Christian Ziegler's phone contents to stay secret, judge rules

Former Florida Republican Party Chair Christian Ziegler’s cellphone contents will remain private, a judge has ruled, saying Ziegler’s constitutional rights were violated.

In a 48-page decision released July 1, Sarasota Circuit Judge Hunter Carroll said, “law enforcement’s handling of the three overbroad warrants were patently unreasonable and violated Mr. Ziegler’s constitutional rights.”

Ziegler had been under investigation of alleged sexual battery and video voyeurism after he admitted to taking cellphone video of himself having sex with a woman whom he and his wife, Sarasota School Board member Bridget Ziegler, previously had a sexual tryst. 

The woman, who was never publicly identified, claimed she was intoxicated during the encounter with Ziegler and therefore could not have given consent for the Oct. 3, 2023 encounter.

The fallout from the investigation cost Ziegler his job as state party chair; and has led to calls for Bridget Ziegler to resign her school board position.

After viewing the video from Ziegler’s phone, the Sarasota Police Department declined to file sexual assault charges but asked the state attorney’s office to consider video voyeurism charges. In March, the state attorney declined to file those charges.  

Several news organizations, along with the Florida Center for Government Accountability and a group known as The News Media Coalition led by Michael Barfield, filed motions to release the video and other information found on Ziegler’s phone, arguing it was public record.

The Zieglers sued to stop the release of that information, claiming it would cause public humiliation.

“Cellphones today can contain a person’s entire life story,” Carroll wrote in his ruling. “While today’s seizure is not from the entirety of one’s home — but 18 square inches of a cellphone and the content of electronic storage media — it is functionally the same.”

Carroll ruled that most of the evidence collected from Ziegler’s phone is not public record because it was seized in violation of his Fourth Amendment rights. 

“There is precedent in Florida for a court to order law enforcement to destroy illegally seized material in violation of a person’s Fourth Amendment rights,” Carroll wrote. “And that is what Mr. Ziegler requests, and the Court grants that request.”

The only evidence Carroll ordered to be preserved, pending any appeals, is the video Christian Ziegler voluntarily provided to the Sarasota Police, 14 photographs taken by a forensic specialist on Dec. 1, 2023, of Christian Ziegler’s cellphone and screens during the video turnover; and any of his data previously made public. 

Barfield said his group may appeal the ruling. "We are still reviewing the court’s order," Barfield said via email. "The Florida Constitution expressly states that access to public records is not defeated by claims of privacy. The public's right to know about the Zieglers’ hypocrisy should not defeated by allegations of police misconduct."