"Florida airport scuffle trial begins"

Wednesday, February 9, 2005

Airport scuffle trial begins
Jury to decide on aggressor in conflict
By Jon Burstein 
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel


An ugly curbside confrontation between a first-grade teacher and a Broward
Sheriff's deputy at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport made
its way before a jury Tuesday as the educator fights criminal charges.

The fate of teacher Lisa Leo hinges on who jurors believe was the aggressor
in the encounter. Authorities say she closed a car window on the deputy's
hand and then drove a short distance until the deputy broke the window out
with his baton.But Leo's attorney said in opening statements that the
44-year-old mother of two is the victim of an overly aggressive deputy and a
botched investigation. In addition, Leo has three eyewitnesses who will
support her account that the deputy's hand was never wedged in the window
and he repeatedly swung his baton with two hands while cursing, said Ken
Padowitz, her attorney.

The Palm Beach County teacher could face up to six years in prison if she's
convicted of battery on a law enforcement officer and misdemeanor resisting
arrest without violence. Prosecutors offered her a plea deal that would have
let her walk away pleading no contest to a misdemeanor charge with no jail
time or probation and an adjudication withheld, meaning the charge would be
wiped from her record, Padowitz said.

But Leo, of Lake Worth, refused to take the deal on principle because it
contained a provision that would have precluded her from making an Internal
Affairs complaint to the Broward Sheriff's Office, Padowitz said.

Deputy Jeffrey Fromm testified Tuesday that he was patrolling the airport on
July 25 when he saw Lisa Leo's husband, Louis Leo, standing next to a parked
car in the loading zone outside Terminal 2. Fromm said he went over to Louis
Leo and told him to move the car, but Louis Leo seemed to be stalling for
time.

Fromm said as he wrote Louis Leo a traffic citation, Lisa Leo came out of
the terminal, got into the driver's seat, cursed at him and then didn't move
the car while her husband returned to the terminal.

Fromm said he put his hand on the open passenger-side front window and Lisa
Leo started rolling it up. He said he repeatedly warned her to stop, but she
didn't until his hand was stuck. That's when she drove about 15 feet until
he smashed in the window, he said.

But Padowitz said Lisa Leo locked her car doors and closed the windows
because she feared Fromm. The defense attorney also questioned why the
deputy made no attempt to find witnesses after the incident. 

The defense attorney told jurors that formal charges were brought against
Leo within 24 hours before a detective was even assigned to the caseCircuit
Judge Elijah Williams warned Assistant State Attorney Jason Topper in
private that his "antenna is up," observing how unusual it is for charges to
be brought before a detective examines a case. Topper acknowledged it wasn't
how cases are normally handled.

Testimony in the case against Leo, a teacher at Coral Reef Elementary School
west of Lake Worth, continues this morning, with the trial likely to wrap up
Thursday.


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