Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced last week that he would sign legislation allowing grand jury testimony regarding late sexual offender Jeffrey Epstein to be made public. On Thursday, the governor signed the bill.
At a press conference at the Palm Beach Police Department Thursday, DeSantis said, "The legislature and I agreed that there needs to be a mechanism in some of these rare circumstances where people can get the truth and where we can try to pursue justice."
A grand jury investigation was launched in 2006 after Palm Beach County authorities looked into the allegations of sexual abuse of young girls at Epstein’s mansion.
Epstein was a wealthy resident of Palm Beach. In 2007, prosecutors reached a settlement that allowed Epstein to avoid federal prosecution and enter a guilty plea to two state charges of prostitution, one of which involved obtaining a minor for sexual purposes.
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The bill (HB 117) introduced by Rep. Peggy Gossett-Seidman, R-Highland Beach, and Sen. Tina Polsky, D-Boca Raton, was approved by both the House and the Senate with a unanimous vote.
After being detained in July 2019 for federal charges of sex trafficking involving underage girls, Epstein was discovered dead in a New York jail, with the cause of death being ruled as suicide.
The Palm Beach Post filed a lawsuit in 2016 to get the grand jury records from 2006 unsealed by a judge.
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