Florida Board of Education chair found not guilty in Keys land case
A 12-member federal jury found the chair of the Florida Board of Education not guilty Thursday of a charge of illegally excavating his oceanfront Florida Keys property in 2017.
Thomas Grady, 63, has maintained his innocence ever since he turned himself in to federal authorities in October. His attorney, David Oscar Markus, said Friday that the case was “politically motivated” and never should have been brought.
“They tried to bully him into pleading guilty, but he had the courage to stand up, which very few folks — even innocent people — have. They went so far as to threaten him with additional charges and jail time if he would not agree to ‘pre-trial diversion,’” Markus said in an email to the Herald. “People wonder why 98% of defendants plead guilty. It’s not because 98% of defendants are guilty. It’s because the government acts as a bully.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment on the verdict.
Faced one count
Grady was facing one count of violating the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899. He was accused of excavating a channel outside of his lot in Islamorada without approval of the Army Corps of Engineers.
Markus, who tried the case with his law partner Margot Moss, said their client had all the proper federal, state and local approval to proceed with the project.
“The jury quickly rejected the charge after Grady’s contractor said on cross examination that both he and Mr. Grady believed in good faith they had all the proper permits,” Markus said.
The property in question is located on the Old Highway in the Village of Islamorada. The 1,377-square-foot home at 87429 Old Hwy. sits on a 2.85-acre lot and is one of several oceanfront mansions lining the road.
It’s not clear if Grady still owns the house. It was sold in September 2018 for $4.1 million, according to the Monroe County Property Appraiser’s website.
Refused offer of pretrial diversion
If convicted, Grady faced a possible sentence of up to one year in prison. Markus said prosecutors offered him pretrial diversion, meaning the case would be dismissed after a certain time period if Grady admitted that he committed the offense and then would pay a fine.
“He refused this offer because he said that it would be wrong to admit to something he didn’t do even if it would make the case go away,” Markus and Moss said in a statement.
Grady is a Naples-area securities attorney and a former one-term Republican state representative. He was appointed to the State Board of Education by then-Gov. Rick Scott in 2015.
He was also interim president of Florida’s state-run Citizens Property Insurance in 2012 and commissioner of the Office of Financial Regulation in 2011, stepping down a year later to head Citizens.
Over the summer, he was at the center of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ clash with several Florida school boards, including Miami-Dade’s and Broward’s, over their mask mandates for students to stop the spread of COVID-19 on campuses.
The state board backed Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran’s plan to sanction school districts that defied DeSantis’ ban on schools mandating students wear masks.
This story was originally published December 17, 2021 at 4:26 PM.
