Sunday, March 23, 2014

A Weapon and Bullet List of Contradictory Statements

     
Clearwater, Florida, Police Officer Jonathan Yuen was one of the first policemen to arrive at the crime scene—Tom Brennan’s apartment—the evening my youngest son, Kyle Brennan, died under very suspicious circumstances. When Officer Yuen was deposed, he was asked, “As a police officer do you find it a bit unusual that the person discovering a dead body, his son, does not call 911 right away?” He responded with, “Yes, that’s why we documented that in the reports.”
Yuen documented that unusual fact, yes, but there are plenty of other inconceivable—and contradictory—facts regarding the crime scene, especially those relating to the weapon and the ammunition that killed Kyle. Tom Brennan, Kyle’s father, for example, told varying stories regarding both the weapon and the ammunition.

According to Officer Yuen, he spent a short, short period of time interviewing Tom Brennan the night of the tragedy. During his deposition, Officer Yuen was asked whether he’d questioned Tom Brennan about the firearm found at the scene (a Taurus .357). Here’s Yuen’s response: “He [Tom Brennan] advised that the firearm was stored in a nightstand. It was in a little green military bag. He couldn’t remember—he couldn’t recall where the ammunition was, but he advised the gun was unloaded. Brennan also stated that he never told Kyle that there was a firearm inside the residence” (emphasis added).

When interviewed by Clearwater Police Detective Stephen Bohling, however, Brennan changed his tune. He told Bohling that the ammunition was stored inside the same green bag as the weapon.Then, when Tom Brennan was deposed by Attorney Ken Dander—the lawyer representing the estate of Kyle Brennan—his story about the weapon and the bullets became even more convoluted, even more fictitious. He stated under oath that he showed the Taurus .357 revolver to Kyle and his older brother Sean just prior taking them to a local firing range where the two boys fired it.

“How did Kyle react to shooting the revolver?” asked Attorney Dandar. “He liked it,” answered Brennan. “How much ammunition did you buy for the revolver?” Dandar asked. “One box,” replied Brennan. “And I don’t remember how many rounds, but it was just a standard box. . . .” Then, when Dandar asked, “Did you buy it where the firing range was located?” Tom Brennan responded with, “I believe so, yes.” Dander next asked if the weapon was unloaded the evening Kyle died. “I honestly don’t know,” answered Brennan. “I don’t know what it was. I mean, the last time I used it was when we fired it in Ft. Myers [at the firing range] and I don’t know if it was loaded or unloaded.” Was the ammunition stored in the same green bag? asked Dandar. “I don’t believe so,” said Brennan. “I believe it was stored in the opposite end table.”

Tom Brennan’s multitudinous contradictions are so confusing that it’s important at this point to recap all the different stories he told:

1) Tom Brennan told Officer Yuen: That the gun was unloaded; that the gun was kept in a green bag; that he didn’t know where the ammunition was; and that Kyle was not aware that there was a weapon in the house.

2) Tom Brennan told Detective Bohling: That he did know where the ammunition was; it was stored in the green bag with the weapon.

3) Tom Brennan stated under oath, in his deposition: That he didn’t know if the weapon was loaded or unloaded; that the ammunition was not in the same green bag as the gun—it was instead kept “in the opposite end table”; and, not only was Kyle aware of the weapon’s presence in the apartment, but Brennan himself had shown the piece to Kyle, just prior to taking Kyle and Sean to a local firing range. That’s where Brennan claimed he’d purchased the bullets.
Thankfully, Kyle’s older brother Sean brought clarity to Brennan’s ridiculous lies in a September 2010 sworn affidavit. He stated: “I know that Kyle in fact did have prior knowledge of Tom Brennan’s ownership of the Taurus .357 and knowledge of where Tom Brennan would have stored the weapon.” In 2005/2006 both boys stayed with Brennan in Fort Myers, Florida, for an extended period. Sean had just returned to the United States after serving overseas in the U.S. Army. “One day,” Sean affirmed, “Kyle approached me holding a small cloth bag and said that he had found a gun in his father’s nightstand.” Sean first checked to see if it was loaded—it was not—then he identified it as a Taurus revolver manufactured in Brazil in the 1980s. When Sean later expressed his concern that his step-father had an unsecured firearm in his home, Tom Brennan said “that he had no ammunition for it and was not planning on purchasing any since he had no interest in weapons and no intention of ever firing it.”

