Charles Faggart’s death, which prompted Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters to suspend eight corrections officers and one sergeant while a criminal investigation is underway, overlaps with years of scrutiny over the jail’s shoddy conditions, as well as high-stakes discussions among city officials about spending up to $1 billion for a new jail in the coming years.
Category: Criminal Justice
Posted inFlorida
Man injured in ‘incident’ involving 9 Jacksonville jailers dies
The 31-year-old father who was hospitalized after an “incident” in the Duval County jail this week, which Sheriff T.K. Waters has refused to detail, has died, according to his family’s attorney.
Posted inFlorida
Man in critical condition after ‘incident’ in Duval jail; FBI to help investigate
A judge on Tuesday reduced the bond of a Jacksonville man who was “seriously injured” after an “incident” at the Duval County jail so the man’s family could visit him while he was hospitalized, according to court documents obtained by The Tributary.
Posted inBehind the Story
Behind the story of ‘Cold-Blooded’
Nichole spent seven months investigating the 30-year-old prosecution against Kenneth Hartley, a project The Tributary published last month under the heading “Cold-Blooded.” Here, she answers some questions about the story, how it was reported, and what’s next.
Posted inFlorida
JSO has track record of excessive force, including K-9 misuse, lawsuit says
This is another active federal lawsuit involving JSO’s controversial use of a police dog that The Tributary has identified since reporting last month on a November suit that accuses local officers of siccing a K-9 on an unarmed man during a traffic stop in Northwest Jacksonville.
Posted inFlorida
‘Open for business:’ It pays to be an informant. Telling the truth is optional
It is no mystery why detainees will seize the chance to testify that they heard someone confess – whether true or not.
![Prosecutor George Bateh speaks with the media after a hearing in Kenneth Hartley's murder case. [contributed by News4Jax video archives]](https://i0.wp.com/floridatrib.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Screenshot-2025-04-24-at-10.17.56%E2%80%AFAM.png?resize=1200%2C900&ssl=1)
Posted inFlorida
George Bateh put 15 men on Death Row – and was rebuked twice by Florida’s Supreme Court
George Bateh was good at putting people on Death Row. Whether that was the work of a righteous prosecutor or a sneaky courtroom tactician is a question at the heart of the legacy he left behind after more than 30 years in the State Attorney’s Office for the Fourth Judicial Circuit.
Posted inFlorida
How a Florida prosecutor fixed a ‘weak’ case using a liar and 3 jailhouse snitches to send a man to Death Row
The Tributary’s ‘Cold-Blooded’ series is a seven-month investigation unraveling the 1993 murder prosecution that sent a man to Death Row on the word of a known liar and three jailhouse informants.
Posted inFlorida
JSO settles lawsuit in strip-search arrest that broke department policy
A man who was improperly stripped searched by police in the middle of a public street while bystanders watched nearby settled a federal lawsuit with Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters and the city for $275,000, according to court records.
Posted inFlorida
Sheriff ‘suspended enforcement’ of some Miami school bus camera tickets after complaints
Friday afternoon, about a week after The Tributary and Miami Herald published an investigation into a lucrative bus-safety program, the Miami-Dade County Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz said all median violations have been suspended, for now.