By Noreen Marcus and Dan Christensen, FloridaBulldog.org
Presidential candidate Donald Trump violated the law in his home state of Florida by failing to report to his local sheriff after a New York jury found him guilty of falsifying business records.
Yet it’s unlikely the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office will investigate Trump for the offense or that Palm Beach state prosecutors will charge him with the misdemeanor of failing to register his felony conviction. Nor will election officials in Tallahassee explain how a convicted felon managed to vote, unchallenged, in the Aug. 20 primary the way Trump did in early voting on Aug. 14.
Florida Statute 775.13 gives “any person who has been convicted of a crime in any federal court or in any court of a state other than Florida” 48 hours to register. Trump was supposed to report his May 30 New York conviction on 34 counts of fraud within two days of returning to his Palm Beach home.
Intended for monitoring felons, the registration law says the offender must be fingerprinted and photographed. Violation is a second-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to 60 days in jail and a potential fine of up to $10,000 per conviction.
Trump did not register, Teri Barbera confirmed to Florida Bulldog. She’s the longtime public information officer for the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff Ric Bradshaw did not respond to Florida Bulldog’s repeated requests for comment. Palm Beach State Attorney Dave Aronberg also did not return a phone message left with his office. Bradshaw’s legal counsel, Catherine Kozol, suggested Trump didn’t register because he didn’t have to – not yet, anyway.
“Former President Trump’s criminal case is not yet completed because, although there has been a jury verdict at trial, a judgment and sentence have not yet been rendered by the court.” Until then there’s “no final result to the criminal proceeding,” she wrote in an email to Florida Bulldog.
WHAT THE LAW SAYS
Separately, Kozol sent word through Barbera that a conviction isn’t final “until sentencing occurs because the judge has the discretion to impose penalties or withhold adjudication.”
But that’s not what Statute 775.13 says: “the term ‘convicted’ means … a determination of guilt which is the result of a trial or the entry of a plea of guilty or nolo contendere [no contest], regardless of whether adjudication is withheld.”
“That blows her whole argument right out of the water,” said Philip Padovano, a Tallahassee appellate lawyer and retired appeals court judge who reviewed Florida Statute 775.13 at Florida Bulldog’s request.
The registration law applies to Trump, Padovano said, even if New York Judge Juan Merchan somehow doesn’t adjudicate, or, formally impose judgment in his case.
As of now, Trump’s sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 18 in Manhattan. Merchan is considering a request from the candidate’s lawyers to postpone his sentencing hearing again until after the Nov. 5 presidential election.
Gov. Ron DeSantis challenged Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, lost decisively, and now steadfastly supports his fellow Floridian’s bid for a second term.
Along with other state and local officials, the governor bends over backwards to avoid criticizing Donald Trump about anything he says or does. Republicans dismiss their leader’s many legal problems as politically motivated persecution.
DESANTIS FLOATS CLEMENCY
“Former President Donald Trump hasn’t lost his voting rights in Florida,” DeSantis, a lawyer, tweeted after Trump’s May 30 conviction. He added that, “given the absurd nature of the New York prosecution of Trump, this would be an easy case to qualify for restoration of rights per the Florida Clemency Board, which I chair.”
Yet public records show the clemency board hasn’t approved a petition for Trump. The board is composed of the governor and the three Cabinet members, all Republicans.
Some observers complain that Trump benefits from special handling, especially compared with the vast majority of convicted felons in Florida.
“I just think we should treat him like everybody else,” Padovano said.
In fact, however, Donald Trump isn’t treated like other convicted felons.
On Aug. 14 he climbed into his chauffeured Chevy Suburban and rode six miles from his Mar-a-Lago resort to the main county elections office in West Palm Beach. There Supervisor of Elections Wendy Sartory Link greeted Trump warmly and he cast an early ballot in the primary.
Whether Trump voted legally is debatable. Padovano said the Florida Constitution clearly states convicted felons lose the right to vote until their sentences are completed; nothing in state law alters that rule.
A STORY OF CONTRASTS
Joe Scott, the Broward County elections chief, reminded Florida Bulldog that DeSantis launched an election fraud police force in April 2022 and ordered it to “go out and round up these people who also had some ambiguity about their cases.”
Many were convicted felons who’d done their time and yearned to exercise the voting rights promised by a 2018 constitutional amendment.
“These people were dragged through the mud,” Scott said. “People lost their jobs. People had serious problems occurring in their personal lives because of what the State of Florida did.
“All of those people were, you could say, sort of lower on the socio-economic ladder. And then you have somebody who also has ambiguity and they’re at the top of the socio-economic ladder,” Scott said, referring to Trump.
“The contrast between how these people were treated back in 2022 versus how this individual is being treated in 2024 … I think that’s a really interesting story to tell,” he said.
In a Florida Bulldog interview, Palm Beach County elections chief Link repeated the state government’s rationale for allowing Trump to vote: Unless a Floridian’s felony conviction in another venue would prevent voting there, the Floridian may still vote at home.
JUST ANOTHER OUT-OF-STATER
New York law allows convicted felons to vote. That wasn’t always true, but a statute in effect since May 2021 disenfranchises inmates only.
Link said state election officials didn’t refer Trump’s case to her office because of their apparent belief that New York law applies to his situation. With a referral in hand, Link said she would have followed standard procedures that might have purged Trump’s name from Palm Beach County voting rolls.
Lacking a referral, she huddled with legal counsel and decided, “We are treating him as every other out-of-state convicted felon that we come across. And that is, we’re not going to treat him any better or any worse.”
Padovano said he asked Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd’s office why New York law controls Trump’s right to vote in Florida. His question went unanswered.
“People just say that but nobody comes up with a theory,” the former judge said. “We’re not talking about his right to vote in New York.”
The notion that election supervisors routinely research other states’ laws to determine their application to Florida voters is “fantasy,” Padovano said.
“And what if there are convictions in two states? Which law applies?”
“The more I think about this, the more it looks like a completely made-up idea because they knew this was coming and they wanted to help him,” Padovano said, meaning Florida Republicans planned ahead to aid the embattled Donald Trump.
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