ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — An Orange County sheriff’s deputy did not follow up on a stolen gun recovered from a traffic stop where Keith Moses was arrested in 2021, opening the door for questions about accountability as finger-pointing mounts.
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Moses was arrested for marijuana possession during the stop, along with two others in the vehicle, though prosecutors dropped the case because the marijuana was never tested.
According to the arrest affidavit, someone tossed a gun from the passenger side of the car as the car was being pulled over. Moses, along with another suspect, was sitting on the passenger side.
Since it was not certain that Moses threw the gun, the deputy said they planned to order a DNA warrant to test the gun to determine who possessed it.
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The sheriff’s office confirmed Tuesday no test was ever performed, which meant prosecutors could not follow through with any charges.
It was also unclear if Moses’ juvenile probation officer was notified about the stop, though the juvenile system loses authority over teens once they turn 19.
“Since he was an adult when he was arrested, it’s not common to violate someone on juvenile probation once they are an adult,” a sheriff’s office spokesperson said.
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Moses may not have been the person in possession of the gun. If he had been, though, defense attorney Roger Weeden said it may not have affected Moses’ ability to walk freely last week, even with his long juvenile record.
“My best guess in this is that he would have been put on probation,” Weeden said.
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Weeden, however, said this highlighted the importance of holding the entire justice system accountable, rather than just blaming prosecutors for last week’s murders.
“Without the DNA evidence, that case was not was not suitable for prosecution,” he said.
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