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    State Attorney Melissa Nelson's Letter To Gov. Ron DeSantis

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    The State Attorney for the Fourth Judicial Circuit of Florida contacted FDLE in May 2019 regarding allegations that Clay County Sheriff Darryl Daniels illegally ordered the arrest of a woman he had an extramarital relationship with. FDLE's investigation into Sheriff Daniels is now complete. However, prosecuting the case in the Fourth Judicial Circuit would present a conflict of interest as assistant state attorneys from that office may be called as witnesses in a trial. Therefore, the State Attorney is requesting that Governor DeSantis reassign the investigation into Sheriff Daniels to a different judicial circuit in order to avoid any appearance of impropriety.

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    State Attorney Melissa Nelson's Letter To Gov. Ron DeSantis

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    ActionNewsJax
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    The State Attorney for the Fourth Judicial Circuit of Florida contacted FDLE in May 2019 regarding allegations that Clay County Sheriff Darryl Daniels illegally ordered the arrest of a woman he had an extramarital relationship with. FDLE's investigation into Sheriff Daniels is now complete. However, prosecuting the case in the Fourth Judicial Circuit would present a conflict of interest as assistant state attorneys from that office may be called as witnesses in a trial. Therefore, the State Attorney is requesting that Governor DeSantis reassign the investigation into Sheriff Daniels to a different judicial circuit in order to avoid any appearance of impropriety.

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    State Attorney Melissa Nelson's letter to Gov. Ron DeSantis

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    State Attorney Melissa Nelson's letter to Gov. Ron DeSantis

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    The State Attorney for the Fourth Judicial Circuit of Florida contacted FDLE in May 2019 regarding allegations that Clay County Sheriff Darryl Daniels illegally ordered the arrest of a woman he had an extramarital relationship with. FDLE's investigation into Sheriff Daniels is now complete. However, prosecuting the case in the Fourth Judicial Circuit would present a conflict of interest as assistant state attorneys from that office may be called as witnesses in a trial. Therefore, the State Attorney is requesting that Governor DeSantis reassign the investigation into Sheriff Daniels to a different judicial circuit in order to avoid any appearance of impropriety.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    32K views2 pages

    State Attorney Melissa Nelson's Letter To Gov. Ron DeSantis

    Uploaded by

    ActionNewsJax
    The State Attorney for the Fourth Judicial Circuit of Florida contacted FDLE in May 2019 regarding allegations that Clay County Sheriff Darryl Daniels illegally ordered the arrest of a woman he had an extramarital relationship with. FDLE's investigation into Sheriff Daniels is now complete. However, prosecuting the case in the Fourth Judicial Circuit would present a conflict of interest as assistant state attorneys from that office may be called as witnesses in a trial. Therefore, the State Attorney is requesting that Governor DeSantis reassign the investigation into Sheriff Daniels to a different judicial circuit in order to avoid any appearance of impropriety.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 2

    Office of the State Attorney 311 West Monroe Street

    Fourth Judicial Circuit of Florida Jacksonville, Florida 32202-4242


    www.sao4th.com Tel: (904) 255-2500

    MELISSA W. NELSON
    STATE ATTORNEY

    July 2, 2020

    Honorable Ron DeSantis


    Governor, State of Florida
    Attn: Susan Smith
    Governor’s Legal Office
    The Capitol, Room 209
    Tallahassee, Florida 32399

    RE: Request for Executive Assignment;


    FDLE Investigation of Clay County Sheriff Darryl Daniels

    Dear Governor DeSantis:

    In May of 2019, the State Attorney’s Office for the Fourth Judicial Circuit (“SAO”) contacted the
    Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Office of Executive Investigations (“FDLE”) regarding
    the May 6, 2019, arrest of Cierra Smith (“Smith”) for stalking by the Clay County Sheriff’s Office
    (“CCSO”). FDLE was contacted in response to allegations made by Smith at the time of her
    arrest, that Clay County Sheriff Darryl Daniels (“Sheriff Daniels”) had used his position as
    Sheriff to illegally order a Clay County Sergeant to arrest Smith, with whom Sheriff Daniels had
    an ongoing extramarital relationship.

    The SAO contacted FDLE regarding Smith’s allegations of official misconduct by Sheriff
    Daniels, and requested that FDLE conduct an investigation related to Smith’s allegations. This
    request was predicated on the clear conflict of interest that would exist if CCSO attempted to
    handle an investigation involving the head of their own law enforcement agency.

    FDLE’s investigation lasted over a year and was just completed. FDLE has provided the SAO
    with its Investigative Summary reports, which have been reviewed by this office. In reviewing
    these reports, it has now become clear that if a formal prosecution were to be instituted against
    Sheriff Daniels, that assistant state attorneys currently employed by this office would be
    required to not only be listed as state witnesses, but ultimately could be called as witnesses at
    trial.
    While it has always been my intent for this office to fulfill our legal obligation to pursue a
    criminal prosecution if warranted, it is now clear that a conflict of interest would exist if this
    Office were to institute a prosecution wherein assistant state attorneys currently working in this
    office, were also called as state witnesses at trial. Due to this conflict of interest and in order to
    avoid any appearance of impropriety, I am requesting that this investigation be reassigned to
    another judicial circuit for handling.

    Although FDLE’s investigation has been concluded, no decision has been made whether the
    evidence warrants an arrest and/or criminal prosecution. However, because this investigation
    involves a matter of great public importance, there is urgency for the reassignment to another
    judicial circuit.

    Sincerely,

    Melissa W. Nelson

    MWN/mmn

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