PALM BEACH, Fla.—Florida’s newest law intends to pull back the curtain on what happened in the Jeffrey Epstein grand jury inquiry nearly two decades ago.
“They say that justice delayed is justice denied,” he said. “I think, in many respects, this whole ordeal has proven that to be true.”
The Palm Beach Police Department asked the state attorney to charge Epstein in 2006 with multiple felonies, including unlawful sexual activity with a minor. That state attorney chose to present the evidence to a grand jury, which means that all who came forward and the testimonies they shared would be kept secret.
The governor signed the bill at the Palm Beach Police Department in the presence of Epstein victims Haley Robson and Jena-Lisa Cordobez.
“I am just trying to put pieces together—the final pieces of this puzzle—to help me move on and finally get the peace that I deserve for my life,” Ms. Robson said. “I’m just so grateful, and I would really just want to know why was Jeffrey Epstein given such grace and mercy for his inhumane crimes, and why were we so ousted in the media and treated so poorly.”
“We have had no closure whatsoever on what has happened with these crimes,” Ms. Cordobez said, adding that hundreds of girls could have been saved if answers to what happened in 2006 had been revealed sooner.
Mr. DeSantis said that there are reasons why strong grand jury secrecy laws are in place, as it is a one-sided situation in which the testifying witnesses are not subject to cross-examination as they would be in a trial, and the accused party is not present.
However, he also said that there are circumstances that warrant the release of the otherwise secret information, one of which is if justice demands it, and that it is “in the interest of justice” that the grand jury testimonies are released.
Bipartisan Exceptions for Disclosure
The new legislation was a bipartisan effort that was passed unanimously in both the House of Representatives and state Senate and lists specific exceptions that essentially describe the Epstein case.Testimony disclosure is now permissible if the subject of the grand jury inquiry is dead, if the investigation is about sexual activity with a minor, and if the testimony was previously disclosed by a court order.
Joseph Abruzzo is a former state senator from Palm Beach and currently a clerk at the circuit court who helped draft the bill and worked with sponsors on both sides of the aisle.
He told The Epoch Times that it took about three years to get this legislation signed into law and that it was inspired by previous rulings that stated the law had to be changed in order for the records to be released.
He said it was a “priceless moment” to see Republicans and Democrats come together to pass legislation and “hopefully add a whole new era of transparency to the horrific Jeffrey Epstein case.”
Some questions remain unanswered, specifically whether the courts would still be able to enforce any redactions in the files and whether these exceptions can apply to other cases, such as sexual abuse charges made against the Catholic Church.
“You could absolutely have that if you had somebody that was abused decades ago, and there had been a grand jury investigation that was unsatisfactory,” Mr. DeSantis said, adding that such a petition could also qualify if the alleged perpetrator is already dead.
“I think they structured it with that in mind,” he said of the legislators.
However, Mr. Abruzzo didn’t agree that the application goes beyond Epstein.
Hope for Justice
Starting July 1, people will be able to petition for the release of the testimonies and appeal previous rulings that struck down a disclosure request.The governor said that what was going on in Florida was only a fraction of the massive operation that was also active in New York City and the Virgin Islands and called the relative lack of justice brought down on Epstein and his former girlfriend and fellow convicted sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell a “big black spot on our justice system.” He also challenged President Joe Biden to release the federal Epstein files.
“We’re happy in Florida to be leading the effort for transparency and for accountability because what happened was clearly wrong,” he said. “And the punishment was simply wholly inadequate to the crime.”
Still, Florida’s legislation is seen as a positive step forward.
Ms. Cordobez told The Epoch Times that this was probably the first time in a long time that she actually had some hope.
Ms. Robson told The Epoch Times that she thinks the passing of this bill is “the final chapter” and that there is going to be a lot of vindication not just for her but for all victims, including those in instances beyond the Epstein case.
“This isn’t just about now, this isn’t just about Jeffrey Epstein,” she said. “This is about the future victim. This is about the future pedophiles. There’s got to be some type of justice. You cannot just continue to sweep crimes against kids under the rug. This isn’t how it works. It’s America.”
