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Fla. Stat. § 838.022

Official misconduct

Applied in 3 court decisions — leading case Paez v. Mulvey (2019)

Most recently applied in Paez v. Mulvey (February 2019)

History.--s. 5, ch. 2003-158; s. 4, ch. 2016-151.

How often courts cite this section

20072010201910
citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

(1) It is unlawful for a public servant or public contractor, to knowingly and intentionally obtain a benefit for any person or to cause unlawful harm to another, by:

(a) Falsifying, or causing another person to falsify, any official record or official document;

(b) Concealing, covering up, destroying, mutilating, or altering any official record or official document, except as authorized by law or contract, or causing another person to perform such an act; or

(c) Obstructing, delaying, or preventing the communication of information relating to the commission of a felony that directly involves or affects the government entity served by the public servant or public contractor.

(2) For the purposes of this section:

(a) The term “public servant” does not include a candidate who does not otherwise qualify as a public servant.

(b) An official record or official document includes only public records.

(3) Any person who violates this section commits a felony of the third degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.

Official source: Online Sunshine (Florida Legislature). Reproduced from public-domain Florida statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.