In the affidavit Sean stated that Brennan did indeed take he and Kyle to a Fort Myers firing range, a place called Fowler’s. But, Sean certified, “we did not take the Taurus .357 from the house . . . I rented a weapon there, a Heckler & Koch USP .45, and Fowler’s provided the ammunition.”

Tom Brennan lied, of course, when he stated that he’d taken Kyle and Sean—and the Taurus .357 revolver—to Fowler’s where Kyle fired it and “liked it.” How was it possible for Tom Brennan to contradict himself on numerous occasions and yet never raise the suspicions of the Clearwater, Florida, Police Department?

There are many more peculiar and contradictory facts regarding the weapon that killed Kyle, the ammunition for it, the “green bag,” and the subsequent police investigation:

1) The Taurus .357 found at the crime scene had four unfired mag bullets and one casing in the chamber. Five more rounds were found in one of Kyle’s pockets. Interestingly, no fingerprints or ridge details were found on either the weapon or any of the cartridges including those in his pocket—not even Kyle’s fingerprints.

2) The box of ammunition Brennan claimed he’d purchased at Fowler’s was not found at the crime scene. Furthermore, the Heckler & Koch rented at Fowler’s is a .45 caliber handgun while the weapon that supposedly killed Kyle, the Taurus, is a .357 caliber revolver—the ammunition is not interchangeable. If there was any leftover ammunition from the range it could not have been used in the Taurus. (And Kyle could not have purchased the ammunition himself because he was only twenty at the time of his death. In Florida you have to be twenty-one.)

3) The green bag that Brennan stated he’d stored the Taurus .357 in was not retrieved at the crime scene by the police—it never showed up as evidence.

4) Also missing is the bullet that killed Kyle. Officer Yuen stated in his deposition that the medical examiners searched the Brennan apartment for it, but never found it.

5) Kyle’s Virginia family was initially told by Detective Stephen Bohling that a gunshot residue (or GSR) test was never done on Kyle’s hands. This turned out to be a lie. A GSR test was performed at the crime scene by forensic investigator Jennifer McCabe—but Bohling himself blocked the GSR information retrieved from being processed.

Without fingerprints on the weapon, without GSR test results from Kyle’s hands, and without the bullet that killed Kyle, we don’t know for certain who pulled the trigger or if the bullet that killed Kyle was from the weapon found at the scene.

There are so many glaringly contradictory facts regarding the weapon and ammunition that killed Kyle—and so many obvious lies were told by Kyle’s father, Tom Brennan—that any reasonable person is left dumbfounded and extremely suspicious.
What’s the truth? Why would he lie?

