Despite how Friday's ruling is being characterized by many mainstream media outlets, Judge William Wright did not "block" Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi from exhuming bodies from the state's infamous Dozier School for Boys; on the contrary, he gave her exactly what she wanted.
Yes, Wright's ruling is titled Order Denying [Bondi's] Petition; and yes, Bondi herself did refer to the order as an adverse ruling. But the investigation by Florida's chief legal officer into the state's reform-school-from-hell is nowhere near over. Not by a long shot.
It is important to keep in mind the context of Friday's decision. A team of anthropologists, archaeologists, and biologists from the University of South Florida (USF) has been excavating the school grounds since last year, under a permit granted them by the state archaeologist.
Expecting to find perhaps more than 50 human remains, Bondi's office petitioned Florida's 14th Judicial Circuit Court, whose jurisdiction includes Jackson County (where the school is located), to grant permission to the county medical examiner, Dr. Michael Hunter, to exhume any bodies that might be discovered.
In her petition, and a subsequent follow-up memo both authored by special assistant AG Nicholas Cox Bondi said she believed Hunter already had authority under Florida law to direct any exhumation and autopsy of any bodies discovered in the course of the dig. But given the sanctity that Florida common law typically affords the bodies of the deceased, she wanted to be extra sure that the Panhandle medical examiner would have immunity from any criminal or civil action brought by concerned citizens or family members.
Her concerns were well-founded. Although Florida law explicitly says that one cannot be charged with desecrating a grave if they are acting under a state permit, one Dale Cox a self-styled local historian tried to convince the local state prosecutor to bring criminal charges (for desecration of a gravesite) against USF's chief archaeologist. The prosecutor found no basis for those charges, but Bondi thought a court order would give Hunter an extra layer of legal protection.
Bondi's initial petition asked for nothing more than a court order;but her follow-up memo, published earlier this month in response to several legal questions posed by the court, asked the court for an alternative, if that petition could not be granted: "an order finding that said authority does fall to Dr. Hunter ... without need for an order from this Court."
[Scroll down to read the follow-up memorandum, attached to this story.]
And that's precisely what Judge Wright gave Bondi.
Any further excavation by USF will be with state permission on state property, he wrote on Friday. The medical examiner does not need a court order to carry out his statutory duty if human remains are found.
And later in the same document: "There is no indication that the medical examiner will face criminal charges for assuming jurisdiction of any human remains which might be discovered as a result of USF's archaeological dig.
And yet again, at the order's conclusion: The medical examiner has statutory authority to conduct investigations, and the state attorney has the authority to pursue autopsies when necessary.
You can bet Bondi's legal team is going to milk whatever they can from these words.
Wright denied the attorney general's petition on a technicality: He said she failed to say what kind of evidence she expected to find that would lead to an identification of any human remains she might discover, or of their cause of death.
But cautionary or not, the judge effectively gave Bondi the alternative she asked for: a finding that she didn't need a court order after all.
Eric Giunta, SSN's chief legal correspondent, is a member of the Florida Bar. Reach him at egiunta@sunshinestatenews.com or at (954) 235-9116.
