The husband of murder victim Denise Lee has filed a civil lawsuit against the Charlotte County (Fla.) Sheriff’s Office, alleging that “poor law enforcement communication” and the mishandling of a “crucial 911 call” caused her death, and asking for unspecified damages and attorney fees. Lee appeared in front of the sheriff’s office at a press conference to announce the lawsuit, which includes a copy of a previously-unreleased letter written by dispatcher Susan Kallestad to the sheriff. In the letter, Kallestad expresses concern over the “inappropriate” handling of a 911 call by fellow dispatcher Millie Stepp. Kallestad wrote that Stepp took a witness’ 911 call about spotting Lee and the murder suspect, but didn’t enter the information into CAD for 12 minutes. “That is an unacceptable amount of time for almost any type of service call,” Kallestad wrote. She added that Stepp took three minutes to update the incident once the 911 call ended. In August a jury deliberated two hours before convicting suspect Michael King of murder, and a judge sentenced him to death. Download (pdf) the lawsuit here, and watch a TV news report on the press conference here.
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