Nearly all of the cases brought by Florida Gov. Gov. Ron DeSantis’ election crimes office haven’t gone well, but as The Tampa Bay Times reported, prosecutors managed to get a partial conviction this week.
The trial of the first of about 20 people to be arrested in Florida on charges that they committed voter fraud by casting a ballot in the 2020 presidential election ended with a split verdict in a Tampa courtroom Tuesday night.
At issue was a local man named Nathan Hart, who was told he was eligible to vote, despite a previous felony conviction, and Hillsborough County approved his voter-registration application. When he cast a ballot in 2020, Hart believed it was entirely legitimate.
He was nevertheless charged with two third-degree felonies: false affirmation in connection with an election — Hart signed a registration form saying he was eligible, because he thought he was — and illegal voting.
The judge in the case offered the defendant a deal: If Hart agreed to plead guilty, he’d receive no punishment whatsoever beyond the time he’d already spent in jail. The Floridian balked, insisting he didn’t believe he’d done nothing wrong.
The result was a split verdict: Following a very brief trial, a jury found him guilty of false affirmation, but not guilty of illegal voting.
For those who might benefit from a refresher, let’s revisit our earlier coverage and review how we arrived at this point.
DeSantis held a news conference last summer, making what he seemed to think was an important announcement: The Florida Office of Election Crimes and Security — a well-funded office he created to pursue a problem that didn’t appear to exist in any meaningful way — had found 20 people who voted illegally in 2020.
The Florida Republican, surrounded by uniformed officers, assured the public that the suspects were in custody and would be prosecuted.
As regular readers may recall, DeSantis seemed pleased with himself. He had created an election crimes office and it…
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