ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – A grand jury will decide if St. Johns County Commissioner Krista Keating-Joseph should be indicted for violating state election laws.
A court document filed on July 1 said that St. Johns County Commissioner Krista Keating-Joseph used her position as a St. Johns County Commissioner to campaign for her preferred candidates in the upcoming August 2024 election.
In November of last year, Joseph railed over things she said were going on in the county, including unchecked development, and waved a small American flag and a flyer about the county primary in August that will have three of the other commissioners up for re-election.
Joseph, who is known for going against the grain and voting opposite her commission colleagues, was cut short and called out by two commissioners who accused her of campaigning from her chair. Joseph said she was just making a public service announcement.
Click the player above to watch what Joseph said.
The general counsel for the county told her at the time she had crossed the line of decorum and civility and she stopped.
The commission then hired outside counsel to provide an opinion on Joseph’s remarks and found that her speech constituted criminal election interference, and said it could be referred to the state attorney’s office for possible charges.
Now, a grand jury will decide if Joseph should face any charges.
News4JAX reached out to Joseph and was provided this statement:
Commissioner Joseph has a motion currently pending in federal court asking the court to decide whether her speech is protected by the First Amendment. Commissioner Joseph thinks it is extremely unlikely the state attorney would institute criminal charges against her while we are waiting for the federal court to decide the First Amendment issue, especially on the eve of the primary election. Even so, she is aware of reporting that the state attorney is going forward. The state attorney’s theory is evidently that it was criminal election interference for Commissioner Joseph to waive the American flag and inform the voters of the upcoming election if she intended for them to vote against her colleagues on the commission who are up for election. Commissioner Joseph believes the First Amendment protects her right to engage in political speech—even anti-incumbent speech. Her son died in combat fighting for our constitutional rights. Now, Commissioner Joseph is litigating in federal court to protect her First Amendment rights, and to stand up for the people of St. Johns County.
Commissioner Krista Keating-Joseph