March 6 (UPI) — Florida’s State Attorney’s Office said Wednesday it has decided not to criminally charge former Florida Republican Party Chair Christian Ziegler with video voyeurism stemming from an alleged sexual battery.
In January, Sarasota Police said Ziegler wouldn’t be charged with sexual battery after a months-long investigation.
Prosecutors said in a memo released Wednesday, “The victim’s expressed inability to recall whether she consented to recording the sexual activity along with her inconsistencies pertaining to key details of the event leave the state unable to demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that the video in question was filmed without her knowledge or consent.”
The allegations against Ziegler led to his losing his state party chair position. But Ziegler attorney Derek Byrd said in a statement that Ziegler is “relieved to be completely cleared of the false allegations and any criminal wrongdoing.”
The accuser told police she had been involved in a sexual relationship with Ziegler and his wife, alleging that Ziegler had assaulted her.
Sarasota police had said the sexual encounter between Ziegler and the female accuser likely was consensual but a video Ziegler made of it could result in the felony charge of video voyeurism if the recording wasn’t consensual.
The problem for prosecutors was the victim not being able to recall whether or not she consented to the video recording.
The prosecution memo said, “Inconsistencies in the victim’s account appear to be the result of substantial intoxication and trauma that the victim was experiencing, which is corroborated by the accounts of those who interacted and spoke with her in the immediate aftermath of the sexual encounter.”
