CLAY COUNTY, Fla. — The attorney for former Clay County Sheriff Darryl Daniels made an appearance in court virtually Tuesday on his behalf regarding his three pending three misdemeanor and single felony charges.
Daniels was arrested and charged in August following a long-running sex scandal investigation and charged with three counts of lying to law enforcement and one count of evidence tampering.
An amended Information filed Dec. 9 alleges Daniels lied about an ongoing affair, lied about searching secured databases for personal use, and lied about his county-issued phone.
Daniels' attorney entered a not guilty plea on his behalf for the amended charges and waived the formal reading of the Information at Tuesday's arraignment, stating his defense team "reserves the right to challenge any insufficiencies in the Information at a later date."
The judge in the case set Daniels' next court date for March 8 at 1:30 p.m.
Daniels pleaded not guilty when the original charges were filed.
FDLE opened an investigation into Daniels at the request of the State Attorney following the May 2019 arrest of his sheriff's mistress, Cierra Smith, based on his allegations of stalking.
Daniels admitted to having an affair with Smith, his subordinate, for several years, a relationship that began when Daniels was the director of the Duval County Jail and Smith was a correctional officer. However, when he had her arrested, he told the officers the relationship was over.
Following his arrest, Daniels released a video public statement saying the charges were "baffling ... because it takes a stretching of the imagination to understand personally knowing that I'm innocent."
