Charles Grapski Still in Jail
Charles Grapski, former Democratic candidate for the Florida House of Representatives, former candidate for Alachua City Commission, and the bane of Mayor Jean Caderwood’s existence, is still in jail, according to the High Springs Herald and Alachua Today.
This is not to say that he has been continuously in jail since he was in the news for beiing a disruptive force in Alachua city politics. This time around he was incarcerated after breakiing into someone’s home on October 12 at 3am and refusing to leave.
According to Alachua Today:
Although Grapski has been largely silent on outside political matters since being held in the Alachua County Jail, he has been drawing attention from behind bars. Just last week, Grapski filed a formal grievance against the facility claiming several inmate rights violations. Among Grapski’s chief complaints are that the jail has been systematically denying inmates the right to communicate and meet with counsel. Grapski also alleges that living conditions are not safe citing dangerous and unhealthy temperatures and complaints about the food.
That report was online on November 27. A subsequent report from the High Springs Herald tells us:
After “disobeying verbal orders” on Nov. 26, Grapski was found guilty of breaking the jail’s rules and was sentenced to 20 days of confinement starting Dec. 2, said Emil Pata, Grapski’s supervisor at the Alachua County jail.
As part of Grapski’s punishment, he will not be allowed any visitors or phone calls except to his lawyer, Pata said.
Whether Charles Grapski is a political prisoner or an annoying pest with time on his hands, he is an example of what a passionate individual can do when he wants to be heard. He is at the opposite end of the scale where public apathy is weighed. That is not to say that he is right, but at least you know where he stands, and he is willing to come to grips with the political process.
I will let you decide whether or not you care about Grapski’s situation by providing you with links to his various web sites and YouTube videos. Then you can either speak up for him yourself, or determine that he is just getting what he has coming.
Early Grapski site at UF, 2 minute talk on YouTube, TruthOut article about Grapski, an Anti-Grapski Blog, Grapski.org, Students rate Grapski as a professor, Gatorpedia, Grapski’s MySpace page
Grapski Defense Update – December 22, 2008
Charlie will be in court again Monday morning December 23 at 9 AM
Charlie is still being held in the Alachua County Jail. Here’s what happened in the courts last week:
On December 17 Charlie was arraigned on the misdemeanor charges despite the fact that he has already served more than two months in jail and the complainant has been telling the State Attorney for two months that he did not wish to press charges. Bill Cervone needs to hear from the public about this outrageous waste of tax dollars and misuse of his prosecutorial powers.
On December 18 the judge refused to hear a bond reduction motion during the case management hearing ,making it likely that Charlie will remain incarcerated over the holidays. Attorneys Bernstein and Little filed an emergency Habeas Corpus petition with Judge Smith, asking for a hearing on Monday December 23. Judge Smith thus far has declined to do so, but they will try again with Smith tomorrow.
At 9:00 A.M. tomorrow morning (Monday December 23) Charlie is scheduled for a hearing in the misdemeanor case. We don’t know for sure, but it looks like he will be appearing before Judge Davis in courtroom 1A of the Alachua County Criminal Justice Center, 220 South Main Street in Gainesville. If you plan to attend, try to arrive a few minutes early so there is time to confirm the venue at the information desk.
In a revealing demonstration of the State Attorney’s bias and abuse of authority, Bill Cervone has stated to an attorney that he is certain that Charlie Grapski is mentally ill. This opinion is not based on the evidence however, since two psychiatric evaluations have been performed since Charlie’s jailing, and both evaluations cleared Charlie for release.
When the result of the first evaluation was not what Cervone and Fleck wanted to hear, they had the court order another evaluation. Then at the bond hearing on November 19, Fleck ignored the results of both court-ordered evaluations and argued before Judge Phyllis Rozier that Charlie poses a “threat to the community.” Despite the lack of any evidence to substantiate such a claim, the judge agreed to keep Grapski locked up without bail indefinitely.Now the State Attorney is on record as diagnosing Charlie as “mentally ill.”
Meanwhile, the blatant civil rights abuses continue at the jail.
Charlie has filed numerous grievances with the jail, which contain information about these abuses, including the “kangaroo court” disciplinary hearing that jail guard Sgt. Schaffner decided to hold at 2 AM on December 2. When the truth gets told, the public will know that::
- The original charges that he was found guilty of and sentenced for, as well as the testimony of the guard accusing him, have been changed retroactively because jail officials knew there was evidence and testimony (excluded from Charlie’s ‘hearing’) that disproved them.
- Charlie has discovered that statements were taken from all inmates in the pod about the incident in question, and the testimony all conflicted with the false charges brought against Charlie, but none of these statements were made available to Charlie or entered into evidence at the kangaroo court hearing.
- In a written response to grievances and complaints filed by Charlie and Joe Little about the illegality of the disciplinary hearing, jail officials have stated that the results of the hearing will stand and that the exculpatory evidence and testimony that were excluded from the hearing were “irrelevant” and did not affect the legitimacy of the hearing..
- Charlie has been repeatedly threatened with being placed in the restraining chair on “suicide watch” as a retaliatory and punitive measure, and he was in fact strapped into the chair for hours with no professional medical or psychological finding that he was in fact behaving in a suicidal manner.
Those concerned about justice for Charlie Grapski, and indeed about his personal health and safety, should contact the State Attorney’s Office and request that the misdemeanor charges against him be immediately dropped, and that he be released from jail under the same bond conditions that were in place before the October 12 incident.
Calls and emails to the Sheriff and to the jail could he helpful, expressing concerns about the rights violations Charlie has documented in the numerous grievances he has filed during the past few weeks.
Letters to the Gainesville Sun would be very much appreciated. Please contact Grapski Defense if you would be willing to appear at a public protest this week at State Attorney’s office
To contact the State Attorney:
State Attorney Bill Cervone
Tel. (352) 374-3670
Fax: (352) 491-4553
Email: cervonew@SAO8.ORG
Assistant State Attorney Geoffrey Fleck
(352) 374-3674
To contact the Sheriff and the Alachua County Jail:
Sheriff Sadie Darnell
sheriffdarnell@alachuasheriff.org
352-367-4019
Alachua County Jail website: http://www.alachuasheriff.org/jail/.
Mr. Robert Woody,Director
(352) 491-4460
rwoody@alachuasheriff.org
Captain Charlie Lee,Deputy Director
(352) 491-4460
clee@alachuasheriff.org
To write to Charlie Grapski:
Charles James Grapski
Alachua County Jail
3333 NE 39th Avenue
Gainesville, FL 32609
Grapski Defense grapskidefense@gmail.com
1