Local News

DL
MIAMI (CBS4) ― An appeals court ruled Wednesday that former Miami commissioner Art Teele should never have been brought to trial on charges that he assaulted a police officer, finding unanimously that Miami-Dade prosecutors had insufficient evidence to go to trial. The decision may vindicate Teele's memory, but the former Miami and Miami-Dade commissioner, distraught over his legal problems, killed himself in the lobby of the Miami Herald in July 2005.

The three judge panel of the 3rd District Court of Appeals ruled unanimously in the appeal of Teele's 2005 conviction on the charge of corruption by threat against a public servant, for allegedly assaulting an officer after he found police following his wife, as part of an ongoing corruption investigation of Teele.

"Under the facts of this case," the appeals court decision stated, "the State presented no evidence that Teele intended to corruptly affect a certain ongoing police investigation."

Teele was arrested after he confronted two police officers who had been following his wife, allegedly as part of the corruption investigation against him. He claimed he was simply trying to protect his wife, and didn't know the undercover officers were police officers. Tempers flared, the officers claimed he had threatened them, and prosecutors took the case to Miami-Dade Circuit Court, but in it's decision, the appeals panel said they did so without justification.

"The state claimed that Teele made threats against the police officers with the intent to influence an official police investigation. We have reviewed the record thoroughly and find that the evidence does not support this allegation."

The judges said Teele repeatedly asked to see the badges of the officers involved, without results, and that it was not clear from testimony and 911 tapes that Teele knew what detectives were doing following his wife.

"In sum," the decision continued, "there are simply no facts that support the allegation that Teele was unlawfully threatening detective Bullard with the intent to unlawfully affect his ongoing official police investigation of Teele."

The judges were blunt. "Teele had a legal right to protect his family, as well as constitutional rights of free speech, assembly, and protest. Teele's acts were protected by the United States Constitution as well as the Constitution of the State of Florida."

The office of Miami-Dade State Attorney Kathy Fernandez Rundle released a statement Wednesday afternoon through spokesman Ed Griffith. "While we disagree, we must respect the court's opinion," the statement said. "However, today's decision may lead to the closure of a sad chapter in Miami's history. This may also reverse the seemingly unfair consequence that denied Mr. Teele's widow his pension."

Teele's widow, Stephanie, waged a public battle to clear her husband's name, insisting that the appeals court hear the case.

It was not immediately known if the decision would allow her to receive her husband's pension.

Teele was suspended from his post on the Miami City Commission following his arrest for the assault and his later indictment on corruption charges. Once one of the most connected politicians in Miami-Dade county and a strong voice in the African-American community, Teele had a stunning fall from grace following his March 2005 conviction and July 2005 corruption indictment, and suffered personal embarrassment after claims were made that he had consorted with prostitutes and used cocaine.

Reportedly distraught with his situation, Teele walked into the lobby of the Miami Herald building at the end of the business day on July 27th, 2005, drew a gun, and shot himself in the head.

The suicide ended Teele's federal corruption investigation, but despite his death, Teele's attorneys appealed the conviction, in part because it would have likely prevented his widow from receiving his pension, estimated to be more than $30,000 annually.



Teele, former official in the Nixon administration, returned to Miami and ran for local office, first winning a position as a Miami-Dade commissioner, serving a term as commission chair.

After failing to win a runoff election for Miami-Dade mayor in 1996, Teele later ran for the Miami City commission and won a city seat.

Teele had been mentioned in connection with a corruption investigation at the Port of Miami, but he was never charged. In the charges that led to his 2005 federal indictment, Teele was accused of helping a minority company win more than $20 million worth of electrical contracts at Miami International Airport. Prosecutors claimed a much larger; non-minority company had actually done the work.

If he had been convicted on the federal charges, Teele could have faced up to 20 years in prison. At the time of his indictment, he was also awaiting trial on state fraud charges.

(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)