Excerpt from the deposition of Officer Jonathan Yuen

Detective Jonathan Yuen, Clearwater Police, Scientology, Kyle 001

Detective Jonathan Yuen, Kyle Brennan, Scientology 001

Clearwater Police Report Excerpt;Officer Jonathan Yuen

Officer Jonathan Yuen, Kyle Brennan, Scientology, 001

Excerpt from the Deposition of Jonathan Yuen

Officer Jonathan Yuen, Kyle Brennan, Scientology, 002

Officer Jonathan Yuen, Kyle Brennan, Scientology, Weapon, 001

Officer Jonathan Yuen, Kyle Brennan, Scientology Death, 001

Detective Jonathan Yuen, Scientology, Kyle Brennan 001

Detective Jonathan Yuen, Kyle Brennan, Bohling, Scientology, 001

CWPR Excerpt; Detective Steve Bohling

Detective Steve Bohling, Scientology, Kyle Brennan, 001

Excerpt from the Deposition of Detective Steve Bohling

Detective Steve Bohling, Kyle Brennan, Scientology Death, 001

Detective Steve Bohling, Kyle Brennan, Scientology, 002

Detective Steve Bohling, Kyle Brennan, Scientology, 001
 
Detective Steve Bohling, Scientology, Kyle Brennan, 002

Detective Steve Bohling, Scientology, Kyle Brennan, 003

Detective Steve Bohling, Clearwater, Scientology Death, 001

Detective Steve Bohling, Scientology, Clearwater, 001

Excerpt from the Deposition of Tom Brennan

Tom Brennan, Scientology, Death of Kyle Brennan, 001

Kyle Brennan, Scientology Death, Tom Brennan 001

Scientology, Kyle Brennan, Tom Brennan, 001

Kyle Brennan, Scientology Death, Clearwater, 001

Kyle Brennan, Church of Scientology, Death, 001

Tom Brennan, Scientology, Death of Kyle Brennan, 002

Kyle Brennan, Scientology Death, Tom Brennan, 001

Attorney Rick Alvarez, Scientology, Death of Kyle Brennan, 001

Jennifer McCabe, Kyle Brennan, Scientology, 001

Excerpt from the Deposition of Victoria Britton

Victoria Britton, Kyle Brennan, 001

Victoria Britton, Kyle Brennan, 002

Kyle Brennan, The Church of Scientology, Clearwater, 001

Kyle Brennan, Clearwater Police, Attorney Ken Dandar 001

Victoria Britton, For Kyle Brennan, Truth and Justice, 001

Affidavit of Sean Brennan

Kyle Brennan, Scientology, Clearwater, 001

Kyle Brennan, Scientology, Clearwater Police, 001

Kyle Brennan, Scientology Death, Clearwater 001

Note: The Narratives above are all Copyright 2014 Victoria Britton. The documents posted below each narrative are in the public domain.
 

The Clearwater Police; The Fox and the Henhouse


Detective Stephen Bohling; The Fox and the Henhouse- 
                  
In February 2007 my twenty-year-old son Kyle paid a visit to his Scientologist father, Tom Brennan, in Clearwater, Florida, the site of the Church of Scientology’s world headquarters. Kyle—who was not a Scientologist—was under the care of a psychiatrist who had prescribed for him Lexapro, an antidepressant.


One of the major tenets of Scientology is that psychiatry and psychiatric medications are evil: they’re forbidden. As a practicing Scientologist, Brennan could not have a relationship with Kyle if Kyle was violating that tenet. (In fact, according to Scientology, Kyle’s use of his prescribed medication made him an “SP”—a “Suppressive Person”—someone to be reviled and avoided.) So Brennan reported this state-of-affairs to his Scientology “auditor,” Denise Miscavige Gentile—twin sister of Scientology’s leader, David Miscavige—and to his other superiors in the Church. Even though Kyle was not a Scientologist, Brennan received written orders from the Church to remove his son from his apartment and “handle” the situation per Scientology policy.

Thirty-six hours later Kyle was dead.

(Perhaps the subject of a future blog posting, “handling”—as per Scientology—may involve a wide range of actions. It’s not necessarily as innocuous a procedure as it sounds.)

Detective Stephen Bohling of the Clearwater, Florida, Police Department was the lead investigator looking into Kyle’s extremely suspicious death. His investigation, however, was careless and sloppy, even perjurious. Many quandaries were left unanswered and several deponents who’d obviously contradicted themselves walked away without further questioning. Bohling’s official police report, as can be imagined, was riddled with half-truths and lies. Facts critical to the case were omitted.

Detective Bohling was deposed on July 12, 2010, by Attorney Lee Fugate (the attorney representing defendant’s Denise Miscavige Gentile and her husband Jerry Gentile). During the direct examination the Clearwater detective comes across as compassionate and caring—in fact overly-so, like someone over compensating to counteract his real personality.
    
During Fugate’s questioning, too, Bohling lied about the “thoroughness” of his investigation, making it appear that he’d examined the case from every angle, pursued all the possibilities. “Apparently . . . you acted immediately upon each of the suggestions that he [Kyle’s older brother Scott] made to you and followed up on those?” asked Fugate. “I believe that I did as I documented it,” answered Bohling. “I felt that I had an obligation to the family to follow up on any concerns that they had and I did just that.” Nothing could be further from the truth. The list of unanswered questions—and obvious contradictory statements made by the defendants—presented to Bohling by Kyle’s family in the vain hope of finding the truth, fills several pages.

