New charges, trial date for former Clay County sheriff accused of evidence tampering, false reports

CLAY COUNTY, Fla. — Former Clay County Sheriff Darryl Daniels will now be facing additional charges stemming from allegedly asking his deputies to arrest his former mistress, Cierra Smith, in May 2019.

In a pre-trial hearing on Wednesday in St. Johns County, the state said it was filing two more charges of making a false report to law enforcement as well as an additional count of tampering with evidence against Daniels.

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The defense said the additional count of evidence tampering was related to a Google account, and more time would be needed to review the evidence presented by the state.

The trial was set to begin in mid-February after being pushed back from starting in December 2021 but the judge granted a continuance and set the following schedule:

• Pre-trial hearing on May 3 at 9 a.m. in St. Johns County.
• Docket sounding on May 11 at 9 a.m. in St. Johns County.
• Trial will commence on May 16 in Clay County (date anticipated for jury selection).

In December 2020, Daniels was originally charged with a felony count of tampering with physical evidence and three misdemeanor counts of false reports to law enforcement authorities.

According to the court documents filed at that time, on the count of tampering with physical evidence, authorities said Daniels altered or destroyed a cellphone or stored data on a cellphone “knowing that a criminal trial ... was pending.”

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Those documents said on the three counts of false reports to law enforcement, Daniels gave false information to a deputy “by falsely stating that he had attempted to obtain an injunction or by falsely stating that he had ended his relationship with Cierra Smith but Ms. Smith continued to follow him.”

Action News Jax first reported in May 2019 when Daniels reportedly accused Smith of stalking him and ordered his deputies to detain her. She was never arrested or charged, but many questioned how Daniels handled the events of that night.

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The pair admitted they had a long-term affair while Daniels worked at the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office and Smith was his subordinate. Daniels was also running for sheriff at the time.

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