State asks judge to reconsider bail of ex-Palm Beach clerk in child sex abuse case

Crime admin September 1, 2026 0 Comments

State asks judge to reconsider bail of ex-Palm Beach clerk in child sex abuse case

Florida prosecutors formally asked an Orange County judge Tuesday to reconsider his order to release on bail Mike Caruso, the former Palm Beach County Clerk appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is facing charges of kidnapping and sexually abusing a child.

At a hearing Friday, prosecutors had requested that Caruso be detained until his trial, arguing that he was dangerous and that the victim’s family was frightened. They had highlighted the difficulty in trying incidents of sexual abuse, especially of children.

But Orange County Circuit Judge A. James Craner recited a litany of weaknesses in the state’s case against Caruso, and concluded there was not enough evidence to support keeping the longtime Florida politician in jail pending trial.

He set bond at $160,000 and removed a restriction that had forbidden Caruso from being around children — although he cannot contact the child victim or witnesses.

“Facts may develop over time,” Judge Craner said at the hearing, “but I cannot say that there is a substantial probability that the defendant committed the offenses that are the subject matter of this pretrial detention.”

State prosecutors sharply criticized the judge’s decision, writing that “the holes the Court saw fit to poke in the considerable quantum of evidence of guilt do not come close to defusing the substantial probability that Caruso committed the offenses.”

The move comes as state leaders have forcefully distanced themselves from Caruso, one of the governor’s closest allies in the state legislature.

DeSantis, who appointed him to his high-powered clerk’s position last August after a vetting process that missed Caruso’s past child abuse allegations, suspended him immediately after he was arrested on Aug. 18. DeSantis has said he would not reinstate Caruso, even if he’s not convicted.

The Florida Attorney General’s office declined to comment. Jeremy Redfern, deputy chief of staff for the attorney general, had blasted Judge Craner’s decision granting bail last Friday, calling it an “appalling order.”

Motion to reconsider release

The state presented testimony by a Florida Department of Law Enforcement special agent at last week’s hearing, detailing the scope of evidence he had collected against Caruso throughout his investigation.

Caruso’s defense attorney raised a slew of questions about his testimony to counter the allegation that Caruso sexually assaulted a child.

The defense questioned whether anyone remembered Caruso changing clothes after the alleged incident, how many times the alleged victim detailed what happened and the credibility of past sexual abuse allegations against him.

At the heart of the state’s motion to reconsider the order to grant bail is whether there was “substantial probability” that the incidents had occurred — a threshold that dictates whether defendants can be released while they face trial.

The state, in its Tuesday motion, argued the judge was applying the principle that the evidence must show that there was no “reasonable doubt” that the alleged crimes had been committed. The “reasonable doubt” principle is a much higher threshold and typically reserved to determine whether a defendant is guilty at the end of a trial.

The “negative inferences” Judge Craner drew “would do little to defeat the substantial probability of guilt created by the child victim’s repeated, graphic description of how Caruso abused him, if this Court were not wrongly treating substantial probability as if it required proof beyond a reasonable doubt,” prosecutors stated in the motion.

Caruso’s spokesperson, Juda Engelmayer, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Caruso’s defense team had applauded last Friday’s ruling as the “best that could have happened.”

Miami Herald staff writer Brittany Wallman contributed to this story.