Finch Walker – Florida TodayView Comments
Published 12:56pm
Three Brevard County registered sex offenders are plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit against the county, alleging violation of their First Amendment rights when they could not attend public County Commission meetings because doing so “would place them within 1,000 feet of a school and they feared being arrested and prosecuted for a violation of the (law)”.
The suit, filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, in Orlando, by the Florida Justice Institute in partnership with attorney Jessica J. Travis of DefendBrevard.com, further alleges the county violated Florida’s Government in the Sunshine Law when the County Commission held public meetings “not fully open to the public.”
The men, as members of the public, were denied “a reasonable opportunity to be heard on a proposition before a board or commission, ” according to the lawsuit. The suit asks for a jury trial.