Transcripts For WHYY Frontline 20140827

There ought to be at least some visceral sense, what if she did commit suicide and hes in prison for the rest of his life . Narrator tonight on frontline. He was never treated like a suspect. He was treated like a brother. Narrator . A death in st. Augustine. Frontlinis made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. And by the corporation for public broadcasting. Major support for frontliis provided by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation, committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. More information is available at macfound. Org. Additional support is provided by the park foundation, dedicated to heightening Public Awareness of critical issues. The ford foundation, working with visionaries on the front lines of social change worldwide. At fordfoundation. Org. The wyncote foundation. And by the frontline journalism fund, with major support from jon and jo ann hagler. Michelle was the youngest of all of us of six and she was the one that we always looked out for. She was an amazing athlete. She loved to swim. She could climb a tree faster than anybody. Michelle was very funloving. She was very outgoing. I mean, michelle just embraced life. She loved being a mom, even though she was a single mom. She made the best out of that situation. She worked two jobs, sometimes three jobs, just to support alexis. Michelle went skydiving one time, and before she could go, she had to write a letter to lexi just in case something was to happen to her. My life began after having alexis, and the love i have for her could never be measured. But i want to make sure that if something does happen to me, that alexis will be loved, safe, happy, praised and protected. I dont like thinking about it, because i plan on being here for alexis for a long time. phone ringing 911. Narrator on september 2, 2010, 24yearold Michelle Oconnell died from a gunshot to the mouth. The gun belonged to her boyfriend, jeremy banks, a deputy with the st. Johns county Sheriffs Office in st. Augustine, florida. Everybodys coming, your friends are on the way. Narrator Deputy Debra Maynard was on duty that night. We stopped off at the hess station around 10 00 pm. Sergeant beaver was there with corporal shand and myself, and we were having some coffee. Call came out, signal 18, shot fired. Immediately, when you hear that its a shooting involving one of your own, you know, adrenalines pumping, and we jumped up from the table, ran out and got in our cars and started heading down us1. sirens wailing i pulled up on this side. We noticed the door open to the house. Went in through the kitchen, and first door on the left i noticed was open and is where i saw some feet laying on the floor. And i proceeded in the room and i saw deputy banks crouched down by the bathroom door and a female laying on the floor, some blood dripping from her face. There was a gun off to her left side, and i noticed the tac light was on and the holster was just right next to the gun on the floor. Narrator beside her on the carpet, investigators found a second bullet hole, and nearby, the shell casings. Sargeant beaver ordered me to go ahead and get jeremy out of the room. I smelled a lot of alcohol on jeremys breath at that point. And besides being blown away with the alcohol smell, he was just. growling he was angry. He wasnt sad. He was. growling i had never met michelle, so i wanted to positively id her, and i went out in the kitchen and her purse was on the counter. And i noticed there were two pill bottles with jeremy banks name on it on top of her purse. Narrator the bottles were empty, but inside her pocket were 50 pills, including the painkiller hydrocodone. Soon, other members of the st. Johns county Sheriffs Office, some of them offduty, began to arrive. Narrator these are lawenforcement interviews with officers who were on the scene that night. Narrator over the next two hours, deputy banks, seen here in the yellow tshirt, huddled with family and friends. He was then interviewed in a police car by his colleague, detective jessica hines. His offduty sergeant sat in on the interview. Narrator among the responding officers, a consensus developed Michelle Oconnell had taken her own life. Narrator and from detective hines, who interviewed deputy banks. At which point, Sergeant Beaver told corporal shand and myself to make family notifications. The police come here, i was told michelle killed herself, and i knew that. I said, thats not michelle, because michelle loved alexis. She never would have left her. crying its not right. She should still be here today. They didnt come to my house any later than maybe four hours after she had passed, and they were already saying that it was suicide. When i heard suicide, i mean, i was like, no way. I mean, michelle was planning her future. Michelle was not planning suicide. Narrator one