Threat Assessment 101

It warms my heart when a judge expresses great concern for a victim in a high lethality situation.  And when he or she keeps the no contact order in place even when the victim asks to have contact.

Last week, CourtWatch monitored the request of Neil Abraham Ramroop to modify his bond and allow him to have contact with his victim, the mother of his two children (2 1/2 years and 10 months old).

The defendant was arrested on 10/14/10 for kidnapping, robbery, domestic battery, and tampering with a victim/witness to hinder communication with law enforcement. Mr. Ramroop allegedly abducted his victim as she was leaving a night class at Valencia State College, threatened to stab her in the neck and up her nose with a pen as he was taking her to his car, stole cash and her cell phone, and threatened to kill her. He allegedly drove her to their apartment, battered her, and ultimately returned her to the VCC parking lot. Throughout the ordeal, he repeatedly abused her verbally. He also stated, "You think a restraining order will stop me? I'll find you, I'll kill off your family one by one" and "I'll leave a bloody mess for you to clean up."

In addition to requesting contact with the victim, Mr. Ramroop requested that his GPS monitor be removed because the cost ($84/week) was a hardship due to his unemployment.

The victim, a very petite woman who sought an injunction immediately after the incident (which was later dismissed due to her failure to appear), testified that she is no longer afraid of the defendant. Judge Rand Wallis asked her several probing questions about their children and any prior incidents. He read an email that the assigned prosecutor, Pamela Smith, sent to the Court about how high the defendant scored on the lethality indicators test (Ms. Smith had a colleague covering for her in this hearing). The defendant has, on at least one occasion, threatened suicide - an extremely big red flag.

When I hear that, and particularly when there are small children involved, I am alarmed for the victim and their children. Because once someone decides to commit suicide, they have nothing to lose and are much more likely to try to "take their loved one(s)" with them. Or prevent anyone else from "having" their "loved one(s)."

Judge Wallis denied the defendant's motion without prejuduce, stating that he would like to hear testimony from the police officer who administered the questionnaire (which occurred at 3:00 AM immediately after the incident) to the victim in order to more accurately assess her testimony.

CourtWatch commends Judge Wallis and Assistant State's Attorney Pamela Smith for trying to keep this victim from becoming another name on the fatality list that we maintain. If this was school, they'd both get an A+ for the way they handled this case.

It is our hope that Mr. Ramroop's victim in this case will seek counseling from Harbor House as this case works its way through the court system.


To see what a threat assessment questionnaire includes, or to perform your own free domestic violence assessement online, visit the Mosaic Threat Assessment website. 

If you are in an abusive relationship, we urge you to seek the assistance of a trained advocate at your local domestic violence shelter in order to develop a personalized safety plan. Seventy-five percent (75%) of fatalities occur with the victim attempts to leave an abusive relationship. Most of those victims attempted to do so without a comprehensive safety plan in place.

2/4/11: The State dropped the charges against Mr. Ramroop after the victim declined to participate in the prosecution.

Suicidal drug addict gets 15 years for trafficking

While waiting for a domestic violence sentencing to be called in Judge Tim Shea's courtroom today, I watched with incredulity as the judge was required, by Florida Statute, to sentence a man to a minimum mandatory 15 years in the Department of Corrections for Trafficking in Hydrocodone.

I agree that drug dealers ought to be held accountable for dealing drugs - especially when they target children. But Todd Michael Hannigan, age 42, was no drug dealer.

Assistant Public Defender Robert Power reminded the Court that Hannigan had been suicidal when he was picked up in a park for an open container violation in November, 2009. He had stolen 31 pills from his mother (24.5 grams) and was planning to ingest them. His original intent was to commit suicide at his ex-girlfriend's home (she had recently ended the relationship), but she came home and kicked him out. Law enforcement had been called, and because he was on foot, he was quickly located at a nearby park with a bottle of partially consumed beer.

As one officer was putting him under arrest, a witness in the park notified another officer that the defendant had dropped something on the ground. The second officer retrieved a bag of pills.

A sensible person would think "that's only Possession - not Trafficking!" But the quantity of pills involved has been deemed by the Florida Legislature to assume that if you have that many pills on you without a prescription, you're a dealer.

Mr. Power tried unsuccessfully to argue mitigation. But there was a jury verdict and a minimum mandatory sentence that tied the judge's hands. Apparently, the legislators in Tallahassee have it all figured out. By removing any discretion from the judge's ability to sentence this defendant based on the circumstances of the case, Mr. Hannigan loses his freedom for the full 15 years (no gain time permitted) and the taxpayers will foot the bill.

I would say it's a lose-lose situation all the way around.

Florida Statute 893.135(1)(C) states:
Any person who knowingly sells, purchases, manufactures, delivers, or brings into this state, or who is knowingly in actual or constructive possession of, 4 grams or more of any morphine, opium, oxycodone, hydrocodone, hydromorphone, or any salt, derivative, isomer, or salt of an isomer thereof, including heroin, as described in s. 893.03(1)(b), (2)(a), (3)(c)3., or (3)(c)4., or 4 grams or more of any mixture containing any such substance, but less than 30 kilograms of such substance or mixture, commits a felony of the first degree, which felony shall be known as "trafficking in illegal drugs," punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084. If the quantity involved:


a. Is 4 grams or more, but less than 14 grams, such person shall be sentenced to a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 3 years, and the defendant shall be ordered to pay a fine of $50,000.

b. Is 14 grams or more, but less than 28 grams, such person shall be sentenced to a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 15 years, and the defendant shall be ordered to pay a fine of $100,000.


c. Is 28 grams or more, but less than 30 kilograms, such person shall be sentenced to a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of 25 calendar years and pay a fine of $500,000.

There's got to be a better way to handle cases of this nature. A judge's hands should not be tied by Tallahassee when mental health issues are involved. Send this blog to your senator and representative in the legislature and ask them to re-visit this part of the Statute.

Finally, CourtWatch wonders what compelled the State to go for the jugular on this case.

At the conclusion of today's hearing, the defendant stated "all I wanted was treatment - this won't help me at all." Judge Shea showed obvious concern for the defendant and was clearly frustrated with what the law required him to do.

A Notice of Appeal was filed on his client's behalf by Mr. Power.  But unless the law changes, it looks like Mr. Hannigan is stuck with the full 15 years.

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PS: Mr. Hannigan's sentencing scoresheet totaled 91.6 points, 74 of which belong to this offense. Were it not for the minimum mandatory sentence, he would have scored 47.7 months (with eligibility for gain time). Previous convictions were primarily theft related. Defendant has no convictions for crimes of violence.

PPS: It would seem to CourtWatch that the legislature never took into account that someone with mental health issues might use a large quantity of drugs to commit suicide. Dr. Jeffrey Danziger was prepared to testify that the defendant suffered from clinical depression, but because there was no opportunity (by law) to hear mitigating factors, Judge Shea did not hear his report.