2012 fatal shooting case will stay closed
New investigation denied
Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg has declined a request by the parents of Seth Adams to reopen a criminal investigation into the fatal shooting of their son by a sheriff’s deputy five years ago.
In a letter to the Adams family’s attorney, Aronberg stood by the conclusion the office made in 2012: The shooting by undercover Sgt. Michael Custer was justified. Custer still works for the Sheriff’s Office.
Aronberg said there is no new evidence in the case that would warrant reopening it.
“Justice deserves finality, andwe respect the decisions made by previous administrations and give great deference to them,” said the letter dated June 9. “As prosecutors, it is unethical to file criminal charges when we have no good faith basis that we would succeed at trial.”
Lydia Adams, mother of the dead man, blasted Aronberg.
“Finality has been put above justice,” she said in a statement. “Finality of justice should never prevail over fairness and accuracy. This shows a lack of integrity and a miscarriage of justice on behalf of Seth.”
The deadly two-minute encounter at the A One Stop Garden Shop in Loxahatchee on May 17, 2012, sparked a wrongful death civil trial, a $2.5 million settlement and sharp criticism by a federal judge of the way the Palm Beach County Sheriff ’s Office conducted their investigation into the fatal shooting.
The civil trial brought by the Adams family ended with a hung jury. Last month the Sheriff’s Office settled the lawsuit for $2.5 million.
Daniel Hurley, the federal judge who presided over the civil trial, slammed the Sheriff’s Office investigation from the bench. He called one investigator’s inability to reconcile ballistics and other evidence at the scene shocking.
“I have never ever heard a detective make statements like that and send it to the State Attorney’s Office and point out there were matters he could not reconcile ... This investigation has been slipshod and shoddy. This is a disgrace.”
Aronberg said Hurley’s remarks were not new evidence, as the family had claimed in its request.
“You include the inadmissible opinion of the federal judge ... as proof of the investigation’s inadequacy,” the letter said. “Even if true, you fail to recognize that our prosecutions do not get stronger with evidence of a deficient investigation. Quite the contrary, our cases become weaker and harder to prosecute if there are problems with an investigation.”
In addition, Aronberg said, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, after looking at the case, found the shooting was justified.
The family also has recently asked the FBI to look into the case, saying evidence that surfaced in the civil case made it clear that Custer’s account of what happened is in conflict with the ballistics and DNA evidence at the scene.
They haven’t received a response yet, according to their attorneys.
Experts on crime scene analysis and the legal implications of police-involved shootings said Adams’ parents had little to no hope of sparking another investigation.
“It is rare for any lawenforcement agency to revisit a case that it has issued a previous finding on, and it is even rarer for a change in findings from justified to unjustified,” said Hermann Walz, a former prosecutor who teaches at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.
“In looking at this incident, there are things that draw questions,” Walz said. “Amanis dead after returning home because of a chance encounter with a deputy, and the investigation relies solely on the deputy’s account of what happened, no witnesses. But even if there were mistakes made by investigators … unless there is some monumental new evidence, I just don’t see there being another investigation.”
Adams, 24, was unarmed when hewas fatally shot by Custer, who parked at the family’s nursery to conduct surveillance as part of an undercover operation not connected to the business.
Adams worked and lived at the nursery and was returning home at 11:40 p.m. after being at a local bar with friends. His blood-alcohol level was .131, over the legal limit, according to a medical examiner’s report.
Custer said that Adams parked his truck next to his Ford Explorer and got out and started yelling at him. Custer told investigators that he got out of his vehicle and identified himself as a deputy, but Adams’ anger only intensified and Adams grabbed his neck. Custer said he broke away and ordered Adams to the ground but instead, Adams went to his truck, and reached inside.
Custer said that he feared for his life because Adams had already attempted to strangle him, and he believed Adams was getting a gun. Custer said he shot Adams at close range as he turned back towards the deputy. Adams wasn’t carrying a gun and didn’t have one in his truck.
Wallace McCall, the family’s attorney said that Aronberg is relying on an investigation that wasn’t conducted properly.
“It goes without saying that... reliance upon an investigation that is ‘slipshod, shoddy, and a disgrace’ should never form the basis for a State Attorney’s decision to decline prosecution,” he said.