of michelles brothers, sean oconnell, had been with her just hours earlier at a concert. I heard that michelle was dead, and that they think it was a suicide. I didnt believe it for one bit, so my friend drives me over about two blocks away, drops me off, and i start walking towards jeremys house. And theres four st. Johns county Sheriffs Office deputies and they said, sean, you need to go home right now. I said, i want an outside investigation. I dont want you guys to deal with this. He said, no, were not doing that. Narrator the next day, Michelle Oconnells body was delivered to the local medical examiner, dr. Frederick hobin. His autopsy report showed she had alcohol, but no other drugs, in her system. He found that the fatal bullet had severed her spinal cord. He also found a cut and bruise over her right eyelid and said it was caused by the ejected shell casing when the firearm was discharged. Dr. Hobins ruling bolstered the assumptions made on the scene by the Sheriffs Office Michelle Oconnell had committed suicide. The medical examiner submitted his report to the sheriff. I didnt believe that michelle killed herself, but i believed the Sheriffs Office. I believed that they investigated and they did a thorough job. I trusted the Sheriffs Office opinion immediately. Hello, my name is david shoar, your sheriff in st. Johns county, florida. Narrator david shoar has been elected st. Johns county sheriff three times, twice unopposed. Our core values are nonnegotiable integrity and treating people with dignity and respect. Narrator the sheriff holds one of the most powerful positions here in the historic city of st. Augustine. He is also one of the countys largest employers. My family, you know, worked for the Sheriffs Office. Narrator michelles brother scott was a deputy. Her mother, patty, worked there as a file clerk. And a year before she died, michelle met Deputy Jeremy banks. One of our brothers introduced michelle and jeremy, and at first, we were all happy. He was a deputy. You know, my mom was thrilled. He was in a policemans uniform. Thats what i first noticed was the policemans uniform, you know, and i said, shes found somebody whos going to protect her. But as the relationship progressed, and around the time that michelle moved in with jeremy, he disrespected her, controlled her. I heard less and less from michelle. She says, mom, its getting bad. And that was about a month or two before she died. And i said, just come home. Narrator the day she died, michelle told family and a friend she had decided to end the relationship. On september 2, 2010, michelle came over with alexis to have lunch. She loved this band paramore. I was going to watch alexis while she went to the concert with jeremy that night. And im making lunch, and i said, whats going on . She was really upset. And she said, chris, its so bad. And she just hung her head. I told her, dont go to the concert, and she said, no, im gonna go. I bought the tickets, im going, im gonna have a good time. But im breaking up with him tonight. Its done. Im leaving. Im going. And, um. crying im so sorry. That was the last time i saw her. crowd cheering my sister and i and my brother, we went to see paramore in concert at the st. Augustine amphitheatre. My sister showed up later with her boyfriend, michelle seemed really happy and excited, i was excited to go see a concert. Jeremy just looked like. He looked pissed off, so at about an hour into the concert, i basically said, hey, do you mind scooting over so i can hang out with my sister . If youre not gonna enjoy your time with her, then i sure as heck will. And so they switched seats, and then me and her just started rocking out and jamming in our seats and standing up and dancing and singing. You treat me just like another stranger its nice to meet you, sir i guess ill go. Narrator during the concert, michelle sent cryptic Text Messages to a number of people, including her sister, who was babysitting her daughter. Obviously, i was receiving these texts that night, and i was worried. I said, well, shes leaving him. Theres something going on. Narrator as the concert ended, michelle texted her sister one last time. crowd cheering narrator her final text was sent to her brother scott. Narrator jeremy banks would later tell investigators that michelle broke up with him on the way home from the concert. Narrator a little over an hour later, Michelle Oconnell was dead. The day after michelle died, i called the Sheriffs Department because i wanted to talk to someone and let them know that the suicide thought was wrong. Narrator Theresa Woodward knew michelle as happy and motivated. But michelles life had not been troublefree. As a teenager, she was put under the supervision of juvenile authorities for anger issues and depression, according to court records. But the records also show that with medication and counseling, her schoolwork and