By Richard Danielson, Times Staff Writer
Thursday, October 7, 2010
TAMPA — A federal judge Thursday denied a motion to dismiss the charge against the girlfriend of accused cop killer Dontae Morris, setting the stage for the woman's trial next month.
Cortnee Brantley, 22, of Seffner faces a federal charge of not telling authorities that she knew that Morris, a convicted felon, illegally possessed the gun and bullets used to kill two Tampa police officers.
The federal charge against Brantley, misprision of a felony, carries a penalty of up to three years in prison.
Defense attorney Grady Irvin had argued that authorities appear to be pursuing a federal charge against Brantley because she would not cooperate with local law enforcement officials. During seven hours of interrogation by detectives, she sometimes invoked her right to remain silent.
Prosecuting someone in federal court who would ordinarily be prosecuted in state court because she exercised her Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate herself is unconstitutional, Irvin said in an 11-page motion to dismiss the indictment against Brantley.
U.S. District Judge James S. Moody Jr. denied the motion to dismiss Thursday.
During a brief hearing earlier in the day, Assistant U.S. attorney James Preston told Moody that Brantley's trial would take two days.
Moody did not set a trial date, though he and attorneys discussed dates in November.
Morris, 25, of Tampa faces two counts of first-degree murder and the death penalty if convicted in the June 29 deaths of Tampa police officers David Curtis and Jeffrey Kocab.
Morris ambushed the two officers after they stopped Brantley's Toyota Camry because it did not have a license plate, authorities say. Morris was a passenger in the car, and he ran away after the shootings, police say.
Brantley drove away, did not call for help and later refused to identify Morris in a video of the shootings made by a dashboard camera in one of the officers' cruisers, according to investigators. Nor would she tell a detective what she and Morris talked about in telephone calls made after the shooting.
Three months ago, Irvin said Brantley would cooperate with investigators.
"She hated to have witnessed something like that," he said on July 6. "She does not stand by what happened."
On Thursday, Irvin would not say whether Brantley has since made any statements to investigators.
"I wouldn't share that with you if she had," he said.