Florida appeals court to decide voter fraud case after controversial arrests
HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — The state is urging a Florida appeals court to reverse a decision after a Broward County judge dismissed a voter fraud case.
Several of these cases played out in the Hillsborough County court system, and while many have been resolved, a case in Broward County is now being heard by a higher court.
Body camera video of the arrests in Hillsborough County made national headlines as those in handcuffs appeared confused as to why they were being arrested.
“Oh my god. voter fraud? I voted, but I didn’t commit no fraud,” one woman said.
“Why would y’all let me vote if I wasn’t able to vote?” another man questioned.
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In 2022, 20 people were charged in the statewide voter fraud crackdown, which was part of the governor’s newly created “Elections Crimes and Security Office.”
The confusion came after Florida voters approved an amendment that restored the rights of convicted felons who served their sentences, however, the amendment did not apply to people with convictions for murder or sex offenses.
“They sent in the paperwork they got back from the supervisor elections office, ‘yes, you can vote congratulations, here’s your certificate, here’s your voting card’ and they voted,” said Criminal Defense Attorney Stephen Crawford who represented one of the people arrested.
“He was scared to death, there’s no question about it, he’d been in prison before, he didn’t want to go again. So it put him through a lot,” said Attorney Crawford.
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Crawford’s client plead guilty and received six months probation.
On Tuesday, judges with the 4th District Court off Appeals heard oral arguments for one of the voter fraud cases out of Broward County, State of Florida Attorney General v. Terry Hubbard.
A Broward County judge threw out that particular case, arguing that a local prosecutor should’ve handled it.
Instead, a statewide prosecutor handled all of the cases.
Attorney General Ashley Moody appealed that ruling, and the state argued that it should be overturned.
While the appeal won’t change the outcome for his client, Crawford hopes this will clear up the state prosecutor’s jurisdiction.
“I’m hoping that the judges will give us some clarity with respect to the jurisdiction of the statewide prosecutors office, you know, they are here for multi jurisdictional crimes, they’re not here for any case that’s political,” said Crawford.
On Tuesday, the Florida Court of Appeals heard oral arguments on the case.
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