Golf great Gary Player joining SWFL charity tournamentWINK News Game of the Week: Gulf Coast at Immokalee
NORTH PORT Golf great Gary Player joining SWFL charity tournament Career Grand Slam winner Gary Player is participating in the 2nd Heron Creek Charity Pro-Am to benefit Tunnels to Towers.
IMMOKALEE WINK News Game of the Week: Gulf Coast at Immokalee Our WINK News Game of the Week for Week 10 brings us to Immokalee when they host Gulf Coast for the district championship.
NAPLES Naples restaurant servers stage walkout over pay changes Restaurant servers in Naples staged a walkout to protest changes to their pay structure. The heart of the issue is tips.
Innovative ultrasound treatment for liver cancer Tens of thousands of Americans die from liver cancer each year.
BONITA SPRINGS Bonita Springs offensive lineman puts in work in the trenches and on a job site Bonita Springs offensive lineman Luis Jimenez is one to put his hand in the dirt both on the line of scrimmage and out on a job site.
Amendment 5: Homestead exemption inflation adjustment Property taxes are not anyone’s favorite words, but they are money that must be paid if you own Florida real estate.
FORT MYERS Fort Myers Beach man accused of assaulting Capitol police during Jan. 6 arrested A Fort Myers Beach man has been arrested for allegedly assaulting law enforcement and other charges related to the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol.
Charlotte Co. approves site plan for marina resort development Charlotte County commissioners approved the final site plan Oct. 22 for a marina resort complex with a hotel, restaurants and condos in Placida near the Boca Grande Causeway.
NAPLES Naples Zoo welcomes critically endangered Mongoose Lemurs The Naples Zoo has incorporated a breeding pair of critically endangered mongoose lemurs into its habitat enclosures.
NORTH FORT MYERS North Fort Myers Fire Department’s newest life-saving upgrade The North Fort Myers Fire Department has a new life-saving upgrade that is used underwater, one that is much needed.
Collier County experiences daily power surge issues due to Hurricane Milton It’s a breath of fresh air now that the storm has passed, and we are slowly picking up the pieces. However, some areas now deal with quick power interruptions almost daily.
FORT MYERS Fort Myers woman wins $2M on scratch-off ticket On Thursday, the Florida Lottery announced that a Fort Myers woman claimed a top prize of $2 million from the Monopoly Secret Vault game.
Affordable housing project planned for North Naples A 150-apartment complex, with nearly half reserved for income-restricted affordable housing, is planned for Vanderbilt Beach Road in North Naples.
FORT MYERS More construction underway for Fort Myers diverging diamond project The Diverging Diamond Interchange at Colonial Boulevard and Interstate 75 is in its final stages.
DeSoto County uses aerial mosquito treatment following Hurricane Milton If you hear airplanes in DeSoto County during the evening and early morning hours, don’t be alarmed. An aerial team is treating the area for mosquitos.
NORTH PORT Golf great Gary Player joining SWFL charity tournament Career Grand Slam winner Gary Player is participating in the 2nd Heron Creek Charity Pro-Am to benefit Tunnels to Towers.
IMMOKALEE WINK News Game of the Week: Gulf Coast at Immokalee Our WINK News Game of the Week for Week 10 brings us to Immokalee when they host Gulf Coast for the district championship.
NAPLES Naples restaurant servers stage walkout over pay changes Restaurant servers in Naples staged a walkout to protest changes to their pay structure. The heart of the issue is tips.
Innovative ultrasound treatment for liver cancer Tens of thousands of Americans die from liver cancer each year.
BONITA SPRINGS Bonita Springs offensive lineman puts in work in the trenches and on a job site Bonita Springs offensive lineman Luis Jimenez is one to put his hand in the dirt both on the line of scrimmage and out on a job site.
Amendment 5: Homestead exemption inflation adjustment Property taxes are not anyone’s favorite words, but they are money that must be paid if you own Florida real estate.
FORT MYERS Fort Myers Beach man accused of assaulting Capitol police during Jan. 6 arrested A Fort Myers Beach man has been arrested for allegedly assaulting law enforcement and other charges related to the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol.
Charlotte Co. approves site plan for marina resort development Charlotte County commissioners approved the final site plan Oct. 22 for a marina resort complex with a hotel, restaurants and condos in Placida near the Boca Grande Causeway.
