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Under a new bill sent to the Governor by state lawmakers, Floridians battling mental illness will be banned from purchasing a gun.

Supporters say it will save lives, while medical professionals say it will wrongfully take away second amendment rights for a large group of Floridians.

A loophole in Florida law has allowed people diagnosed with mental illnesses to continue purchasing firearms, until lawmakers closed the loophole with just one dissenting vote. “If it’s just one and they save one life, it’s a significant bill,” said Representative Barbara Watson (D) Miami.

The bill gained support by Democrats, Republicans and the NRA. “Keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people with mental illness saves lives,” said NRA past President Marion Hammer.

The legislation requires people who voluntarily commit themselves to give up their gun rights. “This only keeps mentally ill people who are determined to be dangerous from being able to buy guns,” she said.

But thousands have called or emailed the governor seeking a veto of the bill. “I hope the governor vetoes it,” said counselor Robert Carton. Health officials worry the legislation will keep people from seeking treatment. “It’s likely to create the opposite effect of what legislators are intending,” he said. “Not everybody with a mental illness is homicidal, not everybody with a mental illness is suicidal.”

90-thousand mentally ill Floridians are already prohibited from buying guns. If the governor signs the bill that number is expected to drastically increase. If signed into law, the mentally ill would be prohibited from buying a gun after July 1st.

Every year thieves target thousands of welfare recipients stealing their identities and depriving them of the benefits in which they desperately need.

Identity Thieves Targeted by State

Florida’s welfare recipients are the latest target of identity thieves, stealing from those who need it most. The state says it needs to stop. “For some reason Florida has the highest per capita rate of reported identity theft in the nation,” said Department of Children and Families Secretary, David Wilkins.

Nine of the top 10 cities in the country for identity theft are right here in the sunshine state. “In 2011 and 2012 the division of public assistance fraud investigated just over 6,600 cases of suspected public assisted fraud,” said Deputy CFO over law enforcement, Jay Etheridge.

A new state program will now make it more difficult for thieves to steal people’s identities and gaining access to state benefits. It’s expected to save the state 60-million dollars a year. “You’re saving months and potentially years of money going out the door,” said Wilkins.

The state is reaching out to local police for help. “I want to put those individuals who choose to commit these crimes; I want to put them on notice. If you commit the fraud we will find you and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law,” said Tallahassee Chief of Police, Dennis Jones.

92-percent of cases that were investigated over the last two years were charged or disqualified for future state benefits.

After the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary in December, State leaders promised that “everything” was on the table when it came to guns and school safety.

Efforts to put a guidance counselor in every school to spot trouble, require schools to hold more frequent lockdown exercises…or a bill to arm teachers all died when lawmakers went home.

Representative Dennis Baxley chairs a committee that heard some gun bills. We asked why more gun bills, pro or con, didn’t pass. “Definitely a sense of not over reacting to some of the spectacular things that happened like Sandy Hook” says Baxley.

The NRA’s lobbyist was in the gallery when the only gun bill..out of 15 introduced…passed.

The bill clamps down on the ability of the mentally ill to buy a gun. Sponsor Audrey Gibson says it passed because the NRA supported it. “At lease we are at the table talking about it..and we should continue to talk about other ways to make sure we stop gun violence” says the Jacksonville State Senator. After a law enforcement memorial for fallen police officers, Fraternal Order of Police President James Preston says they would have liked some clarification to the controversial Stand Your Ground. “If there is an opportunity to recede or back away from the violence, that would be our preference, but if you have to protect yourself, then by all means, the public needs to be able to do that” says the FOP President.

The bill that would have done that never got a hearing. “We never even had the discussion about stand your ground” said State Senator Chris Smith, the sponsor of legislation to prohibit someone from pursuing someone and then claiming Stand Your Ground.

But the NRA says lawmaker looked and decided nothing was broken that needed fixing.Last year a task force held seven public hearings on Stand Your Ground and made minor recommendations to tweak the legislation, but even that bill was not heard by lawmakers.

In the summer of 1989, Floridians were horrified over the death of two year old Bradley McGee at the hands of his stepfather. The child had been dunked head first in the toiled, beaten and tortured for weeks before dying. Thomas Coe was sentenced to life, but under the law at that time he is entitled to a parole hearing. Today was that hearing.

Bradley McGee spent most of his life in foster care…returning home just two moths before being beaten and tortured to death by his step father. Thomas Coe received a life sentence. Cheryl Coe served nine years. Under the law at the time, Coe is entitled to parole. Polk County State Attorney Jerry Hill described the crime to the Parole Commission this way: “I think this is the worst case I’ve ever appeared on. I promise you is far and away one of the saddest.”