attitude had drastically improved. And then at age 20, a life changing event motherhood. Good job michelle was all about alexis and where she could take her and experiences she could give her and what she could do with her. She would never leave her daughter. She wouldnt do that. I dont know what happened, but thats not what happened. Narrator woodward says she had just promoted michelle at her Daycare Center to fulltime status with benefits. Michelles life was not spiraling down. She was happy with the changes she was making. The most difficult change she had to make was her personal life and her relationship with jeremy. And she was trying to do that carefully and thoughtfully. Narrator by all accounts, their relationship was stormy. Jeremy banks described it in an interview with detective hines 12 days after michelles death. Narrator he later said michelle told him shed said it just to bother him. But michelles family paints a darker picture of the relationship that banks was physically abusive, an accusation he denied in Law Enforcement interviews. I saw him be rough with her in my house. He acted like he was fooling around, and he took her down, like the way police take a person down. And it was a hardcore slam on the floor. And then when she complained, he immediately said, michelle, im not hurting you. My gut feeling was that he was hurting her. He put his knee up on her stomach and pressed really hard and slammed her. And she called me and shes like, chrissy, im bleeding. And i told her i was going to call an ambulance, and she said, please, youre going to make it hard on me, please, i dont want any trouble. She was so scared to go for help. I think she may have been influenced by the fact that he would lose his job and retaliate against her. Narrator but in the wake of her death, michelles family says the Sheriffs Office never gave them a chance to express their concerns. They didnt speak to our family at all. They didnt take our statements. They didnt ask us, you know, anything leading up to those days how my sister was or our interactions or, did i talk to her that night . Nobody asked. Narrator finally, several weeks after michelles death, the sheriffs point man on the case, lieutenant charles bradley, met with her brothers and sisters. Narrator the family disagreed with that interpretation of her texts. Narrator as far as the Sheriffs Office was concerned, the case was closed. Narrator but on the other side of the country, a solitary blogger had taken an interest in the story. I came across this tiny article that said that a deputys girlfriend had killed herself with his service weapon. Narrator writing under the alias cloudwriter, she began asking questions. My initial intention with the Michelle Oconnell case was to be sure that it wasnt hidden. But this was not a lets crucify jeremy banks, this was lets find out what happened. Narrator she started her blog behind the blue wall ten years ago, after a highprofile killing in tacoma, washington. In the midst of a nasty divorce from her husband, Tacoma Police chief david brame drove their children to gig harbor, parked near his wifes car, shot her, then himself. Narrator the murder of crystal brame in 2003 brought the issue of officerinvolved Domestic Violence to the publics attention. That day when crystal was shot, everything changed for me. I realized i wasnt the only one that was living afraid. I was married to a police officer, and it did get so that it wasnt a Good Relationship anymore. Since i started police Domestic Violence websites, ive acquired at least 1,000 cases of officer involved Domestic Violence. I wanted victims to see that there were other people, and i wanted departments to know its out in the open now. Narrator behind the blue wall became a place for Michelle Oconnells family and friends to vent their frustration with the sheriffs investigation. There would eventually be about 250 comments. We had an outlet finally for the first time, and we were just hoping that people would see how we were being treated, what was going on, that we had questions that werent being answered. And we got a lot of attention, and i think that put the pressure on the sheriff to finally do the right thing. Narrator after four months of pressure from the oconnells, and citing his own questions about his offices handling of the case, sheriff shoar asked for a new investigation to be done by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, fdle, a statewide agency that is often called in when theres a potential conflict of interest. Michelles mother patty was working at the Sheriffs Office at the time. We were having a meeting, sheriff shoar walks in and says, they will not find anything. I heard him say that. They will not find anything. Im special agent rusty rodgers from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Im a Law Enforcement officer and im conducting a criminal