Gov. Ron DeSantis is promising to pardon anyone in the state who is facing criminal penalties, including fines and jail time, for violating mask mandates and other efforts to stop the spread of COVID-19.
The governor made the promise Wednesday night on The Ingraham Angle on Fox News.
“We’ll issue pardons … for any Floridian that may have outstanding infractions for things like masks and social distancing,” he said during a segment featuring a pair of Broward gym owners being prosecuted for allowing patrons to exercise without masks.
“It’s not even right to be wearing masks while exercising,” DeSantis said. He said the restrictions should have been “advisory, not punitive.”
DeSantis appeared alongside Michael and Jillian Carnevale, who were arrested last summer, at the height of the pandemic, for continually not requiring patrons to wear masks.
The couple, owners of Fitness 1440 gym in Plantation, were charged with violating the county’s emergency order, which itself echoed the order DeSantis had in place at the time.
The Broward State Attorney’s Office did not have an estimate of how many people have been criminally charged with violating emergency orders to fight the spread of COVID-19, a misdemeanor.
The prosecutors’ office offered to send the accused offenders through a diversion program that would have left them without a criminal record. But Broward County Judge Robert Diaz offered to resolve the case against Michael Carnevale, who had been arrested three separate times, with a 10-day jail sentence.
The Carnevales turned both down.
“When you do a diversion program, you basically admit guilt,” said their attorney, Cory Strolla. “We’re not pleading guilty because they did nothing wrong. The emergency order they’re accused of violating was not only unconstitutional but was an immoral mandate.”
DeSantis has been pushing to reopen the state and put the COVID-19 pandemic in the past, pushing to resume cruises from Florida ports, planning to reopen schools in the fall without mask requirements and, earlier this month, suspending local emergency orders statewide.
For the Carnevales, he promised to issue a “reprieve” to halt the prosecution and bring the case before the state’s clemency board, which meets next month.
State Attorney Harold Pryor said he was still waiting for the governor to make good on the promises he made on television. “The cases are pending and we will continue to follow the law unless and until the Governor takes official action,” he said in an emailed statement.
Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Nikki Fried, the only Democrat in the state cabinet, signaled opposition to the pardon plan. Her office accused the governor of risking public health to reward political allies.”
“America saw on Jan. 6 what happens when reckless leaders encourage citizens to break the law,” said agriculture department spokesman Franco Ripple. “While the Governor may want to reward his political allies for violating the law and further putting law enforcement officers at risk, it’s a wildly inappropriate use of Florida’s already-broken clemency process under which tens of thousands have waited years to earn back their rights.”
______
