly pocketed some other cards as well.