MIAMI — A former Republican state lawmaker and close ally of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis could face the death penalty if he’s convicted of allegations that he sexually battered a child under a controversial law he supported in 2023.

But secret grand jury proceedings would have to happen before he’s charged.

Under Florida’s rules of criminal procedure, capital criminal charges — those carrying a death penalty — can only be brought through a grand jury indictment. A grand jury hears the prosecutor’s side of a case before deciding whether to hand up an indictment. The grand jury’s deliberations are conducted in secret.

Michael Caruso, whom DeSantis appointed as Palm Beach County’s clerk of courts and comptroller last year, was arrested Tuesday on sex abuse charges related to a young child. He has been charged with kidnapping, molestation, lewd and lascivious exhibition, luring or enticing a child, and child abuse.

DeSantis suspended him from his position the same day. Caruso has since been transferred to an Orange County jail, as two of the three alleged incidents occurred in and around Orlando.

Caruso’s attorney and the victim’s attorney told The Miami Herald they were unaware of whether grand jury proceedings were underway. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier’s deputy chief of staff Jeremy Redfern said Friday he “cannot confirm or deny” whether the state is seeking a grand jury indictment against Caruso.

Prosecutors’ recent court filing detailing why he shouldn’t be released from jail, however, suggests that Caruso could be facing a capital sexual battery charge.

Prosecutors wrote in their motion that “at least one of the allegations” contained in Caruso’s arrest warrant “would subject him to indictment by a grand jury and the maximum punishment of death.” The Florida Department of Law Enforcement also said Tuesday “the investigation remains ongoing and more charges are expected.”

Unlike the five child sex abuse crimes Caruso has been charged with, which carry lesser sentences, a sexual battery charge against a child under the age of 12 is newly eligible for the death penalty. Caruso was among the 95 state representatives who voted to pass the new law in 2023; 14 lawmakers voted against it.

If the state pursues the death penalty against Caruso, it could lead to the most high-profile test of that law’s constitutionality.

In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court found the death penalty is an unconstitutional punishment for rape and other non-homicide crimes because it is “cruel and unusual punishment” under the Eighth Amendment.

Florida’s new law, however, has yet to be challenged in court because it hasn’t yet led to a death sentence.

The timeline for when a potential indictment for a capital sexual battery charge against Caruso may happen is “not a simple answer,” according to Caruso’s attorney Jason Weiss, a former Palm Beach County prosecutor.

“It’s a relatively new, untested statute,” Weiss said. “Those procedures are not particularly clear or laid out.”

Weiss said Caruso is “innocent of these allegations and intends to vigorously defend himself.”

While no one has been sentenced to death under Florida’s 2023 capital sexual battery law, prosecutors across the state have used it to charge a handful of defendants.

The first known case charged under the law is that of Joseph Giampa in Lake County, which is just outside Orlando. Giampa, who was indicted in December 2023, ultimately accepted a plea deal and was sentenced to life in prison.

The capital sexual battery law has also been used in Miami-Dade, Florida’s most populous county.

Osher Pittman, 22, is facing the death penalty for allegedly sexually battering an infant. Prosecutors filed the death notice in one of Pittman’s cases in late February. Pittman is also accused of sexually abusing an 8-year-old girl and possessing child sex abuse material, some of which he allegedly recorded.

Prosecutors in Hernando County, near Tampa, also sought the death penalty against Nathan Holmberg, who was accused of sexually abusing a 3-year-old child in 2025. In April, Holmberg was found dead in his cell. Investigators believe he died by suicide.

In 2026, Seminole County prosecutors announced they were seeking the death penalty against Daniel Rodriguez, who is accused of recording himself sexually abusing two relatives who were minors.

The potential capital case against a close ally of the governor comes as DeSantis has aggressively ramped up executions. Florida executed 19 people last year, accounting for 40% of all executions nationwide, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

DeSantis has indicated the death penalty is not outside the realm of possibility for Caruso, if he’s charged and convicted under the new law.

“We’re the first state to reintroduce the death penalty for pedophiles, and I’m proud that I signed that into law,” DeSantis told reporters this week after being asked about the charges against Caruso. “If he’s convicted, he is going to be in for a world of hurt.”

(Miami Herald staff writers Brittany Wallman and Shirsho Dasgupta contributed to this report.)

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