Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a bill that may shed light on how sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein escaped responsibility for decades.
The bill will unseal grand jury documents from a 2007 grand jury investigation into Epstein that resulted in just two charges and a plea deal. DeSantis said releasing the documents could expose any wrongdoing in that process.
“And to not have justice on this is something that has been a big black spot on our justice system. So, the legislature, and why did that happen? It happened because you have someone who is very rich and well connected and was able to engineer an outcome that the average citizen would have likely never been able to do and that’s wrong,” he said.
Victims of Epstein were present at the press conference where DeSantis signed the bill. Haley Robson, who was abused by Epstein when she was 16, said she is grateful the measure will bring the truth to light now.
“A lot of people tend to forget, but this is not something we should be forgetting about, this is not something to be sweeping under the rug. A lot of us are still in therapy, we are still trying to survive. I can’t express the gratitude I have for this bill,” she said.
More bills related to the 2007 grand jury may be coming. DeSantis said if the document release reveals that anyone involved in the legal process committed a crime, he would be open to legislation to waive statute of limitations to go after them.