NAPLES Naples Zoo welcomes critically endangered Mongoose Lemurs The Naples Zoo has incorporated a breeding pair of critically endangered mongoose lemurs into its habitat enclosures.
NORTH FORT MYERS North Fort Myers Fire Department’s newest life-saving upgrade The North Fort Myers Fire Department has a new life-saving upgrade that is used underwater, one that is much needed.
Collier County experiences daily power surge issues due to Hurricane Milton It’s a breath of fresh air now that the storm has passed, and we are slowly picking up the pieces. However, some areas now deal with quick power interruptions almost daily.
FORT MYERS Fort Myers woman wins $2M on scratch-off ticket On Thursday, the Florida Lottery announced that a Fort Myers woman claimed a top prize of $2 million from the Monopoly Secret Vault game.
Affordable housing project planned for North Naples A 150-apartment complex, with nearly half reserved for income-restricted affordable housing, is planned for Vanderbilt Beach Road in North Naples.
FORT MYERS More construction underway for Fort Myers diverging diamond project The Diverging Diamond Interchange at Colonial Boulevard and Interstate 75 is in its final stages.
DeSoto County uses aerial mosquito treatment following Hurricane Milton If you hear airplanes in DeSoto County during the evening and early morning hours, don’t be alarmed. An aerial team is treating the area for mosquitos.
We’re keeping a close eye on the United States Supreme Court. The Justices are expected to hand down a decision on a criminal case that could impact the trial of a Cape Coral boy accused of threatening violence at a school event. That opinion is expected before the nine Justices go into recess at the end of June or early July. Credit: Fred Schilling, Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States That would be just days before Daniel Marquez goes back to court. As we’ve been reporting for the past year, Daniel sent private texts to a friend, texts he described as a joke about a scam involving money and guns, followed by a reference to a school event. Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said he “felt” the 10-year-old was really texting a school threat. Daniel was locked up and charged with a second-degree felony. The case the U.S. Supreme Court is weighing in on is Counterman v. Colorado.In short, a man named Billy Ray Counterman was sent to prison in 2017 for stalking a woman through Facebook messenger for years. The two had never met. Everything he communicated was through social media. The woman said those messages scared her. Counterman said he didn’t intend to threaten her and was exercising free speech. The circumstances are much different than 10-year-old Daniel Marquez and the joke he said he texted his ten-year-old friend last May. However, both cases deal with an issue the high court deemed worthy of hearing: Can a “true threat” be words, void of intent? “Criminalizing misunderstanding is especially dangerous in an age when so much communication occurs on social media, which brings together strangers and an environment that removes much of the context that gives words meaning,” says John Elwood, Counterman’s Attorney, during the oral arguments. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor: “The speaker’s intent should be part of the presentation the jury gets, because that’s part of the circumstances. But here, the court and the prosecutor argued that the intent was irrelevant, that he couldn’t present any evidence about his intent, correct?” Attorney John Elwood: “That is exactly right… they said it doesn’t matter what he thinks.” In Colorado, what matters is if a “reasonable person” viewed those messages as threats.Under Florida Statute 836.10, written or electronic threats to kill, do bodily injury, or conduct a mass shooting or act of terrorism, it matters what “another person” views as a threat. During the oral arguments, Justices Amy Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch question those standards. Justice Barrett asks, “Who is the reasonable person?” “We live in a world in which people are sensitive, and maybe increasingly sensitive,” says Justice Gorsuch. “What do we do in a world in which reasonable people may deem things harmful, hurtful, threatening, and we’re going to hold people liable willy nilly for that?” University of Florida Levin College of Law Professor Lyrissa Lidsky explains words also have different contexts among children, like Daniel and his friend. “How do children interpret these things? It’s not even a teenager. It’s a 10 year year old, which to me is a different standard than you might have for a 16-year-old who might understand how it could be misconstrued in the light of our current social context,” says Lidsky. Daniel, who was 10 at the time, explained to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office his words were a private joke. In a sworn deposition obtained exclusively by WINK News, Deputy Tyler Mackereth admit he arrested Daniel because of the content of the texts—alone. “It was the fact that there was pictures of firearms, and then a quick reply of saying, ‘get ready for water day.’ Put those two closely together. In that context, made me believe there’s a threat there,” says Mackereth. During that deposition, Daniel’s attorney Alex Saiz asks Mackereth about what he learned from Daniel. Saiz: “When you then interviewed Daniel, did he say orally to you that he was going to shoot anybody at the school on Water Day?”LCSO Deputy Mackereth: “No.”Saiz: “When he spoke to you orally, did he ever say he was going to commit an act of violence on Water Day?”LCSO Deputy Mackereth: “No.”Saiz: “Have you spoken to any officials at Daniel’s either current of any other schools he attends?”LCSO Deputy Mackereth: “No.”Saiz: “Is there a reason you didn’t speak to any officials there?”LCSO Deputy Mackereth: “Uhm. I didn’t think it had bearing on whether he sent the messages that violated the statute.” Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno and Deputy Tyler Mackereth LCSO won’t talk to WINK News about the case. Harvard Law Professor Emeritus and Civil Rights Attorney Alan Dershowitz argues the accused should also have some knowledge that what they’re doing, or in Daniel’s case, what they’re texting is a crime in order to be convicted. “The essence of tyranny is prosecuting people who didn’t know, weren’t given fair warning as to what their crime actually would be,” says Dershowitz. Ken Paulson is the Director of the Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University.He wrote a guest column about Daniel Marquez’s arrest for an online news outlet last summer. “Just on the face of it, it’s it’s outrageous,” says Paulson. And if a child’s future wasn’t at stake, Paulson’s analysis of the texts would be comical. “You’ve got your first text, in which he explains that he has scammed a friend and made a trillion dollars. Wow, that’s a significant amount of money if you’re 10! “So, what could law enforcement have done with that? He engaged in trillions of dollars worth of fraud. So, clearly, let’s get a Grand Jury. Well, obviously, they didn’t do that.” “Then you move to the next text,” Paulson continues, “knowing full well that he never really secured trillions of dollars. And he says he used those trillions of dollars to buy AK 47 assault weapons—multiple ones. Well, he’s 10. He’s not allowed to buy multiple assault weapons. Surely, law enforcement again, taking his text very seriously, (says) we charged him with illegal purchase of a gun.” “So, now move to the third text, in which he posts that he’s looking forward to a party at school,” says Paulson. “They charged him with that. They tie together two texts they know are ridiculous, but decided that somehow bundled with this excitement about an upcoming school event, together, they constitute a very serious crime.” Paulson argues the law is on Daniel’s side. “The Supreme Court has made clear that it has to be very specific, very definite and imminent,” says Paulson. “And there’s nothing specific in terms of a threat from this young man.” The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to share its opinion by the end of June.Regardless of the decision, our legal experts say the case brings attention to the fact that mens rea, which translates to “guilty mind,” is a fundamental principle of American law. That’s something the prosecution in Daniel’s case will have to demonstrate and Judge Carolyn Swift will have to rule on at his trial in July. I will be there. Email: Celine.McArthur@winknews.com 1: Exclusive: 10-year-old arrested, accused of threatening mass school shooting speaks out 2: Cape Coral 10-year-old accused of threatening a mass shooting officially charged 3: 10-year-old accused of mass shooting threat declines plea deal, says not guilty 4: Alan Dershowitz gives case analysis of SWFL 10-year-old accused of threatening mass shooting 5: Law enforcement weighs in on 10-year-old accused of threatening mass shooting 6: ‘She should be euthanized’; Experts weigh in on Lee sheriff’s commentary on suspects 7: Family of 10-year-old charged with mass shooting threat requests DOJ investigation into LCSO 8: Hear the last conversation LCSO had with Daniel Marquez, 10, before he was handcuffed 9: More twists: Lawyer quits Daniel Marquez case; new text messages revealed 10: New attorney for 5th grader accused of threatening mass school shooting discusses the case 11: Could Sheriff Carmine Marceno be charged under Florida Statute used to arrest Daniel Marquez? 12: Inappropriate vs. Threat: New twist in battle over Florida law following 10-year-old’s arrest by Lee County Sheriff’s Office 13: EXCLUSIVE: Lee County Sheriff’s Office deputy deposed after arresting Cape Coral 10-year-old 14: EXCLUSIVE: 10-year-old Cape Coral boy accused of making school threat headed to trial