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Several civil rights organizations are urging Florida prosecutors to reconsider the decision to drop all charges against an 18-year-old Donald Trump supporter who allegedly threatened two Kamala Harris voters with a machete, per Atlanta Black Star.
Caleb Williams, 18, was charged with voter intimidation, improper exhibition of a firearm, and felony aggravated assault on persons 65 or older after he and a group of friends allegedly terrorized two elderly Harris supporters at a Jacksonville library in October.
Neptune Beach Police Chief Michael Key Jr. previously said Williams and his friends showed up to the polling site specifically “to protest and antagonize the opposing political side.” Williams, who had a large knife with a Trump flag attached to it, was caught intimidating two women, ages 71 and 54, “brandishing the machete in an aggressive, threatening posture over his head.”
Last week, prosecutors declined to pursue the charges against Williams, who was being held at the Duval County Jail.
A coalition of several civil rights groups, including the NAACP, the Southern Poverty Law Center, Black Lives Matter, and the League of Women Voters of Florida, penned a letter to Jacksonville State Attorney Melissa Nelson and Assistant State Attorney Octavius Holliday Jr. urging them to move forward with the case.
“Your office’s dismissal of this case undermines public confidence in the justice system and fails in its duty to protect Florida voters,” the coalition wrote. “This decision sends a dangerous message that voter intimidation—an outright crime under Florida law—is tolerated rather than prosecuted,”
The coalition noted that failing to hold Williams accountable sets a troubling precedent "that could embolden others to engage in similar acts of intimidation in future elections."
“Every eligible voter in Florida has the right to cast their ballot free from threats, coercion, or fear of violence,” the letter reads. “Your decision not to pursue justice in this case directly contradicts that principle. Failing to prosecute voter intimidation weakens our democracy and puts all Floridians in danger.”
According to reports, Holliday responded to the letter in a disposition, saying that both police and the victims “concur” that dropping the case was the right decision.
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