Convicted ex-Flagler Beach cop will be on close watch
in prison
Nathaniel Juratovac glances around
the room during testimony in Judge James R. Clayton’s DeLand courtroom on
Tuesday May 20, 2008.
By Tony Holt
PALM COAST — It was the long hours
of isolation that shook Nathaniel David Juratovac.
At one point he was rushed to a
hospital, according to court records.
Administrators at the Clay County
Jail made sure to keep Juratovac away from the general population because he is
a former police officer married to an active St. Johns County sheriff’s deputy.
They did so to ensure his safety, according to jail officials.
Juratovac, a former Flagler Beach
police officer, was convicted Jan. 24 after pleading no contest to one count of
attempted manslaughter. He was sentenced to 51 months behind bars. Soon it will
be up to state prison officials to ensure his protection.
Because of his law enforcement
background, Juratovac is expected to be under close watch while he serves his
time in a state facility, said Misty Cash, a spokeswoman for the Florida
Department of Corrections.
“They will house him in an area that
is (closely) watched by the officers,” Cash said. “They will put him where the
institution feels he will be the most secure.”
The protective management protocols
vary when it comes to former police officers going to prison and those
decisions are made by administrators at the institution, and sometimes at the
highest levels in the agency in Tallahassee, Cash said.
For starters, protective measures
have to be requested by the inmate. On occasion, they don’t ask for it. When
they do ask for it, their situations are carefully evaluated before a decision
is made.
“It can sort of vary and run the
gamut,” Cash said of the possibilities. “If necessary, they could be in a
solitary cell where they’re not co-mingling with other inmates.”
The state has 55 correctional
institutions ranging from high-security facilities to prison camps.
‘COURTESY
HOLD’ took Juratovac to different jail
Originally charged with first-degree
attempted murder, Juratovac was held without bail. He was arrested for shooting
Flagler County firefighter Jared Parkey during a March 29, 2013, road rage
incident in St. Augustine Shores. He was arrested in St. Johns County, but was
transferred to the Clay County Jail as a “courtesy hold,” said Clay County
Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Mary Justino.
Some regional sheriff’s agencies
have an understanding with each other to step up and allow for such
arrangements when law enforcement officers are arrested.
“It’s not unusual for St. Johns to
ask us to do that,” said Justino.
The courts typically don’t get
involved with out-of-county courtesy holds, said Ludi Lelis, a spokeswoman with
the 7th Judicial Circuit.
“Those kinds of security matters are
dealt with at the jail level,” she said.
Dave Byron, a Volusia County
spokesman, said the inmate facility in Daytona Beach rarely receives requests
for courtesy holds and each one is weighed carefully. He also said he doesn’t
recall Volusia ever making a request to a neighboring county to house one of
its inmates.
“The more you move an inmate, the
greater the chance of a problem of security,” Byron said. “It’s also expensive
to hold an inmate. We have rarely, if ever, requested a courtesy hold. If we
were to do that, security and safety would be the reason to do that.”
County officials in Volusia make a
point not to allow for special treatment, said Byron. He recalled an incident
in 2010 involving rape suspect Adam Silver, a Daytona Beach firefighter who was
released from the jail and allowed to use a different exit of the facility to
avoid being seen by the media, who were waiting outside the front door. A shift
commander at the jail made the decision to let Silva use a different exit.
When word got out about what
happened, there were consequences.
“County Manager (Jim Dinneen) was
very upset about it,” Byron said.
Dinneen wrote a letter to the media
apologizing for the gaffe.
The incident also led to a change in
policy.
“All inmates are treated the same
way from the time they come in to the jail to the time they are released,” said
Byron.
wife:
Jail treatment was ‘less than humane’
About four weeks after he was
arrested last spring, Juratovac wrote a six-page letter to the judge begging
for bail.
“Your honor, I am housed in a 10x10
enclosed cell for 23 hours and 40 minutes a day,” Juratovac wrote. “I receive
30 minutes a week for exercise.”
In a letter to the same judge,
Juratovac’s wife also pleaded for his release, stating his treatment at the
jail was “less than humane.”
In the same letter, she disclosed
her husband had been admitted to Orange Park Medical Center after suffering a
medical condition.
Details were removed from the public
record, but his wife stated that the physician who treated her husband
concluded he had a pre-existing condition that required future follow-up visits
with a doctor.
In June, the judge in the case set
bail at $300,000, which was soon posted. Juratovac returned home and wore a
tracking device. Nine days ago, he was sentenced and back in jail.
As of Friday, Juratovac still had
not been transferred to a state prison. The date of his transfer could not be
released for security reasons, said Cash.
He will be credited with 84 days he
served in jail last year. With good behavior, Juratovac is expected to serve
less than three years.
