Kimberly Weeks, the former Flagler County Supervisor of Elections, is now a felon eight time over: she pleaded no-contest to an eighth count on Nov. 20, finally ending the three-year case against her, at least in Flagler. At the same time, and several months late following various snafus, she filed a notice of appeal with the Fifth District Court of Appeal in Daytona Beach through her attorney, Kevin Kulik.
A jury found Weeks guilty of seven felonies on April 5. She was sentenced on May 18 to a relatively light punishment: one month at the county jail and 18 months on probation. The sentence is stayed pending the outcome of the appeal. Light as the sentence may be, Weeks, who before her plea in November had maintained her innocence, doesn’t want to be branded a felon. By being so, she loses her state pension. She served six tumultuous years as elections supervisor starting in 2008 until her resignation in January 2015, five months before a grand jury indicted her.
She was convicted on seven counts of illegally recording state and local officials during telephone conversations, including the secretary of state, who had told her at the beginning of the conversation that he did not wish to be recorded. He did so on a conference call, surrounded by other members of his staff. One of the counts included recording the Palm Coast city clerk. It’s a third-degree felony under Florida law to record someone without the person’s permission, outside of public venues where there is no expectation of privacy, or public meetings. A circuit judge threw out several counts against Weeks for falling in either of those two categories, but the other counts remained.
Weeks argues that none of her recordings of conversations with officials could be considered illegal because in every case, she and the officials were conducting public business, which could not be considered “private” or warrant the expectation of privacy. That’s the argument Kulik is taking to the appeals court: that the lower judgment is untenable.
Weeks pleaded no contest in an eighth count that did not involve a public official, but rather a private person she had been speaking with, in person, apparently in her front yard, discussing family matters, and recording on her cell phone. The same penalty applies: a month in jail and 18 months’ probation, and the same stay applies. Weeks also reserves the right to reverse her plea should the appeal go her way.
He hasn’t yet filed the actual appeal, and had to plead with the appeals court to be able to do so because as far as the Fifth District is concerned, it was filed well past the deadline. Kulik said he followed the rules, though officially the appeal was not filed until Nov. 19, a day before Weeks’s plea agreement.
Kulik filed a notice of appeal at the clerk’s office in Flagler on June 1. It was rejected three days later for lacking the required $100 filing fee. Kulik pleaded that he was not aware of the June 4 rejection. “It is, of course, impossible to ‘e-file’ a filing fee,” he wrote in his explanation to the appeal court, shifting the blame to the Flagler clerk’s office. “The usual procedure, statewide, is for the clerk to contact the attorney for the fee, via credit card, check, or other payment method.”
Flagler County Clerk of Court Tom Bexley said his office would have–and did, according to his log–send an electronic message to Kulik regarding the incomplete filing, explaining what is needed to complete it. Kulik, in other words, would have received a message saying he needed to pay the $100. “These are automated messages sent from the Florida e-portal,” Bexley said. “It’s bullet-proof. I don’t want to say it’s 100 percent, but this thing works.”
Kulik had erred in filing the appeal anyway: he’d filed an intention to appeal at the Fourth District Court of Appeal, though Flagler is in the Fifth District. He corrected that mistake with an amended filing on June 4, the same day his original notice had been rejected. That filing was rejected the following day, again “unbeknwonst” to Kulik until Oct. 19, when Kulik was reviewing the filings both in Flagler circuit court and at the Fifth District. Only then did he realize there were no traces of any filings.
Kulik is pleading to the Fifth District that a Supreme Court precedent from 1975 establishes that an appeal filed with or without fee immediately acts to “vest jurisdiction” in the given appellate court, so that “the subsequent deposit of the fee after the running of the appeal time limit will not affect the jurisdiction of the appellate court.” He also cited a Fifth District case supporting his argument.
Kulik re-filed the amended notice of appeal on Nov. 16, paid the $100 fee on Nov. 20, and mailed the required $300 fee to the Fifth District.
“Because Appellant’s Notice of Appeal was originally timely filed, Appellant requests this Court not dismiss the case for lack of jurisdiction,” Kulik argued.
On Dec. 4, a three-judge panel consisting of Vincent Torpy, Wendy Berger and Frederic Wallis accepted the appeal.
tulip says
That woman has committed 7 FELONIES!!!!! What is with the legal system in Flagler county that they seem to cater to Weeks whims? She should’ve gone to jail a long time ago and certainly a lot longer than a month.
