ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — In St. Johns County, a local battle over what is free speech and what is election interference is brewing.
Last fall, St. Johns County commissioner Krista Keating Joseph waved a US flag during a county commission meeting and reminded voters they can vote out incumbents in the upcoming election.
Those words were met with various legal fights and mentions of criminal charges.
The latest chapter in this book involves a grand jury... or the idea of one.
Last November, Joseph held up the elections guide during a November county commission meeting. She told voters if they were not happy with the way the county was going said, "In less than nine months, we have an election."
The other county commissioners objected to her doing that during a meeting.
St. Johns County then hired an outside attorney who said Joseph may have violated election law by speaking about the election as a county commissioner during a county commission meeting.
Joseph is not running for re-election, but is supporting others who are running against incumbents.
In January, she filed a request for a federal judge to make a determination: can she speak about politics in St. Johns County? Joseph believes it’s her first amendment right. And she has also filed, in the same case, a request for an injunction so she can engage in political speech during the election season.
That case is not resolved yet.
As a response, State Attorney Brian Kramer of the 8th Judicial Circuit, based in Gainesville, who is involved in the federal case, filed a report to the court on July 1. In it, Kramer noted that because Joseph did not agree to stop talking politics, he would have to pursue asking a grand jury to consider if she should be prosecuted criminally.
Here is the question: Is Kramer saying he is taking Joseph’s case before a grand jury? Or would it be his plan, once the federal case is resolved?
First Coast News reached out to State Attorney Kramer’s office for clarification. We did not receive a response by the time this story aired.
Joseph’s attorney sent First Coast News a statement which in part reads: Commissioner Joseph thinks it is extremely unlikely the state attorney would institute criminal charges against her while we are waiting for the federal court to decide the First Amendment issue, especially on the eve of the primary election.
There is high probability that the winners of the county commission seats up for grabs will be decided in the primary election.