CLAY COUNTY, Fla. — (Note: The video above was originally published with a previous report.)
A trial date has been set in the criminal case against Clay County’s former top cop.
The trial of former Sheriff Darryl Daniels, which is expected to last two weeks, is set to begin on Dec. 6.
Daniels faces four charges including tampering with evidence and lying to law enforcement officials, charges that grew out of an illicit affair he had with a subordinate. He has pleaded not guilty.
Almost a dozen current and former employees of the Clay County Sheriff’s Office will be deposed in the criminal case against their former boss, according to new filings in the case. They include key witnesses like CCSO Sgt Christopher Ruby, the first to arrive on the scene in 2019 when the sheriff allegedly called his own police department to arrest his former girlfriend, Cierra Smith.
Smith worked at the Duval County jail when Daniels was the jail's director.
Ruby told investigators that the sheriff told him Smith was stalking him.
Also set to be deposed are CCSO Deputy Joseph Glenn, Lt Baylor Alexander and former Director of Operations Jim Morgan, all of whom either challenged or questioned Daniels’ orders that night.
Clay County Sheriff's Office IT director Dominic Antoniello is also scheduled for deposition. He told investigators Daniels asked him for a new phone and instructed him to wipe his old one. Antoniello did not, ultimately allowing investigators to access Daniels’ texts exchanges with Smith.
Daniels’ attorneys also plan to interview former Undersheriff Ray Walden, known as Daniels’ right-hand man. He resigned the day after Daniels lost his bid for reelection in August 2020.