It seems like the judges are more often on the offender’s side than the victims side which are the residents. Weeks always seems to get things her way in the end no matter who she is fighting. We need judges with gumption.
Michael Cocchiola says
Whatever demons drove Ms. Weeks to illegally record about every conversation she held with anyone, she is paying a big price – loss of pension, presumably loss of voting rights, requirement to identify as a felon on applications for employment, and probably some jail time. I wonder if any of this occurred to her as she pressed the record button.
Rose says
Weeks will win the appeal and when she does this plea will also be vacated. Weeks was witch hunted and has been the victim. According to a motion her attorney filed, he filed the appeal and amended appeal months ago and it was the clerk of court who failed to file with the DCA. Weeks’ attorney filed another notice in the abundance of caution after the clerk of court decided to do what they should have done—which he decided to do before the Judge ruled on the motion Weeks attorney filed compelling him to do. More politics. The DCA wouldn’t accept the filing of it was not filed when it should have been, so this article is written without containing the facts.
I can only ask myself what the officials were so badly wanting to hide to be bent out of shape about Weeks recording public business.
Why? says
Don’t waste time….Florida is a two party wire state..period
Agkistrodon says
Sorry Michael many with ideals like you have espoused on this very site voted to restore Felons rights. So when the music stops she will still be voting. Kinda why I voted a BIG ole NO. I don’t care what you politics are, If you commit a Felony, that was YOUR choice.
Concerned Citizen says
When you take a job the rules are explained and you are expected to follow them. It applies on all levels of employment except for county government apparently.
Kimberle weeks violated her oath of office and violated the trust of the citizens of this county. She needs to be held accountable for it.
Elected officials are and should be held to higher standards. If you can’t abide by that then don’t run for office.
If you or I had been convicted of 7 or 8 felonies we would already be in Prison serving time. Why is she any different?
ASF says
She appears to be Narcissist who does what she has to do to get her way and get AWAY with whatever she does along the way. Give her five years, tops, after all the smoke clears and she will be running for office again.
tulip says
Weeks wasn’t witch hunted–SHE did the witch hunting, the invasion of people’s privacy, broke a lot of ethical rules and God knows what else. The fact that she will get only one month in jail is totally absurd. People that got caught with marijauna got more time than that and deserves whatever punishment she hopefully gets, along with the loss of her pension. She knew exactly what she was doing but considered herself above the law for many years, Time to pay the piper
palmcoaster says
All our taxes wasted by the FCBOCC witch hunting our constitutional officials and shamefully proceeds with an honest former SOE Mrs. Weeks. They started with Manfre back then over a calendar outlining law enforcement services considered by FCBOCC wrong during an elections year, Weeks followed by whistle blowing and tax watchdogs residents Richter and McDonnald and if our current sheriff Mr. Staly do not watch it, he maybe next over that contaminated hospital. All except of them except one witch hunted for uncovering wrong doing by FCBOCC and or their administrators. I look forward that finally Mrs Weeks unfairly damaged integrity and image will be restored by the courts!
Jim Bob says
She might want to hire an attorney a little more familiar with appellate procedure.
PJ says
http://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/files/201514642.pdf
Sounds like Weeks was again being railroaded and manipulating was being done to exhaust her right to an appeal. There’s no doubt she will win. She was doing her job, doing it honorably, and because she exposed the schemings voter fraud action was taken against her. At no time is it right for the county Commissioner, canvassing board member allowed to study voted ballots and laugh and whisper about using a cell phone to report their study or studies. This is election fraud and as we have seen when it happens here in Flagler nothing is done about it other that the person exposing it being witch hunted. Why has the state attorney not investigated and prosecuted the election fraud Weeks has on tape? The judge ruled Weeks legally recorded that canvassing board meeting. Like Rose said, there never was a crime to warrant a search warrant. This may explain why the warrant was issued out of St Johns County instead of Flagler. A big cover up at Weeks’ expense!
Rose says
Weeks never violated her oath of office and proved in court recording Hadeed and Ericksen at the canvassing board meeting was legal. With this being said, there was no basis for a search warrant. Witch hunt!! Weeks blew the whistle and ruffled feathers.