A new law allowing secretive grand jury testimony to be made public in cases with specific criteria, including testimony against Jeffrey Epstein, is being approved by Ron DeSantis.
The law, which will become effective July 1, is limited to cases involving sexual misconduct against minors and those where the suspect is dead.
In a Palm Beach signing ceremony, DeSantis addressed reporters while surrounded by Epstein accusers Haley Robson and Jena-Lisa Jones, saying, “Justice delayed is justice denied, and I think this whole ordeal has proven that to be true.”
In circumstances where they would have been kept secret by previous laws, the new bill aims to provide answers to victims and the public.
“We're now sitting here decades later, and you've had Epstein and then Maxwell, who is actually in prison in Florida, and yet nothing else has ever happened with any of this,” DeSantis stated. “How is that possible, given the magnitude of what was going on?”
Epstein's initial criminal case has been surrounded by secrecy for almost 20 years. After a shockingly lenient plea deal was exposed, he died while awaiting trial on stiffer federal charges, and in recent years his victims have been vindicated repeatedly as evidence emerges in court.
A group of Epstein accusers also filed a lawsuit against the FBI earlier this month, alleging that the bureau failed to properly investigate the allegations made against the pedophile in 1996.
According to Epstein's arrest documents from Palm Beach in 2006, it is claimed that Epstein allegedly recruited girls between the ages of 14 and 16 as well as Palm Beach Community College students for “sex-tinged sessions.”
Epstein was only charged with more serious crimes in 2019 after a number of Miami Herald reports revealed the lenient terms of his initial sweetheart plea deal in 2008.
