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Deputy acquitted in arson case

A sheriff's internal investigation has been reopened into whether he tried to blow up his home.

By MICHAEL KRUSE
Published December 9, 2005

BROOKSVILLE - On June 24, Daniel Spiese, a Hernando County sheriff's deputy, was arrested and charged with attempted arson after his wife, Constance, an employee of the Sheriff's Office, accused him of trying to blow up their house. Attempted arson is a first-degree felony punishable by as long as 30 years in prison.

On Thursday, his three-day trial ended: with a not guilty verdict.

The six-person jury, all men, took 10 minutes to reach that decision.

Daniel Spiese's lawyer called the whole thing "a waste of time."

"It never should've been filed," A.R. "Chip" Mander of Dade City said outside the courtroom. "They had absolutely no case."

"The jury heard the evidence and reached their decision," prosecutor Bill Catto said in his office, "and I respect that decision."

At the Sheriff's Office, spokeswoman Donna Black said, an internal affairs investigation was reopened at the conclusion of the trial. It had started when the allegations were made and the 52-year-old veteran deputy was arrested. The investigation could take 30 to 45 days.

In the meantime, Black said, Daniel Spiese will still be suspended without pay pending the outcome of the investigation.

"And I can't comment any further than that," she said.

On June 27, a circuit judge extended by a year, to June 27, 2006, a temporary injunction for protection against domestic violence, saying Spiese couldn't come within 500 feet of his wife.

But that's the civil case.

The criminal case started June 17, when Constance Spiese, who has been a community relations specialist with the Sheriff's Office since September 2001, filed a complaint against her husband.

A gas grill was turned on, and the valve on the propane tank was opened, a sheriff's report stated, releasing the combustible gas into the couple's home.

He was charged a week later.

From the beginning, Peyton Hyslop, the attorney at the time for Daniel Spiese, said he was concerned about the Sheriff's Office investigation and a potential conflict of interest because of Constance Spiese's job.

"It was garbage from the get-go," Mander said Thursday, "and for them to handle it themselves - unbelievable."

"She made her statements," Catto said when asked about Constance Spiese. "The bottom line is that we found no reason to believe that this lady was not telling the truth. The public needs to have confidence that the system isn't going to treat a sheriff's deputy any differently."

Michael Kruse can be reached at mkruse@sptimes.com or 352 848-1434.

[Last modified December 9, 2005, 01:19:17]