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Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Challenge to Tampa Bay Senate seat revisits how it was created in 2022
The federal courthouse in Tampa on June 11, 2025. (Photo by Mitch Perry/Florida Phoenix) Day Three of the federal lawsuit alleging that a Tampa Bay area state Senate district was racially gerrymandered focused in part on how that district was created in 2022. The suit, filed by the ACLU of Florida and the Civil Rights & Racial Justice Clinic at New York University on behalf of three residents of Tampa and St. Petersburg, alleges the Legislature packed Black voters into District 16 to reduce their influence in nearby District 18, in violation of their equal-protection rights. Democrat Darryl Rouson serves in SD 16, while Republican Nick DiCeglie is the incumbent in SD 18. The defendants are Senate President Ben Albritton and Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd, and their attorneys began their defense on Wednesday, bringing Jay Ferrin back to the witness stand in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida in Tampa. Ferrin is now a senior adviser to the Florida Senate, but he served as staff director of the Florida Senate Committee on Reapportionment in the fall of 2021, when the districts lines were created. He discussed how he and his staff went about drawing up the Senate districts that year and the guidelines they followed. The reapportionment process beginning that fall was taking place under the guidance of Ray Rodrigues, who chaired the Senate Reapportionment Committee. Defense attorneys aired several Florida Channel video excerpts on Wednesday showing Rodrigues explaining how 'hard lessons were learned' following the Florida Supreme Court's decision in 2015 to throw out the GOP-controlled Legislature's maps after deeming them unlawful under the Fair Districts constitutional amendments adopted by voters in 2010. Rodrigues was insistent that he wanted the 2022 Legislature to conduct itself in such a fashion that the courts would not reject the maps lawmakers would produce. 'This map will withstand a court challenge,' Rodrigues declared on the floor of the Senate. That's what the trial taking place this week will ultimately determine. Ferrin testified that, after his staff created other Senate districts in the Tampa Bay area, there remained about 100,000 residents in Pinellas County who would have to be inserted into another Senate district. (With the population of Florida in 2021 at 21.5 million people, Ferrin said, his staff were tasked to draw approximately 538,438 voters into each of the 40 Senate districts). The resultant SD 16, which encompasses parts of St. Petersburg and Hillsborough County, is similar to the 'benchmark' map created in 2015 that was then known as Senate District 19. Ferrin denied that he was instructed to maintain that same configuration. He also said that under the rules promulgated by Rodrigues, he and his fellow staffers could speak about any new maps only with either the Senate's general counsel or other Senate members — and not the general public. He was not supposed to review public submissions. Florida senators were allowed to propose amendments during the reapportionment process, to add their own maps. Rodrigues and Democratic Sen. Audrey Gibson had filed such amendments, Ferrin said, but no senator had asked him to directly to create any Senate maps. ACLU attorney Nicholas Warren said at the beginning of the morning that he had sought to depose Rodrigues and fellow Republican and committee member Danny Burgess before the trial, but both had asserted legislative privilege, which shields them having to testify in certain lawsuits. In the afternoon, the defense called two expert witnesses who criticized the expert witness testimony and voting analysis that came from the plaintiffs on Tuesday. Steven Voss is a political science professor at the University of Kentucky. When asked to break down the political partisanship of the Tampa Bay area, he included four counties that make up the Tampa Bay metropolitan statistical area — Hillsborough, Pinellas, Polk and Hernando. Based on population, he said, five Senate districts could be folded into the area, and that three historically were reliably Republican while two would favor Democrats. Currently, that breakdown is four Republican districts and one Democratic — with Senate District 14, which Voss said historically favored Democrats, going to the GOP in 2022. Voss took aim at the alternative voting maps produced for the ACLU by Penn State University professor of statistics Cory McCartan. Those maps showed that a district could have been fairly drawn up exclusively in Hillsborough County while still protecting Tier-1 standards there and in Pinellas County. (That involves the Florida Constitution's Fair District Amendment, which says that districts shall not be drawn with the intent or result of denying or abridging the equal opportunity of racial or language minorities to participate in the political process or diminish their ability to elect representatives of their choice). Voss said that the result of McCartan's work was that he was 'cracking and packing' voters in his maps to ultimately help Democrats at the voting booth. Sean Trende, senior elections analyst for RealClearPolitics, also testified for the defense. He praised the composition of the Senate maps passed by the Legislature in 2022, saying it was 'pretty incompetent racial gerrymandering, if that's what's going on.' The trial is expected to conclude on Thursday. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Miami Herald
14-03-2025
- Miami Herald
Broward State Attorney seeking death penalty for Tamarac triple murder suspect
