Legendary homicide detective Mike Gonzalez passed away peacefully in the presence of his family at age 95. It was a fitting end for a man whose life was so intertwined with those who did not die peacefully.
From 1956 and for about 35 years, Mike Gonzalez solved homicides in Miami the old-fashioned way. He worked the case, had an eye for details, tracked down witnesses, put the pieces together of a victim's life and a suspect's life and watched where they intersected.
Here is the Herald Obit. Not one cop who was interviewed didn't identity Mike Gonzalez as a mentor and that says a lot. When we arrived in Miami he was already spoken of with awe. He was a detective who did it right, did it well, and did it a lot. He solved cases and made the charges stick.
You did not handle homicide cases as a lawyer in Miami from 1970-1990 without hearing his name. It was spoken with awe and respect by all who worked with him or opposed him in court.
Detective Gonzalez lived Miami's history; he was a part of Miami history and he made Miami history. His was a life well lived, making our city better through his work and caring and concern. It doesn't get much better than that.
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| Photo credit Miami Herald so click on the above link and read their story so they don't sue us |
Sad passing but a long and well lived life.
ReplyDeleteA giant among police investigators.
As a brand new Major Crimes prosecutor in 1974 it was my privilage to work with him.
I went to many homicide scenes where he and his partners worked tirelessly to solve the crime.
I learned a lot from this man who was truly "old school" in his methods, instincts and work ethic.
We all had respect for him and as important enjoyed his company.
All the lawyers, prosecutors and defense attorneys, who practiced in the Justice building knew and respected him.
They don't make them like that any more!
What police department did he work for?
ReplyDeleteHad many cases with Detective Gonzalez when he was in homicide. Without a doubt, he was the gold standard and honest above reproach. He conducted line-ups with honesty, unlike others who would whisper to victims the number who they should pick as a suspect. When he had doubts he would work hard to make sure he had the right guy. I am sad to hear of his passing but I am fortunate to have known and worked with such a high caliber person.
ReplyDelete10.49 asked a good question: Mike Gonzalez was with the MIAMI Police Department, and during times when that department did not always enjoy a very good reputation. Mike's excellence therefore was even more striking than it might otherwise have appeared. His memory will be for a blessing for anyone who treasured Bosch's motto: Everyone counts, or no one counts.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, Rickey Bernard Roberts (arrested by Mike after a thorough investigation) has escaped the death penalty to which he was sentenced by Judge Harold Solomon, prosecuted by Lenny Glick and another whose name I can't recall at the moment. Then-AAG Nancy Wear handled the appeal for the state, and obtained an affirmance of both conviction and sentence. Roberts, after 15 tries, has had his sentence converted to life.
I represented Ricky Roberts in his second resentencing, and I am proud of the work I did. Let's start with the fact that Ricky was a few hours from execution based on faulty medical examiner testimony. The first ME identified naturally occurring and bi-lateral gaps in the skull of the young man who was killed as having been inflicted by Roberts when in fact they occurred naturally. The ME- in some of the most overly dramatic testimony I have ever read an ME get away with, testified about the young man lying on the shores of Biscayne Bay as the tide slowly came in, conscious for hours of his impending death. Dade Chief ME Emma Lew, in reviewing the case agreed with me his vertebral artery was ruptured and he lost consciousness within moments. So much for the HAC aggravator.
ReplyDeleteThe prior trial attorneys did almost no mitigation investigation, using a psychologist hired at the last minute who wrote a report based on one 45-minute interview with Ricky a few days before the penalty proceedings. We at RC3 did a lot more on developing mitigation.
I personally went to his home in Savannah and photographed the tree he was tied to and beaten with whips by his grandfather, who he thought was his father. I saw the whip marks in the tree in the front yard. The same tree his 16 year old mother was tied to and whipped when she became pregnant. Ricky was beaten before he took his first breath and was beaten until he ran away from home in his teens. Once while hitchhiking in the south, he was picked up by some white supremacists, taken into the woods, where a mock lynching was staged before he escaped. We had his IQ tested and found it was, I believe, 70. We spoke to the former warden of his prison who gave a deposition that while on death row, Ricky was the best-behaved inmate he had ever seen at Starke- his one DR coming in response to his complaint of correction officers marching around on death row wearing Klan outfits.
I spoke to friends he made in prison, who said in 25 years of correspondence, he never once asked for money- just letters. I traced his steps the night of the crime, meeting the people who saw him use cocaine just before the crime.
