|
?:reviewBody
|
-
In December 2015, a meme titled Meet Rachel Hoffman became popular on social media: Social media interest in Hoffman was piqued when the Facebook page Free Talk Live shared the meme on 7 December 2015: The meme was spread as part of a debate over whether drug law enforcement was more detrimental to society as a whole than drug use. Although most commenters were horrified to hear of Hoffman's fate, at least one was less than sympathetic, holding that Hoffman was not simply a recreational drug user caught up in a nightmare scenario with drug dealers but a drug dealer herself: As many viewers surmised, Hoffman's story was far too complex to be accurately summarized by an image meme. The basic assertions of the meme were accurate, though significant details were obscured by its brief verbiage. On 22 February 2007, Florida State University graduate Rachel Hoffman was found to be in possession of a relatively small amount of marijuana (25 grams) during a routine traffic stop. Contemporaneous news reports about Hoffman tended to begin with her tragic death and work backwards, so details of her involvement with police after that traffic stop were revealed slowly and sometimes only after initial, less accurate information was reported. According to a local news report, on 17 April 2008, while Hoffman was under drug court supervision stemming the February 2007 traffic stop, Tallahassee police searched her apartment and turned up cannabis and a small quantity of Ecstasy: A 13 May 2008 ABC News article (published on the same day Hoffman was buried) offered initial information about how that traffic stop eventually led to Hoffman's bullet-ridden body being found in a ditch in April 2008: Questions frequently up in discussions of Hoffman's death involved the amounts of various drugs she purportedly possessed and whether she was herself selling marijuana and other substances. A September 2013 post written by Hoffman's friend Elizabeth Patty-Lugo and titled My Best Friend Rachel Hoffman Was Murdered at 23-Years-Old said that police estimates of Hoffman's involvement in the drug trade were wildly implausible: Patty-Lugo's lengthy account described the circumstances under which Hoffman's home was raided, as well as the choice Hoffman faced following the raid (emphasizing Hoffman's request that Patty-Lugo covertly film the buy-bust, and Hoffman's fears that the police would deny her credit for the risky undertaking.) By Patty-Lugo's account, police convinced Rachel that she would be covered at all times during the operation, and that the worst possible outcome would be a fake arrest: Patty-Lugo maintained that she and Hoffman continued contact throughout the botched buy-bust, claiming that Hoffman was incorrectly wired and that she inaccurately believed law enforcement officers were tailing her. At the end of a detailed minute-by-minute account, Patty-Lugo wrote: The placement of the wire in Hoffman's purse emerged as one of the key disputed procedures examined after her death. In September 2012, NPR interviewed New Yorker writer Sarah Stillman about an article she had written concerning Hoffman's case. In that NPR segment, Stillman said: Stillman's September 2012 New Yorker piece examined the largely unmonitored involvement of individuals like Hoffman in drug enforcement operations. Focusing on the recruitment of young informants often involves risks that are incommensurate with the charges that they are facing, Stillman painted Hoffman as out of her depth and without recourse: Among the details uncovered in the years following Hoffman's death was that the raid could never have succeeded as planned. Hoffman, pressured to participate in a narcotics transaction far out of her league, was pegged as a mark by her assailants: Another element Stillman focused on in her piece was the initial statements made by police when news of Hoffman's death broke. On the morning Hoffman's body was found, the Tallahassee Police Department (TPD) told the press Hoffman had brought about her own death not following protocol. Hoffman's parents later described that moment as the start of the smearing of their daughter: Rachel's body was found on 9 May 2008, and a local news article published that day included the following passage, suggesting her involvement with the buy-bust was voluntary and that she had ignored precautions set up for her in the preparations for the buy-bust: According to Stillman's piece (and several other articles), Hoffman's parents were ultimately awarded $2.6 million in a wrongful death suit against the City of Tallahassee and provided a formal apology. Hoffman's parents also founded an organization devoted to warning young people about the risks of becoming confidential informants. On 1 July 2009 a bill known as Rachel's Law was adopted in Florida, aimed at providing greater protection to individuals find themselves in situations such as Rachel Hoffman's. Andrea Green and Deneilo Bradshaw were sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Hoffman.Ultimately, the basic facts of the meme were correct. Rachel Hoffman was caught at a traffic stop in possession of a small amount of marijuana; a raid conducted while she was under subsequent drug court supervision turned up a handful of pills and a few ounces of marijuana. Under threat of prosecution, Hoffman agreed to act as a confidential informant but lacked criminal connections to fulfill police requests. In an effort to avoid prosecution, she engaged in a police-supervised transaction with known criminals under orders to purchase massive quantities of drugs and a firearm. The men with whom she transacted intended to rip her off and sell her aspirin; upon discovering a wire improperly placed in her purse, they murdered her. By all accounts, Hoffman was a regular user of marijuana who sold small quantities to friends, and not a career drug dealer. [article-meta]
(en)
|
![[This page as RDF]](http://data.gesis.org/claimskg/static/rdf-icon.gif){kind=icon}