Tampa DUI Attorney Blog

Do the prosecutors in Polk County have an ethical obligation to gag Sheriff’s Grady Judd with the Polk County Sheriff’s Office?

He is constantly putting up mugshots on the PCSO Facebook page of people presumed to be innocent and making “extrajudicial comments that have a substantial likelihood of heightening public condemnation of the accused…”

These people haven’t even had their day in court yet and some of them will be exonerated of the charge. Some of them may be entitled to have their record sealed or expunged.

On November 4, 2014, the Sheriff posted this picture with all 21 people arrested in Polk County for DUI in October of 2014. I have cropped the picture to protect the innocent.

The Facebook picture had this message with it:

“FALLing off the wagon and choosing to drive hammered will get you nailed.
PCSO arrested 21 people for DUI in OCTOBER 2014. When will they learn to make better choices and to designate a driver?
They should be thankful it didn’t cost them their lives, or the life of another.”

666 people have liked the picture so far and it has been shared 124 times. Most of the 133 comments congratulated Sheriff Grady Judd for arresting the individuals and commented on how these individuals look guilty and drunk. A few of the comments point out the problem with declaring innocent people to be guilty:

“forgive me, but ok, I get it with posting pictures of sex offenders etc or even repeat habitual DUI offenders, but really have to publicly humiliate some of these people who made one mistake?”

“I’m not saying what these people or any of the other criminals on here are doing is ok, but think about what it may do plastering the pictures of people who are already caught. These people have family who are probably already suffering from their stupidity and drunkery enough, then to have it plastered all over facebook makes their situation so much harder. Not to mention, many of these people have children who can be bullied, etc based on these posts. These criminals ruin their lives enough, but try thinking of everyone else it impacts to plaster this. Post people who are wanted or you can’t find, but not those you already found just to brag. I don’t see other counties doing this crap.”

Maybe the criminal defense attorneys in Polk County should start notifying the prosecutors in these cases of their professional obligation to tell Sheriff Grady Judd to cut it out.

The ABA’s model rule of professional responsibility provide, in part:

Rule 3.8. Special responsibilities of prosecutor.

A prosecutor in a criminal case shall:…

(e) except for statements that are necessary to inform the public of the nature and extent of the prosecutor’s action and that serve a legitimate law enforcement purpose, refrain from making extrajudicial comments that have a substantial likelihood of heightening public condemnation of the accused and exercise reasonable care to prevent investigators, law enforcement personnel, employees or other persons assisting or associated with the prosecutor in a criminal case from making an extrajudicial statement that the prosecutor would be prohibited from making under Rule 3.6 or this Rule.

Does the Model Rule 3.8(e)  apply to prosecutors in Florida? Florida Rule 4.3.8 omits subdivisions (b), (e), and (f) of Model Rule 3.8. The comment to Florida Rule 4.3.8 clarifies that Florida has adopted the ABA Standards of Criminal Justice Relating to Prosecution Function.

Those standards provide:

Standard 3-1.4 Public Statements

(a) A prosecutor should not make or authorize the making of an extrajudicial statement that a reasonable person would expect to be disseminated by means of public communication if the prosecutor knows or reasonably should know that it will have a substantial likelihood of prejudicing a criminal proceeding.

So the rules are clear and prosecutors in Polk County ought to follow them.

Standard 3-1.2 The Function of the Prosecutor provides in section (e):

It is the duty of the prosecutor to know and be guided by the standards of professional conduct as defined by applicable professional traditions, ethical codes, and law in the prosecutor’s jurisdiction

Therefore, the prosecutors ought to put a stop to Sheriff Judd’s inappropriate comments and pictures on Facebook. Criminal defense attorneys ought to hold the prosecutor’s feet to the fire when those improper comments impact their client’s pending case.