Broward prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Nathan Gingles, the U.S. Army veteran and defense contractor who, deputies say, shot and killed his wife, her father and a neighbor in a quiet Tamarac neighborhood last month. The four-page document announcing the intent of seeking death was filed Thursday by Assistant State Attorney Kristine Bradley and details multiple legal reasons why the crime qualifies for capital punishment, including that 'it was committed in a cold, calculated, premeditated manner without any pretense or moral or legal justification.' Nathan Gingles, 43, is accused of using a silencer-equipped handgun to first kill his father-in-law, 64-year-old David Ponzer, as he was drinking his morning coffee in his daughter's back patio on Feb. 16. He then chased down his wife, Mary Gingles, 34, as she ran away and into neighbor Andrew Ferrin's unlocked house across the street. There, he gunned down both Mary and Ferrin. Broward Sheriff's Office deputies found Ferrin, 36, dead in his bed lying underneath a blanket. Mary's body was found lying under a window in Ferrin's bedroom, investigators say. The Gingles' 4-year-old daughter Seraphine followed her father into Ferrin's home and witnessed her mother's murder, detectives say. An Amber Alert was launched in the immediate aftermath of the rampage, and deputies found Nathan and Seraphine at a North Lauderdale Walmart that afternoon. Gingles has pleaded not guilty to three counts of premeditated murder, kidnapping, child abuse, violation of domestic violence injunctions and interference with custody. The murders followed a year of a contentious divorce process and Nathan violating restraining orders by breaking into the Plum Bay house in Tamarac the couple once shared and was ordered by a judge to stay out of. In the wake of the slayings, Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony suspended eight deputies for the way they handled Mary's multiple domestic violence calls against her estranged husband, including failing to seize his multiple weapons, including silencers, following a December restraining order. This is a breaking story and will be updated.
Miami Herald
23-02-2025
- Miami Herald
‘Go out of his way for anybody': Loved ones mourn man killed in Broward triple murder
Andrew Ferrin was the first grandchild in his family. Born in South Florida, he quickly became the focus of their clan, who all took part in raising him. 'For the first 13 years of his life… he was the whole side of attention,' said Ferrin's uncle John David, who has lived with Ferrin for the last two years in the home on North Plum Bay Parkway where Ferrin was fatally gunned down on Feb. 16. Ferrin, 36, was killed in a triple murder that rocked the suburban community of Tamarac. Ferrin, Mary Catherine Gingles, 34, and her father 64-year-old David Ponzer, were found shot to death in homes on the usually quiet street. Nathan Alan Gingles, Mary's estranged husband, killed Ponzer while he drank his morning coffee and kidnapped his 4-year-old daughter, deputies say. Mary ran for her life and banged on several neighbors' doors, pleading for help, before she ended up inside Ferrin's home. READ MORE: Brother, uncle of slain Tamarac victims: 'I wake up all-night long to this nightmare' Ferrin, according to David, was asleep when Mary ran into the house through an unlocked door. Mary and Nathan's 4-year-old daughter Seraphine told investigators she witnessed the killings. Nathan, 43, is jailed without bond on a slew of charges, including murder, kidnapping and child abuse. 'I just don't understand' Ferrin's loss has been a devastating blow to his loved ones, including David. Ferrin, described a 'caring and gentle soul,' was a natural healer remembered for his great massages. 'If I threw my back out or anything like that, he could fix me up in five minutes,' David said. But for David, one of the hardest parts of processing his heartbreak is that the murders could have been prevented. 'This guy [Nathan] broke that restraining order over and over… and over again,' David said. 'And BSO did absolutely nothing.' READ MORE: 'I am fearful for my life': Slain wife of man who kidnapped daughter warned of danger BSO did not seize Nathan's weapons after a Broward judge on Dec. 30 granted Mary a temporary restraining order, one of the key points where BSO 'fell short,' Broward Sheriff Gregory Tony said Wednesday, announcing the suspension of seven deputies connected to the case. There had been a 'robust amount' of calls to Mary's home, according to Tony. READ MORE: 'System of failures.' Had BSO seized weapons, triple murders may have been prevented: expert Nathan was heavily armed, records show. He owned 20 various firearms, 'most of which have silencers, and are semi-automatic, handguns and more sophisticated firearms, all of which the Mother believes ... [are] to kill the Mother with, as what else would he need silencers for,'' according to a divorce petition Mary filed in Broward circuit court in February 2024, seeking an end to their six-year marriage. David said that neither he nor his nephew knew the Gingles. But once while walking his dogs with a friend early last year, David saw law enforcement confiscating Nathan's firearms. 'We look over there, and they're pulling maybe 30 rifles and guns away from this guy's house,' David said. '...I just don't understand what [Nathan] thought he was accomplishing.' 'No greater friend' Ferrin was born and raised in Hollywood and graduated from J.P. Taravella High School. He attended the University of Central Florida and Florida International University, earning a degree in business, according to his LinkedIn. He worked as a sales manager for many years and was in the process of obtaining his real estate license, according to his obituary. Outside of work, Ferrin dedicated his time to coaching his nephew's little league baseball team and working with organizations supporting the homeless. 'Some people go their entire lives wondering if they've made a difference—Andrew never had that problem,' his friend, Mikey Hall, commented on Ferrin's obituary page. 'There was no greater friend than Andrew Ferrin,' Hall added. 'He'd literally give a stranger the shirt off his back and then spend the rest of the night acting like it was normal to be shirtless. I will miss you every day.' That's a sentiment echoed by many who knew and loved Ferrin. 'He was a kind-hearted person who would go out of his way for anybody,' David said.
