The 6th District Court of Appeals has agreed to expedite Karen Woodson’s recall appeal. Woodson has until the end of the day today to file a brief with the court. Then, recall committee co-chair Ray Murphy has until December 5th to respond.
Following Murphy’s response, the court has given Woodson until the 10th to respond to Murphy’s filing.
Woodson was recalled earlier this month. Circuit Court Judge Kyle Cohen ruled the recall petition was valid for Woodson. Over 60% of those who voted chose to recall Woodson. While the allegations on the recall petition were for Sunshine Violations and accepting gifts from developers, recallers have repeatedly said in public the recall was all about development, specifically Woodson’s vote on Seagate.
Woodson has also filed a defamation lawsuit against Murphy. She has denied all the allegations in the recall petition. Judge Cohen did not have the authority to rule on whether the allegations were true or false. His only role was to determine whether the allegations fit into what the state recall statute requires, which they did. Woodson is asking the appeals court to take a closer look at what she says are false allegations.
Woodson’s appeal in this case is being covered by Fort Myers Beach taxpayers because the recall took place while she was a sitting council person. She has to pay her own legal fees in the defamation lawsuit.
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