CRIST SIGNS "RACHEL'S LAW"

Hoffman's Parents Plan to Return Next Year to Build on What Was Accomplished

Irv Hoffman wiped away tears and Margie Weiss hugged Gov. Charlie
Crist on Thursday as Crist made official the first law in the nation
intended to protect confidential informants.

Crist's signing of "Rachel's Law" came a year to the day after their
23-year-old daughter Rachel Morningstar Hoffman was killed during an
assignment as a confidential informant for the Tallahassee Police Department.

Her death during a botched drug sting was the catalyst for the
law.

"One year ago today was a very difficult day, and I want to thank you
for your continued perseverance," Crist said to Hoffman's parents at a
morning event at the Capitol. "To have a law on the books now that
makes it more safe for people to cooperate with law-enforcement
officers across our state is very important."

Hoffman's parents, who live in Pinellas County, thanked the governor,
lawmakers and others who helped them see the law pass swiftly.

"This has been a long exhaustive journey," Irv Hoffman said. "We made
history today. Rachel made history today."

The law will require law-enforcement agencies to have policies and
procedures that consider an informant's age and maturity and the
potential of physical harm.

The original bill Hoffman's parents pushed for included greater
protections, including prohibiting police from using informants in
drug treatment programs and requiring that informants be told they
have a right to legal counsel. Those provisions were stripped after
opposition by law-enforcement officials, who said they would
compromise their most effective tool in fighting drug crimes.

Hoffman's parents have pledged to return next year to try to build on
what was accomplished.

"This was Government 101 for us," Weiss said,

She hopes to strengthen the family's relationship with law-enforcement
officials.

"We are going to need their cooperation in the future," she
said.

Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, who co-sponsored the legislation
with Rep. Peter Nehr, R-Tarpon Springs, acknowledged Rachel's Law
isn't as comprehensive as her parents had hoped, but it was still meaningful.

"If it will save one Rachel Hoffman in the future, I truly believe it
is a good start," Fasano said.

About a half-dozen of Hoffman's friends came to the bill signing
wearing memorial T-shirts. Jason Jones, 26, who went to college with
the Florida State graduate, agreed that the law is a step in the right
direction.

"We'll be back next year," Jones said.

After the governor left, Hoffman's parents, who divorced when their
daughter was a toddler, reflected on the last year, that has included
the beginning of the first-degree murder case against suspect two drug
dealers and the filing of their wrongful-death case against the city.

"I've been in denial and shock. I don't know where the last year
went," said Weiss, who planned to spend the rest of the day in
Tallahassee visiting with Hoffman's friends.

Irv Hoffman, who frequently wiped away tears during Thursday's media
event, said: "We think about her and we pray for her. We miss her and
love her very much."

Then he left for the drive back to Palm Harbor to make the cemetery by
sunset.