Yahoo
22-02-2025
- Yahoo
Quiet Florida neighborhood rocked after three found dead, child kidnapped
Authorities are investigating a triple homicide involving a Florida man who was the subject of an Amber Alert issued for his young daughter last weekend. Nathan Gingles, 43, was charged with three counts of first-degree murder after he was accused of kidnapping his 4-year-old daughter, Seraphine Gingles, Feb. 16. While the girl was later found safe, her mother, grandfather and a neighbor were killed. Florida Newlyweds Get Justice After Family Fishing Trip Ended In Murder Authorities responded to reports of a shooting about 6 a.m. Sunday at a Tamarac, Florida, home, where they discovered 64-year-old David Ponzer, Seraphine's grandfather, with a gunshot wound on the back patio of the home, the Broward County Sheriff's Office said in a press release. Ponzer was pronounced dead at the home. As part of that investigation, police learned that the 4-year-old had been taken from the home, and a statewide Amber Alert was issued to the public. Read On The Fox News App Law enforcement believed she was taken by her father in a 2016 silver BMW X3 with a Texas license plate and that she was in danger. Authorities also initially believed that Seraphine's mother, Mary Gingles, 34, was with them. Unusual Video From Florida Police Shows Note On 'First Date' Brick Woman Allegedly Hurled Through Ex's Window Several hours after issuing the Amber Alert, detectives reported finding Nathan Gingles and his daughter, who was unharmed, shortly before 11 a.m. in North Lauderdale. Nathan Gingles was initially arrested on a charge of violating an injunction regarding no contact with the child and her mother. Mary Gingles was later found dead from gunshot wounds inside another Tamarac home on North Plum Bay Parkway. And another man, 36-year-old Andrew Ferrin, was found dead inside the same home, according to police. The Broward County Sheriff's Office Dive Team searched a nearby canal and located a gun believed to be the weapon used in the crimes, police said. Luxury Florida Mall's String Of Murders And Kidnapping Have One Thing In Common: Retired Fbi Agent Gingles was being held at the main jail in Fort Lauderdale and is facing three counts of premeditated first-degree murder with a gun, according to inmate records. He also faces charges of violating an injunction relating to not having contact with the child or the child's mother and interfering with custody of a minor. Ferrin was a neighbor, NBC6 reported, adding that Mary was trying to get help when Ferrin answered the door and was shot. "It's unimaginable," Ferrin's uncle told the outlet. "A woman was in the neighborhood knocking on actual doors, and my nephew who was home happened to open the door for her." Gabby Petito Told Her Ex She Was Scared To Leave Brian Laundrie But Wanted To, Just Before Murder: New Doc Court records show Mary and Nathan Gingles were going through a divorce and that Nathan Gingles had two court-issued domestic violence restraining orders against him, according to the Miami Herald. Seven Broward County Sheriff's Office deputies were placed on leave after their handling of calls leading up to the Tamarac triple murder case, Sheriff Gregory Tony announced at a press conference Wednesday. Beauty Pageant Queen, 18, Who Overcame Childhood Homelessness, Abuse Killed In Florida Car Crash In one incident, Mary had called deputies in December and said her husband was threatening to kill her. Tony said that a deputy responded and spent over 30 minutes gathering information from Mary and may have had enough evidence to arrest Gingles but did not arrest him. "We could have done more. … I'm not shying away from holding us accountable," Tony said at the press conference. "We're not just looking at isolated incidents. We have a robust list of all the calls for services that occurred at that site location either coming from the husband or coming from the wife." Mary's divorce petition also states that Nathan is "ex-military and has high security clearance," according to the Miami Herald. "I don't want the public to lose faith," Tony added at Wednesday's press conference. "When we rectify this situation, I'm going to send the fear of God amongst this entire agency." The Broward County Public Defender's Office, which a judge appointed to the case, did not immediately respond for comment on behalf of article source: Quiet Florida neighborhood rocked after three found dead, child kidnapped
