Lazaro Aleman, ECB Publishing, Inc.
Suspended Jefferson County Clerk of Court Kirk Reams was handed a court victory last week, although his attorney is not yet celebrating.
“I'm waiting for the written order,” Attorney David Collins said on Monday, Oct. 22. “I know the judge granted us injunctive relief and said he wanted something done by Nov. 30. Beyond that, I'm waiting for the order.”
Collins was referring to a ruling on Thursday, Oct. 18, as reported by WCTV Channel 6, that Federal Court Judge Robert Hinkle that day had given Florida Governor Rick Scott and Senate President Joe Negron until Nov. 30 to make a decision on Reams' yearlong suspension or the court would decide the matter.
Scott suspended Reams on Oct. 18, 2017, following Reams’ arrest two days earlier for petit theft, a charge stemming from an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) that found Reams had given a county-owned laptop computer to his former girlfriend for her personal use.
The investigation also turned up allegations that Reams had been involved in a nude photo-taking session with his girlfriend in the courthouse.
Collins has said in the past that the Governor has relied on an additional section in the executive order that accuses Ream of maleficence and misfeasance in office to keep the suspension in effect. The state, however, only charged Reams formally with petit theft, of which charge he was exonerated by a six-member jury in January.
Even so, the Governor has refused to reinstate Reams, as is usually the practice following an exoneration. Or so Scott did in the case of Liberty County Sheriff Nicolas Finch, whom the Governor suspended in June 2013 following a charge of official misconduct for falsifying records and reinstated mere hours after a jury exonerated the lawman.
In March, Reams filed a complaint against Scott and Negron in federal court in order to regain his job, with Collins arguing that by delaying Reams' reinstatement the Governor and Senate were in fact violating the latter's civil right by denying him due process under the 14th Amendment.
“The gist of our argument was that it's not right for one group to delay the decision for another group to decide,” Collins said, referring to the Governor's postponement of the reinstatement until after his tenure and maybe as late as May of the 2019 legislative session.
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