Dewey Pressley (Source: Broward Sheriff’s Office)
FT. LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) â€" A Broward County jury has convicted former Hollywood Police officer Dewey Pressley of falsifying two official records.
The jury acquitted Pressley of charges he falsified records he did not write and of conspiring with fellow officers to fix blame on a 2009 car accident.
The jury delivered it’s verdicts after more than five hours of deliberations.
Lawyers for former officer Dewey Pressley wrapped up their presentation Monday by showing the jury a re-enactment of a February 2009 accident on Sheridan Street involving officer Joel Francisco and Alexandra Torrens-Vilas using a model.
The defense team rested its case shortly after 3 p.m. Monday and asked the judge for an acquittal, which the judge denied.
Torrens-Vilas, 26, testified that on the night of the accident, she had stopped her car on Sheridan Street and got out of it to look for a cat which had jumped from her lap. She admitted to the jury that she had been drinking that night at a friend’s place and didn’t even realize her car had been hit by officer Francisco until she was stopped from leaving the area.
Torrens-Vilas was arrested and charged with four counts of drunk driving. While seated in the back of a patrol car, she reportedly heard Pressley discussing how he would shift the blame to her
The patrol car’s dash cam, which recorded Pressley saying he would do ‘a little Walt Disney’ to shift blame from Francisco to Torrens-Vilas, was played for the jury on Wednesday.
“We’ll do a little Walt Disney protect the cop because it wouldn’t have mattered because she is drunk anyway,†Pressley can be heard saying.
Attorney Rhea Grossman told the jury that Pressley’s report of the accident was based on the information provided to him at the scene and the statements he made in the patrol car were ‘bragging.’
Pressley is charged with four counts of official misconduct, four counts of falsifying records and one count each of conspiracy to commit official misconduct and conspiracy to falsify records.
Pressley faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted on all 10 counts.
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