PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — Michael "Troy" Hutto, the 56-year-old Salt Life co-founder who was charged in the death of an 18-year-old in October 2020, appeared in a Palm Beach County court Monday. Prosecutors argued that Hutto is a danger to the community and accused him of stalking witnesses.
The state is asking that Hutto's bond be revoked.
Hutto's attorney argued that the suspect has not been arrested after being bonded out of jail and said he's not a flight risk. The attorney also said the judge could place Hutto in an ankle monitor to insure he's not going near witnesses.
The judge did not make a ruling on revoking Hutto's bond saying she will review the case further.
According to restraining order petitions obtained by First Coast News, Michael "Troy" Hutto has been following the women into stores and gas stations in Suwannee County, “staring and glaring,” and violating a trespass order at the fitness club where they both work. One of the women is a state witness in the murder case.
Hutto, 56, who helped found the popular lifestyle brand Salt Life, is charged with murdering 18-year-old Grace Duncan in 2020. He has pleaded not guilty and remains free on bond. However, the state has filed a motion to revoke his bond after a judge issued a final injunction in both cases after finding “competent and substantial evidence" of stalking.
Hutto’s attorney is appealing both injunctions. He is no longer associated with the Salt Life brand.
In their injunction petitions, the women say they fear Hutto because he was previously committed under the Baker Act, and owns numerous firearms.
“I am terrified of Troy,” wrote one woman, whom First Coast News isn't naming due to the nature of the allegations. “He is mentally unstable, he is a heavy drug user. Her has a big collection of guns, he keeps them in his car, in his home and backpack. his house, car and backpack. I am afraid of what will happen if I don’t get any protection from Troy.”
The same woman wrote that the last time she spoke to Grace Duncan, “Troy took the phone and told me, ‘If you try to make me let you talk to my Gracie again I will kill you.' About 3 hours later that day, on Oct. 27, 2020, he shot and killed Grace.”
She claimed Hutto has violated a no trespass order at her workplace, saying “He drives through the parking lot at least three times a week.”
In Hutto’s response to the state’s motion to revoke bond, his attorney noted he has already agreed to bond conditions of no contact with Duncan’s family and no weapons or firearms.
“Mr. Hutto does not pose a threat to himself or to the community as neither [of the women] alleged Mr. Hutto to have engaged in any violence, possessed any weapon, or made any threats of violence. Rather, the basis for the State’s motion, is that Mr. Hutto allegedly drove/walked through a gym parking lot/Walmart/gas station/ car wash and smiled at a State Witness and/or asked a Non-State-Witness if he knew her.”
But Hutto’s attorney said he would be amenable to additional bond conditions in order to avoid a bond revocation. "If the court finds additional pretrial conditions to be necessary, Mr. Hutto would submit to additional conditions … to balance the interest of pretrial release and the safety of the community.”