Most disturbing, however, was how Bohling—under oath and in official documents—fabricated a false image of me, a grieving mother. He portrayed me as borderline hysterical, someone unable to accept the death of her child, someone making unrealistic demands and absurd accusations. “It was difficult at times to try and explain things to Victoria in a manner that she would understand. . . .” stated Bohling in his deposition. “At times I was accused of things that were just not true. You know, that I had connections to the Church of Scientology. I was being paid by the Church of Scientology.” More lies by Detective Bohling—I never accused him of being a Scientologist or of being paid by the Church.

Bohling referred to these fictitious accusations when, during his deposition, he described a September 7, 2007, meeting he had with Attorney Luke Lirot (the lawyer then-representing the estate of Kyle Brennan). “[C]omplaints are being made,” Bohling said he told Attorney Lirot, complaints that are “just clouding the investigation. We can’t have that.” (Here the detective overestimated his ability to recall important facts and dates. At the time of this Bohling-Lirot meeting, no complaints had been made regarding his faulty investigation.)

Bohling claimed, too, that he told Lirot he wanted “communication to go on with Victoria.” He also claimed he said: “I wanted her [Victoria Britton] to be aware of what was going on with her son’s case. . . .” Then why is it that this meeting was the only contact between Bohling and Attorney Lirot until Bohling closed the case in November of 2009, just two months shy of the Florida statute of limitations’ deadline? Was Detective Bohling really interested in keeping Kyle’s family informed? Was he actually interested in resolving those unanswered questions?

The answer to that question is found in a July 1, 2008, letter from Attorney Lirot to Detective Bohling, a letter written almost eleven months after the above-described open-lines-of communication meeting. “After being retained in June of 2007,” wrote Lirot, “I cannot be surprised that my client thinks that I am incapable of getting any final answers on the investigation involving the death of Kyle Brennan. I will not level any criticism at you or the CPD [the Clearwater Police Department], but where does this investigation stand?” Here Attorney Lirot’s dissatisfaction with Bohling lack of communication is clearly evident.
The result of Detective Bohling’s fraudulent behavior was a miscarriage of justice. Bohling’s police report is a collection of misrepresentations, half-truths, and outright lies. As soon as this public document became available, the Scientology lawyers—the attorneys representing Scientologists Tom Brennan, and Denise and Jerry Gentile, as well as the Church itself—tacked it onto their motion for summary judgment (their request that the judge rule in their favor and dismiss the case before it went to trial). Detective Bohling’s fabricated police report made sure that my point of view regarding this case—my list of unanswered questions and glaring contradictions—was never heard by a Florida jury.

Indeed, Kyle’s extremely suspicious death was never properly investigated in the first place. 
 
Detective Stephen Bohling made sure of this by falsely claiming that he’d conducted a thorough investigation. According to Bohling and subsequently the Scientology lawyers, Kyle’s death was investigated by not one, but by three separate agencies. This misrepresentation appeared in court documents filed in the Federal Middle District Court of Florida, and in court documents submitted to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals located in Jacksonville, Florida. What were the three Florida agencies that supposedly left no stone unturned while investigating Kyle’s suspicious death?: Bohling’s Clearwater Police Department, the State Attorney’s Office, and the Florida branch of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the FBI.

There is a kernel of truth at the core of this statement. I contacted the Florida State Attorney’s Office and the FBI regarding Detective Stephen Bohling’s unprofessional behavior and shoddy investigation. All of that correspondence I carefully saved and filed.
  
Here’s the pertinent question: Was Kyle’s case investigated by the FBI as claimed by Bohling and the defendants’ attorneys? No, it was not.

What about the investigation supposedly conducted by the State Attorney’s Office? Following the advice of then-Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum—he wrote saying that his office did not “have the legal authority to investigate the actions of law enforcement officers as they pursue their official duties”—I contacted the Sixth Judicial State Attorney’s Office. In January of 2008 that office assigned investigator Doug Barry, himself a former Clearwater Police Officer, to “look into the investigation conducted by the Clearwater Police Department.”