investigation, a Death Investigation into the death of your sister Michelle Oconnell. Narrator these are audio and video interviews the lead agent, rusty rodgers, conducted with members of the Sheriffs Department, including Michelle Oconnells brother scott. It felt like to us as a family that it was rushed, they had their mind made up that it was suicide, and that the investigation could have went a different way, and that he knew there were things in the past that he had done that she was gonna report, and it was going to come out that this Deputy Sheriff was not the true person he was claiming to be, and that he was actually a pretty bad person to her. Narrator many of the responding officers rodgers interviewed agreed with the sheriffs conclusion of suicide. Narrator others werent so sure. Narrator the story of Michelle Oconnell caught the attention of New York Times Investigative Reporter Walt Bogdanich, who, working with frontlinwas examining how Police Departments handle cases when there is the possibility of Domestic Violence in their own ranks. Ive been involved in crime scenes and crime scene reconstructions for about 41 years. Narrator we went over the case with jerry findley, whose findings were critical to the fdle investigation. I was contacted by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to examine the evidence in the case and see if we could determine, or if i could determine, the manner of death involved in this. Narrator findley analyzed the evidence the Sheriffs Office had collected, but never sent for analysis. Walt bogdanich testing showed that there was no blood found on the weapon. Is that unusual in your view . For the type of injuries she had, i found it very unusual. I wouldve expected to find some blood on the gun somewhere. Narrator findley said he also would have expected to find some of deputy banks dna on the gun. But there was just Michelle Oconnells dna, which he found suspicious because it was deputy banks regular service weapon. He also noted the location of the shell casings, which to him indicated that the shooter fired with the left hand. Michelle oconnell was right handed; jeremy banks is left handed. And as for the injury to Michelle Oconnells right eyelid. I think that the injury above her right eye was caused by the front sight of the weapon, which is the same size as the injury, which is eight millimeters. Bogdanich do you believe Michelle Oconnell committed suicide . Based on the evidence thats present, i think its more consistent with homicide than suicide, the physical evidence. Narrator one of the most important discoveries by fdle was two women who said they had heard screams the night Michelle Oconnell died. The Sheriffs Office had never canvassed the neighborhood after the shooting, and the women had never reported it. We were in the garage having a cigarette. We heard some arguing, so thats what initially brought us even out of the garage. And we walked over here so we could. That the arguing was coming from that direction. Bogdanich over there between the two houses . Between the house and the fence. We knew it was coming from right over there in that open patch. At first, i couldnt tell who it was, but one voice was higher than the other one and then one was real deep. And then we heard, um, we heard a woman yell for help, and then we heard a gunshot. And then there was another yell for help, and then another gunshot. Bogdanich and then there was silence . And then there was silence. There was no commotion, no nothing. It seemed like a long. It was probably ten, maybe 15 minutes, and then the sirens came. Thats why we didnt call anybody. I knew somebody was coming. Bogdanich what did you think was happening . Well, i didnt know if it was an accident or, you know. I didnt know what had happened, but i knew it was help. Plain as plain can be, it was help. Bogdanich what kind of help was it when she yelled . What was your sense of her emotional. There was something wrong, something happened. And then the gunshot . You knew something was wrong. There was nothing playful. Nothing. It was somebody that was scared. Narrator the womens testimony was considered so important, fdle asked the secret service to give them lie detector tests. Both passed. Agent rodgers presented his findings to the medical examiner dr. Hobin, who had initially ruled michelles death a suicide. Hobin said the witness accounts were so persuasive that he changed his mind. He explained to a local reporter. Well, i became convinced that it was probably a homicide. Narrator and as he noted in this document, i amended michelles death certificate by indicating that she was shot by another person and that the manner of death was homicide. Fdle handed over the results of their investigation to the local prosecutor, r. J. Larizza. Investigators from his office soon asked the oconnells permission to investigate even further. At