St. Petersburg Times
TAMPA — Federal prosecutors said in court Tuesday they want to keep Cortnee Brantley locked up while she awaits trial on a charge that she knew felon Dontae Morris had a gun but didn’t report him.
Assistant U.S. Attorney James Preston said Brantley is a flight risk.
Lawyers will reconvene Thursday for a full hearing on the bail issue.
Tampa police say Brantley, 22, drove away after Morris shot and killed Tampa police officers David Curtis and Jeffrey Kocab during a traffic stop June 29.
On Tuesday, Brantley’s family contacted private defense attorney Grady Irvin and retained him as her counsel.
Outside the courthouse, Irvin said Brantley will cooperate with authorities.
“She does not stand by what happened,” he said.
He said Brantley fled the scene of the police shootings because she was afraid.
“She hated to have witnessed something like that. She was in shock. She was afraid for her life. She’s afraid of this person.”
In a complaint filed in federal court, an FBI agent wrote that investigators determined that Morris used a .38-caliber gun.
The complaint says Brantley visited Morris more than once when he was in prison on cocaine charges - most recently in January. She even posed for a picture at the prison, standing with Morris, Morris’ child, and two of his siblings.
“This establishes Brantley’s prior knowledge of Morris’ felony conviction,” the complaint states.
Later in the day on June 29, Brantley was detained and questioned for seven hours before being released. During questioning, Brantley identified herself as the driver of the 1994 Toyota Camry, but she refused to identify Morris, the complaint states.
She said that she talked to Morris on the phone after the shooting, but she refused to say what they had talked about, according to the complaint. She also said that she did not try to call medical personnel or law enforcement officials after the shooting, the complaint states.
She was arrested Friday.
The complaint accuses Brantley of “having knowledge of the actual commission of a felony ... that is, the possessing ammunition by a convicted felon” yet not reporting it to authorities.
Brantley was held in the Hillsborough County Jail.
Her mother, Mischell Brantley, has said that fear made her daughter run.
“She was scared for her life,” she said.
Copyright 2010 Lakeland Ledger Publishing Corporation