TC Palm by George Andreassi
December 18, 2017

Two Martin County commissioners and a former commissioner will face trial next year on charges they violated the state public-records law, a judge ordered Monday.

County Judge Curtis Disque set a Feb. 19 trial date for Commissioner Sarah Heard on a non-criminal infraction of failure of a public official to respond to a public-records request.

He set a Dec. 10 trial date for Commissioner Ed Fielding and former Commissioner Anne Scott on two misdemeanor charges each of failure of a public official to permit inspection and copying of public records.

Neither Scott, Fielding nor Heard appeared in court Monday for initial appearances, but all pleaded innocent through their lawyers.

Their cases stem from the county’s long-running civil lawsuit with Lake Point Restoration rock quarry and allegations that county commissioners destroyed or failed to produce emails pertinent to the case.

A grand jury is continuing to investigate how Scott, Fielding and Heard handled the Lake Point emails, Assistant State Attorney Ryan Butler said Nov. 28, when the charges were made public. [READ MORE]