one point, they say to my mother, we may need to exhume. My sisters body. And i immediately said yes, because i knew, i said, theyre gonna find something thats missing, that they overlooked. And they said, fine, we will get in touch with you, we will give you papers that you have to sign. Weeks go by, nobody calls me. Narrator behind the scenes, the case was unraveling. Though he declined to be interviewed on camera, dr. Hobin told us that larizza asked him to hold off from filing the amended homicide finding because the case was about to take a new direction. And then larrizza asked to be recused, citing his offices close professional relationship with the Sheriffs Office. Now all of a sudden he wants out of the case, and it makes us think, whats going on . Why do you want out . Nobody understood that. Why didnt he recuse himself day one if it was a conflict of interest . Narrator we tried to talk to larizza. Bogdanich r. J. Larizza, please. Its the oconnell case and its Walt Bogdanich from the New York Times calling. Hes not available. Is he in the building . Can you tell me that . Hes not. Can you tell me where he is, please . Okay, can you tell me why he hasnt responded to my voicemail messages or my many emails . Narrator with larizza off the case, Florida Governor rick scott appointed a special prosecutor. The governor cited the potential prosecution of jeremy banks. My goal and my role was to determine if i could prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he committed a homicide. Narrator state Attorney Brad king relied on the opinions of three medical examiners, who all concluded it was suicide. One was dr. Hobin, who had again changed his mind from homicide back to suicide. Bogdanich based on what your medical experts have told you, there were no defensive wounds on Michelle Oconnell. Why is that important . I think the importance of that to them was that there was no struggle. Bogdanich because if there was a struggle, that might mean what . I dont know. I dont know what they thought about that. Bogdanich fair to say that if they had found defensive wounds, that might raise questions about whether Michelle Oconnell actually killed herself . It would depend on the nature, and thats one thing that i dont like to do is to speculate. Narrator king consulted with the new medical examiner who had recently taken over from dr. Hobin. I basically inherited the case from the previous medical examiner. When i reviewed the case and all the material, it became apparent to me that this was a suicide. Narrator dr. Predrag bulic altered the course of the investigation with a new theory explaining the injury above Michelle Oconnells eye. The only sound, solid forensic explanation is that the gun was upside down and the tactical light caused that. My understanding was that it was from the recoil of the gun, and therefore, the recoil is essentially going to make the tactical light move forward into the face, as opposed to away. That was their opinion. That is also consistent with my years of training with firearms. Narrator after a threemonth review, king called in the family. Were in the courthouse at a long table christine, my mother, my brother scott, and myself. I believed that the state attorney was gonna get on board and bring charges and we were gonna walk out of that office that night and michelles death was gonna be vindicated. That didnt happen. My conclusion was that there was not sufficient evidence to believe that a crime had been committed. The evidence has to exclude any reasonable hypothesis of innocence and point only and solely to the guilt of the defendant. I was devastated. I could not believe that this was happening. And at that point, my brother became upset and said that this was effing ridiculous and he wanted, you know, to know how brad king would feel, you know, having a daughter. If something happened, you know, to his daughter, how would he feel . Narrator because of his angry outbursts about the case, Scott Oconnell was fired from his job at the Sheriffs Office. In the end, brad king declared Michelle Oconnells case closed. When you talk about this case, yes, there is a visceral sense of, oh, what if she was murdered and this guy goes free . There ought to be at least some visceral sense, what if she did commit suicide and hes in prison for the rest of his life . Bogdanich and thats what juries are for, i suppose. Well, theyre for that only if there is sufficient factual basis to start that process. Narrator no charges have been brought, and her death officially remains a suicide. Narrator the shadow that lay across Michelle Oconnells death was the question of how effectively Law Enforcement investigates cases involving its own officers especially when there is the possibility of Domestic Violence. In my 32 years in Law Enforcement, i can probably count on these fingers the number of agencies that have