How can I become familiar with cases like mine?
Ex-MacDill Sergeant Accused of Murder Denied Expungement Request
Posted on Oct 30, 2009
Charles Harman, a former MacDill Air Force Base sergeant who was charged with murdering his wife, is not entitled to have his arrest records destroyed for now.
Harman was accused of fatally shooting his wife, Emily Rykwalder, during a domestic dispute at their home. The second-degree murder charge was dropped after authorities were unable to determine whether Rykwalder’s death was suicide, homicide, or murder.
Harman claimed his wife committed suicide and brought a civil lawsuit against the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office and Detective Francis Losat, claiming Losat arrested Harman without performing a proper investigation and Harman was wrongly incarcerated for over 60 days.
Last week, Circuit Judge Manuel Lopez denied Harman’s request to expunge records of his 2005 arrest. The same issue came before the court last year, and expungement was denied due to the seriousness of the charge and on the grounds that Harman had been involved in a previous domestic violence incident. Authorities claimed Harman choked his first wife, Amber, threatened her with a knife, stating he would kill her. An appellate court reversed that ruling because the State did not provide evidence of the previous domestic violence dispute.
At the October 21, 2009 hearing on the renewed expungement request, Assistant State Attorney Michelle Doherty provided the court with a transcript of Amber Harman’s testimony regarding the domestic violence incident, which satisfied the appeals court ruling. Doherty and the sheriff’s office lawyer A. Michael Perotti claimed that expungement would render the sheriff’s office incapable of defending itself in the civil lawsuit.
Harman’s attorney, Richard Harris, argued that Harman had met all statutory requirements to have his records expunged. Also, Losat arrested Harman in bad faith and lied to the medical examiner about Harman’s statement following Rykwalder’s death.
Judge Lopez reserved ruling and will likely make his decision when the civil lawsuit ends.
Read More About Ex-MacDill Sergeant Accused of Murder Denied Expungement Request…
