Exhibit - United States v. David T. Hines

Record facts

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida · No. 1:21-cr-20011-DPG · Doc. 52-7 · 2021-05-09 · Docket on CourtListener

Summary

A character letter filed as Document 52-7 on May 9, 2021 in United States v. David T. Hines, No. 1:21-cr-20011-DPG, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The letter, dated May 9, 2021 and addressed to Judge Cooke, is written by a Miami attorney and former public defender who says he has known the defendant for more than 20 years through his church and community. The writer describes the defendant as a self-made businessman and states that he has accepted responsibility for his actions. The letter asks the court to consider this account of the defendant's character in evaluating the case. It runs three pages.

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ZEDIKER  
& ASSOCIATES, P.A. * 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Garrett T. Zediker, Esq.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                               
Office (305) 269-4600; Facsimile (305) 381-0215 
 
Mailing Address:  2520 Coral Way, Suite 2-402, Miami Florida 33145   
                  Miami Dade Office:  2151 S. Lejuene Road, Suite # 305, Coral Gables FL 33134 
 
Broward Office:  1250 E. Hallandale Beach Blvd, Hallandale Beach,  FL  33009  
 
 
May 9, 2021 
 
Dear Honorable Judge Cooke,  
 
It is my honor and pleasure to offer my support to the court in evaluating the character of David 
Tyler Hines. 
I met the Lewis-Hines family in the year 2000.  We lived in the same community and they 
attended my church, Christ Journey formerly, University Baptist located here in Miami. I knew David as 
"Tyler", we called him Ty. He was primarily raised by his mother Jennifer Lewis. Jennifer was a struggling 
single mom, doing her best to take care of Ty here in Miami without much support from anyone during 
those years. I used to observe that Tyler although very very young was his mother's protector. I found 
Tyler to be really great young boy. Eventually he had numerous play dates with my daughter who was 
the same age. I had the opportunity on occasion to do various activities with Tyler, those days were the 
highlight of my weekly routine. We would skateboard or grab a pizza. It was an inspiration to get a 
glimpse of happiness in Tyler as he would experience and master various activities.   
I was a Miami Dade Public Defender back in those days. On many occasions I took Tyler to work 
with me. He got to sit in the galley and observe all the proceedings. He was very well received by my 
colleagues and all the Judges where he attended court with me.  He would have many questions and 
verbalized all kinds of ideas about his world and life during the times we spent together. My heart hurt 
for this young boy. He had a strong commitment to his mom and family. As my mentioned he was his 
mother's protector in his mind from a very young age. I could sense that he missed his father and there 
may have been some pain building at a young age. I was pleased to learn that eventually Tyler was able 
to really reconnect with his Dad and spend much more time with him. Tyler demonstrated great 
potential with his discipline, intellect and drive. he became a self-made business man at a young age. I 
observed things took a turn for the worst with Tyler when his father became what would prove to be 
terminally ill.  
It seemed this brought back burdens that the young Tyler used to carry. I am no psychologist 
just seemed that Ty placed great emphasis on keeping his loved ones stable, secure and safe.  This 
seemed to cause his whole world to crash start crashing like a domino effect.  
I observed some very strong and admirable traits of Tyler's character as a grown man. First, 
nobody helped him climb and become a young successful entrepreneur and businessman. Tyler was one 
of those rare success stories. As a human any of us are subject to error. However, I have learned that 
most adults do not accept their bad decisions and consequences that may follow. David Tyler Hines has 
affirmatively stepped forward to own and accept his bad decisions that lead him to this point. The sheer 
Case 1:21-cr-20011-DPG   Document 52-7   Entered on FLSD Docket 05/09/2021   Page 1 of 3

 
 
strength, resolve, repentance that he has demonstrated during this time to claim 100% responsibility for 
his actions demonstrates to me the strength of character that I have rarely seen in my years on earth. 
This young man will eventually become a productive member of society again and become an 
inspiration to others. I am astounded by his strength during this time and his resolve to make good for 
his family and himself.  
I am very proud and inspired that Tyler has married and stepped in to help parent his wife's son. 
He supports his loving wife and their son that they are raising together. It is young men like Tyler that 
step into the fold for others so that they do not have to endure some of the challenges and pain that Ty 
overcame in his young life. Again, Tyler places great value on family and providing stability to his loved 
ones. He was his mom's protector and now he has stepped into the role of Father, something that Tyler 
greatly values also his love for his own Dad. I believe he is turning the pain of losing his dad to soon, into 
strength and love for those that need it, those that are similarly situated to where he once was 
himself.  Tyler had finally reached a point in his adult life where he had achieved the joy of having his 
whole family readily present and substantively involved in his life. Those that have been deprived of 
having trusted family members in their life readily understand what a life changing blessing it is to be 
with their family on a consistent regular basis. My young friend seemed to implode and damaged his 
own life that he worked so hard to create. Tyler defied the odds to achieve the level of success that he 
strived to to achieve despite starting with next to nothing.  The inspirations and motivations that 
propelled him to exceptional levels in business at a very young age have always been his family. He 
adores his aunt Lisa and his uncle Ed and their children. I have had occasions to observe Tyler interact 
with his youngest cousins at church. He used to play with my daughter as well. Unfortunately, the pain 
and mental trauma appeared to finally catch up to him and took him down.  
Tyler owns his mistakes, failure and his downfall but he does it like a young man that is 
determined to 'make good' on his love, abilities, aspirations and commitment to his small remaining 
family, friends and community. I know he will replace and give back to his community what he may have 
costs with irrational decisions that are not consistent with this young man's true character. As a lawyer, 
practitioner and small business owner neither myself nor others take Tyler's actions the least bit lightly. 
Tyler too realizes these were bad decisions. I must comment again on the observations regarding Tyler's 
discipline and sheer manhood to focus willingly on the consequences he faces without the least bit of 
pity for himself, excuse himself or pleas to justify his actions. The fact that he so accepts and faces this 
difficult time evidences strength of good character. He is eager to regain trust and to give back. 
Personally, I believe in him whole heartedly. I watched Tyler’s life from near and far at different times 
throughout the last 20 plus years.  
He will return to being a loving, devoted husband and father, nephew, son and friend to many. 
While Tyler overcame odds for others it is people such as myself that should have stepped in and done 
more because that is what you do for people you care about. I believe many including myself simply did 
nothing to be more supportive of Tyler and arguably some warning signs about this young man's mental 
state because Ty was forced to become strong at a very young age, and could manage the loss of his 
father. That was an assumption that over looked the basic emotional needs of this young man. That is 
why I want to be a part of shedding as much light onto the totality of who this young man is for the 
evaluation of the best resolution of these crimes.   If David Tyler Hines were my son then I would be, 
both now and always a proud father. Tyler and his remaining  family while few and far between are 
some of the best people I know.  
I want to thank this Honorable Court for taking the time to consider these words and those from 
other people in support of Ty. We hope this information will resonate with the thoughtful mind of the 
Court to assist in a thorough evaluation of this young father, son, husband and friend. 
 
Best Regards, 
Case 1:21-cr-20011-DPG   Document 52-7   Entered on FLSD Docket 05/09/2021   Page 2 of 3

 
 
GARRETT T. ZEDIKER, ESQ. 
Case 1:21-cr-20011-DPG   Document 52-7   Entered on FLSD Docket 05/09/2021   Page 3 of 3

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