- April 17, 2024
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The Flagler County NAACP is pressing for the filing of felony charges against two white 16-year-old Flagler Palm Coast High School students accused of making racist threats to kill their language arts teacher, who is black.
In a press release issued Dec. 15, the local NAACP branch accused Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly of trying to "bury" the case.
The FCSO's deputies had initially not found probable cause for charges against the two students, writing in a case report that there was a "joking manner to the [students' online] conversation," and that there appeared to be no credible threat. The FCSO later filed charges against both students for misdemeanor assault with a recommendation to the State Attorneys Office that a hate crime enhancement be added to the charges.
"Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly initially sought to bury this incident in finding no probable cause for criminal charges," the Flagler County NAACP press release states. "He later relented and under charged the students with misdemeanor assault. The Flagler County NAACP will be calling for State Attorney R.J. Larizza, 7th Judicial Circuit, to investigate and properly charge the students with Aggravated Assault with an intent to commit a felony, F.S., 784.021(b), Assault on a School District Employee, F.S. 784.081(2) and Evidencing Prejudice while committing offense, F.S. 775.085 within 10 days."
The two teens are accused of using their school-issued computers Dec. 10 to conduct an internet chat with each other about killing their teacher, repeatedly using racial slurs and making racist comments in the course of the conversation. Both teens later told deputies that they had been "joking."
The NAACP news release, recounting the students' alleged use of racial slurs, added, "The violent racist threats and relentless bigoted language were reminiscent of the casual dehumanization of black victims of lynching." The news release also announced that the NAACP branch would be holding a press conference in support of the teacher at noon Tuesday, Dec. 18, in front of the county courthouse.
The FCSO, in response to the allegations in the Flagler County NAACP's press release, has stated that the case is still under investigation, that further charges are still possible, and that the agency must ensure that the facts of the case meets statutory requirements for any charges the agency files.
“The sheriff and the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office have no intent to do anything other than to conduct a full and appropriate investigation, where race plays no role,” FCSO Investigative Services Chief Steve Brandt said in an FCSO news release issued Dec. 17. “It is unfortunate that a community organization chose to intervene during an active investigation and start throwing unsupported and false allegations. To make sure everyone’s rights are not being violated and to ensure that all aspects of the case are accounted for, we cannot and will not be rushed to conclude this investigation. This investigation will be based on evidence, not opinion and rhetoric.”
The FCSO news release states, "Despite the allegations in the [Flagler County NAACP] letter, Sheriff Rick Staly and the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office never sought 'to bury the case.' The Sheriff’s Office conducts thorough, color-blind investigations on all cases until completion, without setting time constraints on the process."
According to the Dec. 17 news release, the investigation into the incident revealed that the initial incident report and investigation completed by school resource deputies in the case was incomplete, and that it "included opinion and conclusions to some aspects of the investigation that were flawed."
The case, "as with all Sheriff’s Office investigations," according to the Sheriff's Office's news release, was reviewed and assigned to the FCSO's the Investigative Services Division "well before any organization raised a concern," and the FCSO then filed charges for misdemeanor assault with a hate crime enhancement under F.S. 775.085.
Detectives are still investigating other aspects of the case, and are seeking search warrants to check the computers seized during the investigation, according to the news release.
"This part of the investigation takes time to obtain search warrants and to conduct a forensic analysis of the computers," the news release states.
An FCSO document sent out to the press along with the FCSO's Dec. 17 new release lays out the statutory requirements for various potential charges alongside the FCSO's determination of whether the case met the individual required elements of the charge.
For example: An aggravated assault charge — a third-degree felony — would require that the assault "was made either with a deadly weapon or with a fully formed conscious intent to commit a felony," and the document lists that aspect of the case as still under investigation.
A felony charge of written threats to kill would require that the threat "was to the recipient of the communication or a member of his or her family," and, in this case, it was not, according to the document.
To meet the requirements of a charge of criminal conspiracy, the case would require that "the intent of (defendant) was that the offense of (object of conspiracy) would be committed" and that the defendant "agreed, conspired, combined, confederated with persons to cause (object of conspiracy)," which the document also lists as still under investigation.
To meet the requirements of a charge of criminal solicitation, the defendants would have had to solicit someone to commit the offense, and, during the solicitation, "commanded, encouraged, hired, requested (person alleged) to engage in specific conduct, which would constitute the commission of (offense solicited) or an attempt to commit (offense solicited)," all of which is still being investigated, according to the document. Whether the case meets all of the elements of the charge of assaulting a school employee, a misdemeanor, is also pending the outcome of the investigation.
The Dec. 10 incident is one in a series of recent criminal cases involving local school students: A Buddy Taylor Middle School boy was charged over bringing a loaded handgun to school in his backpack Dec. 7, two Indian Trails Middle School students were arrested Dec. 13 over alleged threats to commit a school shooting; and an FPC student was arrested Dec. 14 after witnesses reported that he'd threatened on Dec. 7 to "shoot up the school.”