Detective Bohling stated in his deposition that “I opened up my books, everything to him. . . . [He] looked over everything that I had done to that date and eventually they came up with the same conclusion that I did. I know they also conferred with the Medical Examiner’s Office as “I had early on reviewed all their documents to make sure that everything had been done properly.”
What’s disturbing about Doug Barry’s investigative work—is the lack of it. Kyle’s case was less than a year old when Barry was assigned to look into it. And it would be wrong to conjecture exactly what information Detective Bohling provided when he “opened” his books. I, too, opened my books for Barry—I wrote to him about the numerous times Kyle’s father, Tom Brennan, had contradicted himself in statements made within days of Kyle’s death.
“The result of Barry’s “investigation” In a letter dated June 27, 2008, Barry stated that, in fact, he did not conduct an independent investigation—he merely “reviewed” Bohling’s incomplete report.

The fact is: If the State Attorney’s Office had conducted an actual investigation they would have discovered the case’s many glaring contradictions. (Instead, all of this work was left to me.)

One thing is certain: The State Attorney’s Office sending Doug Barry—a former Clearwater policeman—to look into the misconduct of a detective from his former workplace is a perfect example of that popular ancient proverb about the fox guarding the henhouse.

Anybody would have to conclude that in the State of Florida justice cannot be found when it involves the Church of Scientology.

Exchange between Attorney Lee Fugate and Detective Stephen Bohling

Attorney Lee Fugate, Denise Miscavige Gentile,Bernie Mccabe, 001

WTSP Report by Mike Deeson

Federal suit: Scientologists spent $30 million to cover up death of Lisa McPherson | wtsp.com http://on.wtsp.com/ZLu7rq via @WTSP10News

Kyle Brennan, Tampa FBI, Church of Scientology, 001

FBI,Tampa Division, Kyle Brennan, Detective Steve Bohling, 001

Attorney General McCollum, Kyle Brennan, Scientology, 001

Attorney Luke Lirot, Clearwater Police, Bernie Mccabe, Miscavige 001

Luke Lirot, Kyle Brennan, Scientology, 001

Kyle Brennan, Luke Lirot, Scientology, Clearwater, 001

Luke Lirot, Kyle Brennan, Clearwater, 001

Victoria Britton, Kyle Brennan, The Truth, 001

Bernie Mccabe, Pinellas County, Doug Barry, Scientology, 001

Investigator Doug Barry, Office of State Attorney Bernie McCabe, 001

Affidavits of Victoria Britton

Britton Affidavit, The truth for Kyle Brennan, 001

Victoria Britton, Affidavit, Clearwater Police, 001

Victoria Britton, Affidavit, Clearwater Police, 002

Victoria Britton, Clearwater Police, Kyle Brennan, 001

Victoria Britton Affidavit 001

Victoria Britton, Kyle Brennan, Clearwater Police, 001

Victoria Britton, Kyle Brennan, Clearwater Police Department, 001

Victoria Britton, Kyle Brennan, Clearwater Police Department, 002

Excerpt from the Deposition of Detective Stephen Bohling

Detective Stephen Bohling, Scientology, Kyle Brennan, 001

Detective Stephen Bohling, Scientology, Kyle Brennan, 002

Steve Bohling, Scientology, Miscavige, 001

Detective Steve Bohling, Scientology, Lies, 001

Excerpt from the Deposition of Victoria Britton

Victoria Britton, Kyle, The Truth, 001

Victoria Britton, Kyle, The Truth 001

Victoria Britton, Kyle, The truth, 002

Excerpt from the deposition of Tom Brennan

Tom Brennan, Lexapro, Lying, Scientology, 001

Brennan, Lexapro, Scientology, Lying, 001

Scientology SEC Check Order issued to Tom Brennan

Scientology Security Check, Death fo Kyle Brennan 001

Scientology, SP, Kyle Brennan, Denise Miscavige Gentile, 001