Witnesses for the defense took the stand Tuesday in the federal lawsuit filed by the family of Andrew Joseph III.

The teen was hit and killed crossing I-4 in 2014 after being ejected from the Florida State fair. The teen’s family alleges that the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office’s and one of their former corporal’s actions set the events in motion that lead to the teen’s death. 

One of the first witnesses set to take the stand today for the defense was Jordan Porrino, but attorneys said they couldn’t track her down. She was the 15-year-old girl who said she was with Andrew at the fair before they ejected him. 

The defense asked the judge Monday to issue a bench warrant for Porrino. Judge Mary Scriven said she would issue the bench warrant but that she would have the U.S. Marshal execute it. 

She said the defendant in this case is the sheriff’s office and they shouldn’t be executing a warrant for this case. She also pointed out the witness was testifying in a civil case, not a criminal one. 

Attorneys said they had served Porrino.

Defense attorneys for the sheriff’s office said they called her before the trial, left a voicemail but never received a response. An attorney for the plaintiff said he also reached out to the witness on Facebook. Porrino later told the judge she forgot about the court date and she didn’t check her voicemail or Facebook.

On Tuesday morning, the day after that bench warrant was issued, Judge Scriven questioned defense attorneys and their clients. She asked them “who took it upon themselves” to go against her instructions of how she would handle the bench warrant by letting the U.S. Marshals execute it. 

Major Frank Losat, who is in court representing Hillsborough County Sheriff, took the stand to explain to the judge under oath. He told the judge that after he left court; he called one of their Hillsborough County Sheriff’s deputies who works along with the U.S. Marshalls and told him about the bench warrant. 

Losat said the deputy had a hard time finding the warrant electronically, and the judge said she ordered a hard copy warrant for that very reason. Eventually, the bench warrant was located and then executed by the sheriff’s office. The judge said she got wind of what was going on and immediately cancelled the warrant. But by then the witness said she had already been arrested and made it all the way to the outside of the jail. The witness said she was released from custody before she could be booked in jail.

The sheriff released this brief statement along with a copy of the warrant signed by the judge.

“Contrary to current reports, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office acted in accordance with a lawful court order to arrest Jordan Porrino “without unnecessary delay,” according to the signed arrest warrant on September 19, 2022, from Judge Mary Scriven. The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office also received direct instructions from the U.S. Marshals Service to serve the warrant “as soon as possible.” -Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.

Tuesday a U.S. Marshal escorted Porrino to court. Judge Scriven questioned her about how she felt when deputies arrived, and she wanted to know how many officers showed up to serve the warrant. Porrino said six deputies showed up at her home while she was cooking dinner.

She said she was scared and that the entire incident lasted about two to three hours. 

Judge Scriven also pointed that this is a witness arrested by law enforcement, set to testify in a trail that’s about her friend, Andrew, who had an interaction with law enforcement and was later killed. 

The judge asked defense attorneys and their clients if they asked themselves how she would react if she knew they went against her instructions with the bench warrant. 

Attorneys for the plaintiff in this case argued that this was intimidation and that it tainted the witness. 

The defense argued that this shouldn’t affect their other client listed in the lawsuit who is a retired deputy. They wanted the witness to testify in person instead of them reading her deposition to the jury.

Ultimately, the defense said they would just read Porrino’s deposition in court and the judge dismissed her before jurors could ever hear from her in person.

In her deposition, Porrino testified Andrew was running after deputies, asking why his friends were being ejected from the fair. The defense has argued that the arrest/ejection form that details their client’s interaction with the teen at the fair that night shows that Andrew was lawfully ejected from the fair for running and disorderly conduct. Other witnesses with the teen that night contradict that testimony. 

The defense also called other deputies, both current and former, to testify about their experience working the fair in 2014. They focused on the night Andrew was killed in particular. One former deputy said he ejected the then 12-year-old boy, Corey Thornton, who was with Andrew when he was ejected from the fair. The former deputy said the 12-year-old was running in a crowded area of the fair and he considered that breaking fair rules along with disorderly conduct. 

That same retired deputy was asked if the age of the child matters in ejection. He replied yes but with the 12-year-old he used his discretion and ejecting Thornton instead of taking him to the lost/missing area where unaccompanied young children are taken and their parents are contacted.

Some of the defense witnesses also testified they helped groups of kids the night of the fair by directing them to security to call their parents and giving some of them directions. 

The defense says it plans to call two more witnesses before they rest their case Wednesday.