At the time, Bradley became the poster child for change. His foster mother Pam Kirkland lead the charge. ”I think we’re tired of children paying the price that we adults have the responsibility to protect these children.”

Kirkland has now passed and is buried next to Bradley. Her daughter came to tell the Parole Commission the world has no use for Thomas Coe ”And the anger and the mentality he has will never change because there’s no remorse today.” Another family friend, Dorine Parsons, nearly broke down from rage. ”This morning Thomas Coe got up and he breathed. This baby did not.”

The Commission denied parole…and set a lengthy seven year period before the case can be heard again. The decision satisfied the Samantha Campbell.  ”It’s a shame that Sheryl got to walk because of overcrowding which is very sad, but God will take care of that not us.”

Bradley McGee would be 26 had he survived.

A Bradenton couple, arrested last month for growing marijuana for medical reasons has learned the charges were dropped.

The arrest came the same day a poll showed overwhelming support for legalizing medical marijuana. In a memo, prosecutors say they were assured Cathy Jordan has  Lou Gherigs disease and that marijuana is the only thing that relieves her symptoms, so she and husband Bob qualify for what is called a medical necessity in Florida. Bob Jordan says the couple has been vindicated.

“We were doing this for sixteen years and you know now finally it went through the legal system and they’re saying that we’re right all along. I’ve been saying that there is no pharmaceutical can do what the plant does.”

The couple said they planned on applying for a permit to grow marijuana. A provision of the medical necessity law says “the evil sought to be avoided was more heinous than the  unlawful act perpetrated to avoid it”.

Disturbing video tonight from a privatized Juvenile Justice facility in Milton Florida just outside Pensacola. On August 9, Officer Shannon Abbott is seen leading a teen inmate at the Milton Girls Juvenile Residential Facility when she suddenly bangs her head against the wall, and then tosses the inmate to the ground. In a prepared statement, the Department of Juvenile Justice says

“We are deeply concerned that the incident as depicted in the video we released today in response to public record requests by the news media seriously contradicts its description to us by officials representing the facility. We are also troubled that the facility did not officially report the incident to DJJ until two days after it occurred, and only when the victim called the DCF Abuse Hotline. This lapse is inexplicable.

Officer Abbott was charged with battery on a juvenile victim. The Department of Children and Families and the Santa Rosa County Sheriff investigated the incident.  The juveniles name is being withheld. The facility is operated by Gulf Coast Youth Services. The Milton facility is one of seven run by the company.

Watch a portion of the video here

The man who has been the voice and face of the wrongfully convicted in Florida finds himself behind bars tonight. Alan Crotzer spent 24 and a half years in prison for a rape which DNA proved he didn’t commit. Tonight, as Mike Vasilinda tells us. Crotzer is accused of firing a gun into a car in an alleged dispute over a CD.

Alan Crotzer kept track of every day he spent in prison.

“24 years, 6 months, 13 days, and 4 hours.”

Since being proven innocent, Crotzer has worked to keep kids on the straight and narrow. As a volunteer for the Innocence Project, he has been an outspoken critic of eyewitness identifications.

“I’m trying to raise awareness that the system is failing at a large rate, really fast,” Crotzer said in May of this year.

Now Crotzer is accused of firing eight shots into a moving car this past Sunday evening while driving on this four lane highway in view of the state capitol. The argument was apparently over a CD.

Crotzer was here Monday night meeting with his attorney when a team that included a federal marshall, showed up to arrest him.

A woman who appeared at the door of his condo told us there was no story to tell.

Most who know Crotzer say the charges are inconsistent with the Alan they know.

“There’s no evidence that he harbored any bitterness, bitterness based on the 24-and-a-half years of his life that essentially were stolen from him,” Human Rights activist Mark Shlakman said.

Lawyer Tom Powell says there is irony in Crotzer being picked out of a photo lineup as the perpetrator.

“I now understand what the allegation is,” Powell said. “It’s bizarre on its face. It’s inconsistent with the Alan that I’ve known for the last year or so.”

There is no mention of a gun being recovered in the probable cause paperwork. Crotzer is being held without bond on attempted murder charges.

The task force studying the state’s controversial Stand Your Ground Law meets for the second time on Tuesday. It will meet in Seminole County outside Orlando, the same county in which a neighborhood watch volunteer is charged with shooting an unarmed black teenager. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, thousands of people are letting the state know what they think.

The 17-member Stand Your Ground Task Force is going to Ground Zero. It will meet Tuesday in Longwood, 12 miles from the gated subdivision where Trayvon Martin died. Lt. governor Jennifer Carrol says the location is not a coincidence.

“The situation with Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman occurred there,” Lt. Gov. Carroll said. “It’s a matter of healing too, because I don’t believe that the citizens have had an opportunity to really voice their opinion.”

