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Carlos Beruff and Anthony Pedicini on State's Witness List in Kruse DUI Case

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BRADENTON – On Monday, the State provided its exhibit and witness list in response to defense counsel’s notice of "intent to participate in discovery" in the case of the State of Florida VS Commissioner George Kruse–one count of Driving Under the Influence (DUI). The prosecution’s exhibit and witness list provided to defendant’s counsel has been added to the 12th Judicial Circuit Court of Manatee County’s case docket.

In July,Kruse entered a plea of "not guilty" in response to the state attorney's charge of driving under the influence. The not-guilty plea followed the State Attorney's announcement the month prior saying that it would be moving forward to charge the commissioner with DUI after having completed its investigation into an April 20 traffic accident involving Kruse.

The case will advance to a pretrial hearing which is currently scheduled for August 16. Defense counsel may argue against the legal admissibility or relevance of certain testimony, physical evidence, and/or documents included in the state’s discovery list. In a criminal case, the defense can also file a motion for total dismissal if it believes legal ground exists to do so.

Various names were provided by the state as material witnesses for the prosecution of the DUI charge against Kruse, including seven individuals with the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.

Two witnesses who appear on the list may have political ties to the defendant. One such witness, Tampa-based political operative Anthony Pedicini, a campaign consultant and owner of the political consulting firm Strategic Image Management SIMWINS made the state's list. Kruse hired Pedicini as his campaign consultant in his 2020 run for the county’s at-large seat currently represented by Kruse. Pedicini also served as campaign consultant to Commissioners Vanessa Baugh, James Satcher, and Kevin Van Ostenbridge in their bids for commission seats in the 2020 election.

Currently, Pedicini’s firm appears on campaign financial records of three current candidates for Manatee County Commission races, Republicans Mike Rahn for District 4, Amanda Ballard for District 2, and Jason Bearden for the county’s District 6 at-large seat.

Along with Pedicini, the state’s submitted witness list also included politically-connected local developer Carlos Beruff of Medallion Homes.

Other witnesses who appeared on the state’s discovery list include individuals who were questioned as part of MCSO investigation due to allegedly having firsthand accounts of the accident scene shortly after Kruse crashed his truck.

In addition to the state's list of witnesses, the list of physical evidence and documents submitted by the prosecution also contain items of interest. While some items such as a receipt dated April 20–the night of the crash–from Sixty East Italian Cucina & Martini Bar and Verizon records seem straightforward, other items included were less clear as to the relevance in proving the state's charge against Kruse of DUI.

Items that appear less obvious as to significance included voterfocus.com screenshots, "full and public disclosure of financial interests," a Supervisor of Elections sales receipt and check, as well as a "list of judges and county commissioners document."

It is impossible to know the nature or significance of all witnesses or items the state has included as relevant to the prosecution of its case against Kruse. It is also unknown which of the witnesses or items the court will ultimately rule as admissible by the prosecution.

The pretrial conference hearing scheduled for August 16 at 10 am will be presided over by Judge Erika Quartermaine of the 12th Judicial Circuit Court. The pretrial hearing will be held via Zoom Conference.

To view State’s discovery exhibit and witness list submitted in this case, click here.

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