actually held officers accountable and terminated their employment. It is very rare that you see an officer even prosecuted because most prosecutors dont want to file criminal charges against an officer because they need them for their cases. Narrator dottie davis spent 32 years on the fort wayne, Indiana Police force. She says she was in a violent marriage to a fellow officer. Today, davis talks to departments around the country about the issue of officerinvolved Domestic Violence. So many agencies when i walk in will say, not our agency. Not anybody here. And the fact of the matter is, its estimated six to seven incidents happen before they ever call the police. But if your abuser is the police, youre going to call his or her agency to the home, to investigate . And in todays technology . A victim calls 911, well, guess what . Their statements right on the screen for every fellow officer and every friend of that officer to read and to make a call and let him know what she just told the dispatcher, and that people are responding. Bogdanich thats a frightening scenario you just presented. Its the truth. Narrator there is no comprehensive data on the extent of officerinvolved Domestic Violence, and nationally there are only voluntary guidelines on how to deal with these kinds of cases. But we analyzed the policies and procedures of some of americas largest Police Departments. We chose the 61 departments that had at least 1,000 officers based on fbi data. We asked them to tell us how they handled complaints of police Domestic Violence. We recorded the first reaction we got from people. And there were a lot of first reactions that went, we have no idea what youre talking about. And most of these respondents were sworn officers themselves and were responsible for knowing what was in their standard operating procedure. Narrator we found only one agency that had fully implemented the recommended procedures and safeguards. In the case of Michelle Oconnell, her family believed the Sheriffs Office investigating one of its own. Get someone here now. Narrator . Had blinded itself to the possibility that the shooting was a fatal case of Domestic Violence. We asked former new York City Police commander Vernon Geberth to review the sheriffs investigation. I have personally investigated, supervised, assessed and consulted on over 8,000 homicides. Bogdanich 8,000 . 8,000. Narrator geberth is the author of the widely used textbook, practical homicide investigation. Every Death Investigation should be treated as a homicide until its proven differently. 911. Hey deputy banks reported the case as a suicide. Friends of his responded to that. Early on, the case was being assumed to be a suicide. We were standing out front discussing it and it was a selfinflicted gunshot wound. I didnt have any suspicions that it was anything other than suicide. Theres some serious red flags in the investigation. Deputy banks shouldve been removed from the scene and brought to the station house. And the interview shouldnt have been conducted in the police car at the scene. It shouldve been in a controlled environment. All right, this is detective hines. It is. Now his sergeant arrived at the scene and basically babysat him. And when he was finally interviewed two hours after the event the interview takes place in a police car, with sergeant faircloth sitting in. Sergeant faircloth, i dont know how, but he got there very quickly. So he went to jeremy and stayed with jeremy the whole time. Since when do we invite people to sit in on an interview . I know i wouldnt. What did you get to drink tonight . Bud light. Big ones. laughter theres no courtesy in homicide investigation. Theres absolutely no reason in the world to have anybody sit in on the interview. Comfy spinning chair, not the suspect chair. laughter i got the impression that he was treated special. I saw in the second interview on september 14th, he actually said to detective hines, oh, i checked the file and read because i wanted to see what was going on on the other side. Ive already read the report i know i probably shouldnt have. I just wanted to know what went down on the other side. How did he gain access to a confidential investigative report and how come she didnt challenge him on that . I dont get it. I think that covers it all. Lets get out of this room; echoey room. Yeah. This investigation stinks, okay . You cant possibly investigate a member of your department the same way you investigate an average case because people know each other, theres friends, you leave yourself open to criticism. I think that the Sheriffs Office made a major mistake when they didnt bring fdle in immediately. Do it right the first time, you only get one chance. Narrator our examination also raised questions about the work of the countys medical examiner, dr. Bulic, whose upsidedown gun theory was crucial to the outcome of the case. This is