There is no excuse for his crimes. He deserves to be in prison. But the mitigation clearly outweighs the aggravating factors in this case and life is appropriate. Every time I drive off Key Biscayne, since I became involved in the case around 2010, I drive by the crime scene and think of Ricky and the young man he killed. It never leaves me. Like every murder case, this case is a tragedy on so many levels.
BTW this was not a difficult crime to solve. I have great respect for Mike, but Ricky committed the crimes wearing a T-shirt of the cleaning company he worked for, with the name
RICKY printed on the front.
The family of the next of kin graciously supported the life sentence without parole. It was one prosecutor in the legal division, who I will not name, who I believe was furious about the stay Ricky received hours from death, who made it her goal to have him executed, even as we developed new information like the actual cause of death.
BTW the prosecutor who handled the case with Lenny Glick was Bill Howell, who stayed on the case to the end, was a complete gentleman, and was responsible for the final resolution of life in prison.
Can’t help but reflect on the high caliber of work that Det. .Gonzalez displayed without a shout out to his equally professional and excellent partner, Det. Louise Vasquez. That duo solved many murders in Miami, and worked well with young prosecutors as myself. I feel privileged to be taught by the likes of these two.
ReplyDeleteDitto to what Jay Kolsky I would have said it in my post but forgot her full name.
ReplyDeleteThat's what happens when you hit 78.
Detectives Mike Gonzalez and Louise Vasquez came to my marital home in the North Grove one midnight in the 1980's. They phoned after I had called the Police about an article one Sunday in the Miami Herald about 'The Coconut Grove Bicycle Rapist'.
ReplyDeleteThe week before the article, I had been confronted at my house by a man who whizzed down my side pathway(I was entering the kitchen) after my Husband dropped me off from having lunch together. My car was in the repair shop for that day. This man had to have been watching me and waiting for an opportune moment to strike.
I am a pretty level headed Mom/Wife, and certainly not a drama queen. A lot of crime was happening in the Grove in the 1980's so everyone was on alert, especially if they had kids. This guy obviously waylaid me knowing if I had kids they would be at school. Housewives were home alone at that time usually.
This man immediately put fear into me, by asking if I had a room to rent. When I said no, and what made him think I, in particular, would have one, he became a little hostile and said "Well you live in a big house and you must have plenty of rooms available". He straddled his bike very close to me, and I had keys to my house already in my hand. He had a huge chain link bike chain, a non painted metal, hanging near his handlebars. Now I really felt mounting fear, but instantly tried to keep him talking, at the same time wondering how I could escape, and observing every detail of his body, clothing, bike, color of bike (which I had given the Police when I called them, and which they never published (victims knew color) so I could give a detailed description of him. I kept him talking by asking if he had posted notices in local shops, or if he had called the Student Union at U of M (I used to work there) so when he said he had, I knew he was lying. By now, my constrained fear was a 10 out of 10 but I was really putting on an Academy Award 'act'.
At that moment, my big Boxer Dog (who was in back garden) came out of nowhere. When people say everything seems like slow motion it really does.
I turned my face and Bandit, with his black muzzle was about 6ft. off the ground, making for the guys throat!! His lips were back, his teeth were apart and he was frothing at the mouth - I didn't recognize him for a couple of seconds - but instinctively jumped to grab his collar and said 'Good boy, good boy Bandit'(he was always gentle, but knew I was in imminent danger for sure. I pretended it was hard for me to pull him away for much longer, and said that to this creep. He backed up with his bike, mounted it and cycled away. I hugged my dog so hard, muttering good boy, good boy.
The 2 detectives mentioned above called me at midnight, as planned, to say they were walking up the path. Both flashed their ID's thru the door window.
The photos they showed me were the guy who accosted me. I said he was more than 6' and this guy in photo was short. The detectives looked at each other uncomfortably and I said "what"?
They said this photo/sketch was done by a victim - and he was on top of her raping her, so she could not give a height!
They were interested in his current description and they told me (1) that's a great description and (2) your dog saved you from becoming his next victim. They knew he sometimes wore wigs, but now I gave them a non-wig description. Slightly fine strawberry blond, but you could see his scalp and how very sparse it was. He was pale, loads of freckles, pale blue 'watery' eyes, bony elbows, bicycle clips, color of bike, the chain, his rolled up sleeves and pants held by clips. They told me how fortunate I was and that he had committed more than 100 rapes over 10 years. YIKES.
Wish these 2 great and caring detectives had written a true crimes book.