Jury To Get Case In Cop Cover-Up Trial Tuesday Morning

FT. LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – The jury in the trial of a former Hollywood Police officer accused of falsifying reports to cover for another cop will begin deliberations Tuesday morning.

Lawyers for former officer Dewey Pressley presented the jury with a re-enactment of a February 2009 accident on Sheridan Street involving officer Joel Francisco and Alexandra Torrens-Vilas using a model.

The defense team rested its case shortly after 3 p.m. and asked the judge for an acquittal, which the judge denied.

Torrens-Vilas, 26, testified that on the night of the accident, she had stopped her car on Sheridan Street and got out of it to look for a cat which had jumped from her lap. She admitted to the jury that she had been drinking that night at a friend's place and didn't even realize her car had been hit by officer Francisco until she was stopped from leaving the area.

Torrens-Vilas was arrested and charged with four counts of drunk driving. While seated in the back of a patrol car, she reportedly heard Pressley discussing how he would shift the blame to her

The patrol car's dash cam, which recorded Pressley saying he would do 'a little Walt Disney' to shift blame from Francisco to Torrens-Vilas, was played for the jury on Wednesday.

"We'll do a little Walt Disney protect the cop because it wouldn't have mattered because she is drunk anyway," Pressley can be heard saying.

Pressley is charged with four counts of official misconduct, four counts of falsifying records and one count each of conspiracy to commit official misconduct and conspiracy to falsify records.

Attorney Rhea Grossman told the jury that Pressley's report of the accident was based on the information provided to him at the scene and the statements he made in the patrol car were 'bragging'.

Pressley faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted of all 10 counts against him.