his official documentation a cutout photograph of the gun, taped onto Michelle Oconnells autopsy photo. Bogdanich i believe this is the only report that you had authored to back up your suicide conclusion . Um. Report . Bogdanich yeah. Have you written any reports on this case . No, this is not my case, this was just out of my pure curiosity and to satisfy the. Many different people who came and asked about my opinion. Bogdanich we obtained a replica of the gun, and id like you to show me how you believe she held the gun. This is the gun. Mmhmm. I have to pull it out. Bogdanich i think its a retention holster. Apparently we dont know how to open this. Bogdanich yeah. Does anybody know how to open it . Bogdanich you have to push that in there and then push forward and then it comes out. But before i do that, what makes you think Michelle Oconnell would do any better than you just did in trying to get this out of a retention holster . You have to know what youre doing to get it out. No. Eventually you would figure out if you gave me long enough i would have probably know. But i mean i see your point. And, uh, that doesnt mean that even child cannot pull that by accident. Bogdanich why dont you show us how you believe she held the gun when she shot herself . The muzzle was in the mouth. The tactical light was aiming towards the the right eye. And uh, this is the way that i believe that the suicide occurred. Narrator we went to new yorks prestigious John Jay College of criminal justice to have forensic scientists Peter Deforest and pete diaczuk go over dr. Bulics work. Bogdanich is this an impressive document in your view . No. Bogdanich how would you describe it . Amateurish. The scales here are not correct. The error is huge. And that would not allow that injury to be caused by the discharge of the firearm. Narrator we also asked them to test the theory advanced by brad king that michelles eye was wounded by the gun recoiling forward. The idea of it recoiling forward is absurd. You know, basically it appears to be an attempt to explain the wound without considering the possibility of antecedent physical violence. In my use of firearms, it defies the laws of physics to have the gun go forward after its shot. I did in fact fire the gun, and documented using highspeed photography. We had simply confirmed the only movement postdischarge is rearwards. Not forwards. Im not saying that the tactical light could not have made that injury. Im saying that it did not make that injury at the same time that the fatal shot was fired. Bogdanich and thats important because . Well, if it made the injury in advance, that couldve been some sort of an aggression taking place against the victim. Bogdanich so you actually used a real gun. You held it upside down, what happened to you . I set up the shot to fire it. At discharge, the slide came back and. Ow dammit that hurt this slide comes back incredibly fast and has two very sharp edges on the bottom rail. There would be at least one, if not two, gouges in the operators hand. Narrator Michelle Oconnell had no such injuries on her hands. But she did have that cut on her eyelid. The attempt is being made to explain the wound as resulting from that moment when the shot is fired and discounting the idea of these being due to violence that took place before the shooting. Bogdanich are you saying that you believe that Michelle Oconnell might have been battered before the fatal shot was fired . Yes. Narrator for nine months, we made repeated visits to florida, requested and reviewed thousands of pages of documents. Bogdanich i want to inquire about my open records request. Whats your name . Bogdanich its Walt Bogdanich. Narrator and attempted to interview most of the key participants. Bogdanich hi. Hi, how are you . Bogdanich nice to see you again. You too. Bogdanich i filed a request and i havent heard anything back. Do you know why . No, youll have to call the attorney. Narrator and repeatedly, we asked sheriff david shoar for an on the record, oncamera interview to discuss our unanswered questions. But he declined, saying in this letter that he didnt want to participate in a story that will create doubt about deputy banks. But the sheriff did release to the press a 150page report on the case. Shoar told us this is not a case where hes trying to protect his own. Narrator he conceded his office had made mistakes among them, that jeremy banks should not have been interviewed in a police car on the scene. What did you drink tonight . Bud light. Big ones. laughter narrator that the neighborhood should have been canvassed. And then we heard a gunshot. Narrator the oconnell family should have been interviewed. Am i allowed to submit a statement . Narrator and the evidence collected at the scene should have been analyzed. Despite these errors, he insisted that his conclusions were right and he accused fdle and its lead agent