Kruse Pleads "Not Guilty" in DUI Case

BRADENTON – Commissioner George Kruse has entered a plea of "not guilty" in response to the state attorney's charge against him for driving under the influence (DUI).

Kruse submitted a waiver of appearance to the court for the arraignment held on Tuesday. Court filings show that awritten plea was entered on behalf of Kruse by his attorney on July 14, in advance of Tuesday's arraignment.

On April 29, theSarasota Herald reported that the Manatee County Sheriff was conducting an active investigation into a traffic incident involving the commissioner who had crashed his Ford F-150 into a tree outside his neighborhood of Greyhawk Landing on April 20. In the days after MCSO confirmed the active investigation, Kruse made several public statements that the investigation into the crash was a politically motivated "witch hunt."

When bodycam footage and 911 recordings were released in June, however, Kruse’s statements that the MCSO investigation was a baseless "witch hunt" were met with public pushback after citizens replayed the footage which included a responding officer stating several times that it was his own professional assessment that Kruse was intoxicated at the time of the crash. Kruse was not charged with DUI the night of the incident, nor was a field sobriety test conducted, because the responding officer cited a lack of any witness who was able to affirmatively place Kruse physically behind the wheel of the truck when it collided with the tree.

The State Attorney's Office for the 12th Judicial Circuitannounced on June 22that the commissioner would be charged with a single count of DUI.

In court filings available through the Clerk of Court website, attorney Jeffery A. Hayes representing Kruse also provided notice to the court of the defendant’s intent to participate in discovery. "Discovery" is a process allowing the defense to obtain and review the State’s evidence. The State will be required to provide defense counsel with any evidence they have against Kruse that it intends to use in the prosecution of the case. Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure 3.220 governs rules of discovery, and the State will be provided 15 days under the law to provide such evidence to defense counsel.

The judge assigned to preside over the case, Jacqueline B. Steele, has recused herself, requesting the case be assigned to another judge.

The offense of DUI is a second-degree misdemeanor. Kruse’s counsel included in its written plea of not guilty, a request for a 15-day "leave" in the event defendant’s counsel should move after discovery to attack the "sufficiency of the charge" brought against Commissioner Kruse by the State Attorney's Office.