Since the task force’s initial meeting on May 1st, a web site has received more than 1700 emails. Most are pro gun.

A Pensacola man assets that Stand your ground is a “god given right.” Lois Nichols of Port St. Lucie says no change is needed, while a Jacksonville man says the legislation is stopping thugs from vicious attacks.

Of the 25 messages available online Friday, only one, from a Manatee County woman, suggested the law needed fixing and that the concealed carry law needed to be eliminated.

The Lieutenant Governor is one of four task force members who voted for the initial legislation. She says the final task force recommendation will be based on hard data, now being collected by the College of Law at the University of Florida.

“So we’ll be able to get statistical data back to the task force to show whether we have fairness,” Carroll said.

The Task Force’s recommendation isn’t expected until early next year.,

The task force’s official name is the Task Force on Citizen Safety and Protection. You can access their web site at this link, where you can find out about future meetings and send your own opinion if you so choose. http://www.flgov.com/citizensafety/

There is new insight tonight into the hazing incident that killed a drum major at Florida A&M University last November. Prosecutors released thousands of pages of testimony and audio tapes. As Mike Vasilinda tells us, the tapes point out the difficulty investigating a case with so many participants.

Percussionist Caleb Jackson was the first of 13 people arrested in the death of FAMU drum Major Robert Champion. Thousands of pages of documents put Jackson on the bus, restraining Champion. But, when first questioned, Jackson denied even being there.

“They said you were on the bus,” a detective said.

“That’s a lie,” Jackson replied.

“That’s a lie?” the detective asked.

“Yeah, and I have confirmation that’s a lie,” he said.

Twenty minutes later, he admits to being on the bus for the first of three hazings that night.

“Halfway through, you know I’ll tell you, halfway through I left because it was kind of boring,” Jackson said.

But he continues to deny being involved in Robert Champion’s hazing. He does admit to being hazed himself, saying he chose FAMU over Bethune Cookman to spite his father. He learned about hazing at FAMU while in high school.”

“Well, I heard about it in high school,” Jackson said.

“You heard about it in high school?” the detective asked.

“Yeah,” Jackson replied.

“Where did you go to high school?” the detective asks.

“Palm Beach Lakes,” he said.

Police asked if Robert was singled out because he was new to the band and was rapidly advancing.

“They’re making it look like, well, oh, people didn’t like him; the guy came up too fast, blah, blah, blah, and they started doing more than they needed to do,” Orange County Sheriff’s Detective Rolf said.

Forty minutes into the interview, Jackson does a complete 180, admitting to restraining Champion.

“If he gonna push at you, you’re gonna push at him,” Jackson said.

Jackson told detectives that Champion was fine when he left the bus.

“To my knowledge, he was fine,” he said.

Jackson remains the only one charged with the hazing death still in Jail. He is being held without bond on a probation violation.

In an interview the day the band was suspended for next year, retired band director Julian White says he lamented never telling Robert Champion he would be the lead drum major the coming year.

Witnesses who lie or are just plain mistaken are the leading reasons innocent people get sent to prison. A new national database lists more than nine hundred wrongful convictions, and as Mike Vasilinda tells us, Florida has its share.

Al Crotzer went to prison in 1983 for a rape he didn’t commit. At the time of his arrest he was 5 foot 7, 150 pounds. Never mind the vicim first described a 6 foot, 200 pound light skinned black man.

“From the beginning, I did not fit the description,” Crotzer said.

Reporter: But you were convicted?

“Yes, I was, just on eye witness identification alone, and that’s what really convicted me. There was no physical evidence in my case,” he said.

It took more than 2 decades before DNA proved Crotzer innocent.

“If you wrongly convicted me for 24 years, 6 months, 13 days, and four hours, then that monster that really committed that crime ran around for 24 years, 6 months, 13 days, and 4 hours doing the same thing,” Crotzer said.

Misidentification by eyewitnesses is one of the leading causes of innocent people going to prison.

The reason? Detectives sometimes send cues during a line-up or photo line-up, pointing at one photo more often than another.

The Innocence Project has pushed legislation called double-blind.

“Which means that the administrator doesn’t know whether the suspect is or is not in the line-up. It removes the ability to influence the person who is making the identification,” Seth Miller, Innocence Project of Florida Executive Director said.

In Florida, the legislation cleared the Senate in 2011, but died in the house. Police agencies were given voluntary guidelines but their adoption has been haphazard, so your chances of being wrongly convicted vary depending on where you were arrested.

False confessions are also a major factor in wrongful convictions. Defendants tell wild stories which couldn’t possibly be true, trusting the system to set them free, only to find out otherwise.