Charlie Grapski going to trial for wiretapping - Committee releases recording (listen to why he is being prosecuted)

Written by: Charlie Grapski on Nov 14, 2006 10:31 PM EST

On May 1st Charlie Grapski, then a candidate for the Democratic nomination to the Florida House of Representatives, was arrested under Florida's felony wiretap statute (f.s. 934.03(1)). [To hear the audio and read the transcript go to http://grapskidefense.org/... ]

Now, on the eve of his jury trial (Thursday at 8 a.m.) the Grapski Defense Committee has released for the first time the audio recording and a transcript of the April 28th meeting for which Grapski was arrested.

Read more to find out about this story which reads more like a Carl Hiassen novel than reality.  But then again truth is often stranger than fiction.  Particularly in American politics in the 21st century.

On May 1st Charlie Grapski, then a candidate for the Democratic nomination to the Florida House of Representatives, was arrested under Florida's felony wiretap statute (f.s. 934.03(1)). [To hear the audio and read the transcript go to http://grapskidefense.org/... ]

Now, on the eve of his jury trial (Thursday at 8 a.m.) the Grapski Defense Committee has released for the first time the audio recording and a transcript of the April 28th meeting for which Grapski was arrested.

Grapski, a political scientist and theorist, has a long history of advocacy for open government and voting rights.  He was in the office of Alachua, Florida's City Manager Clovis Watson where he had been denied access to the absentee ballots from the April 11th election which Grapski had filed a lawsuit challenging the prior week.

Watson, along with the City's Mayor Jean Calderwood, were named defendants in the lawsuit alleging improprieties in the conduct of the election by City officials. The State of Florida, through State Attorney Bill Cervone (R), has been seeking to convict Grapski for the past six months on a charge which potentially could bring five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

Yet the recording, which was seized by Watson and turned over to the State in May, proves that Watson had no expectation of privacy (as required for a violation of the statute), knew he was being recorded, and even consented to the recording.

Florida law requires, following the United State's Supreme Court's ruling in Katz v. U.S., a two-pronged test to determine an expectation of privacy for a violation of this statute to occur:

1) The individual recorded must have a subjective expectation of privacy;

2) There must also be an objective standard - an expectation of privacy which is publicly recognized as justifiable.

Yet under Florida's Constitution public officials, as public officials, have no such privacy rights in their public activities.  Florida's famous Sunshine Law declares that public officials are public servants whose actions must serve only the public interest and that the public has a right to observe all such activities.

Watson, who also serves as the City's Police Commissioner (a violation of Florida's Constitutional Dual Office Holding Prohibition), arrested Grapski three days after this meeting while Grapski was inspecting the absentee ballots.

The State, which had the audio recording evidence in its possession since May, only formally charged Grapski in October, setting his Case Management for November 7th, election day, ensuring the least public visibility.

Grapski, who has recently been representing himself in Court, immediately filed a motion to invoke his right to speedy trial.  

Joined on Monday morning by University of Florida Law Professor Joe Little, Grapski picked a jury, and the trial is scheduled to begin 8 a.m. this Thursday.

For the past six months, Grapski, under the order of Judge Peter K. Sieg (appointed by Jeb Bush), has been severely deprived of his liberty forcing his exit from the House race.  Grapski is prohibited from entering the City limits of Alachua, part of the district he was seeking to represent, and where Grapski was relocating to better assist the City's residents with the problems in their local government.

Listening to the audio will prove that Watson not only had no expectation of privacy (either subjective or objective) but actually knew he was being record and consented to it.  This conflicts with the sworn arrest statement that Watson made in May.

Serious questions have been raised as to not only why Grapski was arrested by Alachua City officials but also as to why the State would continue this prosecution to a jury trial.

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Location: Alachua, FL 32616