Hours After DeSantis Signs Bill, Judge Says Release Of Epstein Records Will Have To Wait.

Hours after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill to allow the release of grand jury testimony about the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a Palm Beach County circuit judge Thursday denied a public records request for the documents — but laid out a blueprint for how the information could be available after the new law takes effect July 1.

Circuit Judge Luis Delgado cited legislation that Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Thursday at the Palm Beach police department in his decision to deny the outlet’s motion to unseal records from a 2006 case that saw Epstein secure a “sweetheart deal” in which he served just 13 months in jail.

State law currently does not allow the records to be released. But once a bill (HB 117) by Democratic Sen. Tina Polsky and Republican Rep. Peggy Gossett-Seidman goes into effect July 1, Delgado said the Post can file a motion to reconsider and he will approve their release.

And then Palm Beach Clerk Joe Abruzzo — who helped Polsky and Gossett-Seidman craft the bill — will make them available to the public.

“I will likely put them right on our website,” he told Florida Politics on Thursday, hours after Delgado’s ruling and DeSantis’ signing. “We’re going to put them up for everybody to see.”

In a since-updated report on the ruling, the Post said Delgado “torpedoed” the case and decided there will be “no answer for (the) public.”

HB 117 amends Florida Statutes, Section 905.27 by expanding a “furthering of justice” exception to grand jury secrecy to include “furthering a public interest.” It comes with several conditions that Epstein’s case uniquely meets, including that the subject of the grand jury inquiry must be dead, the inquiry must have involved a minor and that the testimony must have been previously disclosed under a court order.

The legislation also provides that a court can still limit the disclosure of grand jury records, including redacting documents and testimony. Whether Delgado or another Judge does so remains to be seen.

“The Courts are not seeking to limit the freedom of the press, but the press is not entitled to any greater access than the public merely because they are the press,” he said. He also noted that no parties involved in the grand jury proceedings were part of the suit.

“Perhaps if a child victim who testified had joined the petition, the Court’s analysis could be different as a portion of the proceedings,” he said. “This factor is weighed against releasing the records.”

Jeffrey EpsteinPhoto byGetty Images