INFORMANT WAS IN 'WAY OVER HER HEAD'

"There is no doubt that she was assured that law enforcement would be
'all over her,' and that she would be safe."

A Leon County grand jury on the murder of 23-year-old Rachel
Hoffman, who was working as a confidential informant for Tallahassee
police in a drug sting last May.

The ordinary citizens of the grand jury got a case so incendiary it
had already made 20/20: a young informant shot dead in a "buy bust"
drug deal gone bad.

They saw evidence and took testimony and last week came to the same
conclusion a lot of us already had: that Rachel Hoffman never should
have been there that night.

A Countryside High graduate from Palm Harbor, she was already in a
drug court program for possessing more than 20 grams of marijuana when
police found five ounces of pot and some pills in her apartment. They
agreed not to charge Hoffman, a Florida State graduate, in exchange
for her "substantial assistance."

From the grand jury report: "Confidential informants should not be
used in transactions of this magnitude without a long term working
relationship in which they have demonstrated trust, credibility and an
understanding of what is required to complete such work in a safe manner."

But Hoffman was no savvy informant. The grand jury said she was
inexperienced, carefree and ill equipped to buy ecstasy, cocaine and a
gun from men she had never dealt with before. She even told people she
was an informant.

She was, in the grand jury's words, "way over her head."

From the grand jury report: "Letting a young, immature woman get into
a car by herself with $13,000 to go off and meet two convicted felons
that they knew were bringing at least one firearm " was an
unconscionable decision that cost Ms. Hoffman her life."

What else could possibly have gone wrong that night? Surveillance
equipment failed. Her phone died. A Drug Enforcement Administration
plane couldn't keep track of her through the trees. When the men
changed the meeting place, only one out of 15 cops knew where the street
was.

Police found spent shell casings and one of her flip-flops. Her body
was recovered two days later. Two men were arrested.

From the grand jury report: "There is no doubt that Andrea Green and
Deneilo Bradshaw are the ones that brutally murdered Rachel Hoffman.
But through poor planning and supervision, and a series of mistakes
throughout the transaction, (the Tallahassee Police Department) handed
Ms. Hoffman to Bradshaw and Green to rob and kill her as they saw fit."

This was not to stop a serial killer, not to find a missing child.
This was for a drug deal.

Hoffman's smiling face alongside news stories makes you wonder how
many came before her who weren't photogenic FSU grads, just similarly
used and endangered.

The grand jury recommends immediate corrective action and "whatever
disciplinary action" is deemed appropriate for the police involved.
Her parents are expected to sue. A state senator filed a claims bill
on their behalf. There has been talk of a law to bar police from using
young informants. Most of all, we need strict standards so this does
not happen again in the name of law enforcement.

"She cried out for help as she was shot and killed," the grand jury
wrote, "and nobody was there to hear her."