Fair, 55°
Weather sponsored by:

Daniels' trial set to start in Clay County Dec. 13

By Don Coble don@opcfla.com
Posted 11/3/21

Former Clay County Sheriff Darryl Daniels will face a jury of his peers on Dec. 13, a St. Johns County judge said Tuesday.

Judge R. Lee Smith also wants an initial jury pool of 75 residents, while …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Don't have an ID?


Print subscribers

If you're a print subscriber, but do not yet have an online account, click here to create one.

Non-subscribers

Click here to see your options for subscribing.

Single day pass

You also have the option of purchasing 24 hours of access, for $1.00. Click here to purchase a single day pass.

Daniels' trial set to start in Clay County Dec. 13


Posted

Former Clay County Sheriff Darryl Daniels will face a jury of his peers on Dec. 13, a St. Johns County judge said Tuesday.

Judge R. Lee Smith also wants an initial jury pool of 75 residents, while Daniels’ attorney Matthew R. Kachergus said the trial for one felony count of destroying or tampering with evidence and for making three false misdemeanor claims to law enforcement could take two weeks.

Daniels was arrested on Aug. 13, 2020, after deputies said he ordered the Clay County Sheriff’s Office to arrest a woman three months earlier on May 6 for stalking him three months earlier. Daniels later admitted he had a longstanding extramarital affair with the woman, former Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office jailer Cierra Smith.

A Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigation revealed Daniels asked the agency’s information technology

department to erase any information from his cellphone.

To avoid conflicts of interest, the case is being prosecuted by the Fifth Judicial Circuit that serves Lake, Marion and Sumter counties and it’s being adjudicated by Smith, who represents the Seventh Circuit in St. Augustine.

The jury will be selected from Clay County residents, and Daniels will be tried at the Clay County Courthouse.

The state’s discovery exhibit was filed on Jan. 6 with the Clay County Clerk of Courts, and it contained details of the affair, Daniels attempts to cover up some of his exchanges with the girlfriend and other agency officials and his demands for campaign contributions from fellow officers.

The report detailed what it believes was a desperate attempt to hide personal information relating to the affair. The affair became public on May 6 when Daniels called CCSO and demanded Smith be arrested for stalking him. FDLE and Smith contend Smith had a prearranged meeting set up by another deputy at 370 Oakleaf Plantation Parkway with Daniels to return some CDs.

The FDLE then was called in to investigate the charges, as well as an anonymous letter to the FDLE Daniels threatened his deputies about working against him.

The state agency said Daniels met with Undersheriff Ricardo Wright, Community Affairs Chief Patrick Golemme and Patrol and Community Affairs Director David Barnes before the arrest and told them charges were going to filed against him and “that he may be going to jail.”

The FDLE contends Daniels asked the sheriff’s office to reset his personal phone because there was information on the phone he didn’t want “to see the light of day.”

Daniels was suspended by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Aug. 14, 2020, and he was defeated four days later by Michelle Cook in the 8 Republican Primary.

Daniels continues to insist the timing of his arrest was to keep him from winning re-election.

A final pre-trial hearing is scheduled for Nov. 22 and a status hearing will be heard on Dec. 1