Judge rules against Sheriff Watson in deputies’ lawsuits

BY JENNIFER CABRERA

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Judge Donna Keim has issued the Writs of Mandamus requested by three Alachua County Sheriff’s Deputies, ordering Sheriff Clovis Watson to convene compliance review hearings no more than ten calendar days after May 24.

The three deputies all filed lawsuits in March, asserting that Alachua County Sheriff’s Office had violated the Officers’ Bill of Rights during internal investigations into each deputy and that their requests for compliance review hearings were illegally denied.

According to Florida Statute 112.534, a compliance review panel is made up of three members: one selected by the agency head, one selected by the deputy filing the request, and a third member selected by the other two members. The panel members must be law enforcement officers from the same law enforcement discipline as the deputy requesting the hearing, but panel members may be selected from any state, county, or municipal agency within Alachua County.

The panel is tasked with reviewing the circumstances and facts surrounding the alleged intentional violation of the deputy’s rights to determine whether or not the investigator or agency intentionally violated the deputy’s rights; the panel will not hear any evidence related to the disciplinary charges pending against the deputy. The deputy bears the burden of proof in establishing that the violation of rights was intentional. The determination must be made at the conclusion of the hearing, in writing.

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If the panel finds that the violation was intentional, the investigator must immediately be removed from any further involvement with the investigation, and an investigation must be initiated against that investigator for purposes of agency disciplinary action. If the investigation is sustained, the allegations are forwarded to the Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission for review as an act of official misconduct or misuse of position.

Judge Keim found that each deputy’s request for a compliance review hearing was timely and complied with Florida Statutes, that ASO did not have any discretion on whether to convene a compliance review hearing, and that the deputies have no other adequate remedy available to address allegations that their rights were intentionally violated.

The deputies also sought injunctive relief in the form of an order that would force ASO to comply with the Officers’ Bill of Rights in all internal investigations, but the judge ruled that the Writs of Mandamus constitute an “adequate remedy at law.”

In Monday’s hearing on the deputies’ complaints, the Sheriff’s lawyer argued that the Sheriff has the discretion to deviate from agency policies and that any such deviation does not constitute a violation of the deputies’ rights; Judge Keim’s order agreed with the deputies’ attorney, who argued that the Sheriff is required under Florida Statutes to convene the compliance review hearing upon request from a deputy under investigation.