rusty rodgers of serious misconduct in the case. Im special agent rusty rodgers from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Narrator the sheriff claimed that rodgers was careless and reckless in his methods, used false and misleading information and coached witnesses. I was not coached by anybody. He was nothing but professional. I only spoke to him a handful of times and he was professional every time i spoke to him. Narrator the sheriff took particular pains to discredit the two women. Among other things, alleging they are regular marijuana smokers and couldnt recall if they had been smoking that night. Totally false. Completely. Nothing was ever said to us about any kind of drugs or alcohol. Narrator and shoar also hired two former Law Enforcement officers one an acquaintance to review his report and both agreed based solely on what they read that rodgers investigation was flawed. As a result of the sheriffs report, agent rodgers was put on paid leave while fdle and a prosecutor investigate. This concludes the interview of. Narrator fdle declined to comment and agent rodgers was not permitted to speak with us. But perhaps the most surprising twist of all, michelles brother scott claiming he was misled by agent rodgers suddenly sided with the sheriff. We wanted to speak with him but he declined. Welcome, everybody, one and all. Narrator and this summer nearly three years after Michelle Oconnell died sheriff shoar gathered his department at a resort hotel for an annual meeting that became a show of support for jeremy banks and an announcement about michelles brother scott. We also of course have jeremy banks with us and all of you know jeremy because youre a coworker, and his parents. Ive known both of them for many, many, many years. Also with jeremy is Scott Oconnell, who used to be employed at the Sheriffs Office. Scotts going to come back to work as a member of this agency. There may be some of you in this room who have doubts about this case. I dont know, man, i think it was a homicide. Jeremy banks had nothing to do with that case. Id stake a 33year career on it. We had people that responded that night to that scene and, you know, they were right that night and theyre still right. This guy right here came so damn close to being charged with homicide based on nothing. Absolutely nothing. Church Bell Tolling losing michelle, you have a distrust for Law Enforcement now. I surely have a distrust for sheriff shoar now. It may be 20 years, but eventually we will have justice for my sister and for her daughter. My granddaughter doesnt have a mother anymore. My children dont have their sister anymore. We have a right to stand up for michelle. We have a right and we have a duty. Her life was very special. As for jeremy banks, after a years paid administration leave, he has returned to active duty. He did not respond to our requests for an interview. He is now suing fdle and agent rodgers, accusing them of violating his civil rights. Ive never stood up in the past and claimed to be right 100 of the time. In fact, im right maybe 60 , if im lucky. But on this issue im right. And by me standing up here and having this conversation with you, im doing what i can to take care of him. And im going to ask that jeremy and scott stand up. Would you two stand up . Lets give these two guys a hand. applause there you go. applause next timfrontline. The north korea the regime doesnt want seen. If people stop believing in the regime, that means Central Control is breaking down. With undercover footage and exclusive interviews, frontline uncovers a new generation risking their lives to smuggle information in and out. Any kind of uprising will probably fail, and all your relatives will be sent to prison camps. Inside the secret state of north korea. Go to pbs. Org frontline for more on the broader problem of officerinvolved Domestic Violence. A closer look at how to conduct Death Investigations do it right the first time. You only get one chance. Additional reporting from r partners at tNew York Times. And connect to tfrontline community. Sign up for our newsletter, and follow us on facebook, twitter and pbs. Org frontline. Frontlinis made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. 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Ali i shook up the world could remember the heroes we honored . The music we danced to . The dreams we chased . Kennedy the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die. No one tells our nations story like pbs. Give to your pbs station, and help bring americas story to life. Welcome to newsline. Im Catherine Kobayashi in tokyo. First a look at the headlines. Israelis and palestinians have agreesed to a longterm truce. Athletes with disabilities are already looking to the paralympics in tokyo and one from japan is looking to win a medal at home. Delegates for israel and hamas have signed a number of