Vero Beach, Florida –
In August, a Florida judge told gay Florida teen Kaitlyn Hunt enough with the texting after learning about the thousands of text messages, some of them explicit, that the Florida teenager had reportedly sent to her underage girlfriend after the judge had ordered her not to communicate with the girl while awaiting trial on charges of engaging in sex with her.
Judge Robert Pegg sent the 19-year-old Hunt to jail, ordering that she be held no bond pending trial. Hunt's communication was also limited to communicating with her attorneys, guards, fellow inmates and possibly a few select visitors.
Hunt was 18-years-old when she was first charged with two felony counts of lewd and lascivious battery after she allegedly had sexual relations with a 14-year-old girl. Judge Pegg issued his ruling after listening to testimony from an Indian River Sheriff's Office detective who testified that an iPod Hunt had given her young girlfriend contained more than 20,000 text messages, explicit videos and nude pictures, and Hunt had sent these despite the fact that a court order had been issued ordering that the two do not communicate, electronically or otherwise.
In explaining his decision, Pegg said, "It's overwhelming that Ms. Hunt has chosen to violate the conditions of her bond deliberately and willfully on several occasions."
Not only did Hunt exchange an extensive amount of communication since March, just days after the no-contact order was issued, Detective Jeremy Shepherd testified that the two had met secretly as recently as a few weeks before the hearing.
Hunt's lawyer, Julia Graves said that they were not going to contest all the evidence. "But what we would ask for is that the defendant (be able to be) bonded out, to be placed on house arrest without any electronic communication of any kind…We think that would keep the judicial process safe." However, the judge had a very different view on the matter. Pegg said, "She simply can't be trusted to abide by the court order."
On August 6, the young girl's father had alerted the authorities about the existence of the iPod and its contents. On some of the texts exchanged between Hunt and the victim, Hunt indicated that she understood that their communications were in violation of the court order.
Hunt, who turned 19 in August, was booked into detention after her bail bond company refused to secure her $5,000 bond any longer.
At Taylor & Waldrop, we want to point out that while we fight aggressively on behalf of our clients, failing to comply with the conditions of bond can have serious repercussions, and we therefore encourage all of our clients to follow any and all restrictions or conditions handed down by a judge.
If you are facing criminal charges, contact a St. Augustine criminal defense attorney from Taylor & Waldropat (888) 387-9958 for aggressive legal representation!