Accused Palm Bay racketeer David Isnardi can leave Brevard County to have back surgery this summer, the court ruled, granting a second exception to his May 17 bond agreement.
Isnardi is the husband of District 5 County Commissioner Kristine Isnardi, who represents the Town of Indialantic, unincorporated areas and part of the City of Melbourne, up to the Eau Gallie Causeway on the barrier island. David Isnardi served as deputy city manager for Palm Bay until he resigned in September 2017. The felony charges Isnardi faces involve the time he was employed by the city.
Circuit Judge Morgan Reinman on June 3 issued an order granting a motion by Alan S. Diamond, one of Isnardi’s new attorneys, allowing the 59-year-old U.S. Army veteran to travel into Indian River County for doctors’ appointments already scheduled. Last month Reinman allowed Isnardi to travel to Virginia for a week to attend his son’s graduation.
Attorneys have said Isnardi first injured his back in 1986 during a “bad jump” as a combat paratrooper. More recent work for his Palm Bay lawn-care business is said to have aggravated the earlier injury.
Sheriff’s records show deputies arrested Isnardi, of Olivia Street in Palm Bay, about 2 p.m. May 10 on charges of racketeering, conspiracy to commit racketeering, conspiracy to commit extortion, and conspiracy to possess two controlled substances – Oxycodone and Ethylone – with the intent to deliver them.
Charges stem from allegedly trying to blackmail City Councilman Jeff Bailey and then-Deputy Mayor Tres Holton, sometime between 2015 and 2017, into voting to rezone a residential property to industrial so Isnardi and co-defendant Jose Aguiar could run a scrap-metal business.
Isnardi has faced waves of criticism over the years on social media. But he could still get a fair jury trial right here in Brevard County, another of his new attorneys says.
“I don’t see a negative image for a guy who served his country for 22 years,” Melbourne attorney Kepler Funk said recently. “And people writing on Facebook is the last place I’d look for truth.”
Funk and his law partners, Diamond and Keith F. Szachacz, filed a notice of appearance May 28, taking over Isnardi’s case from Rockledge attorney Bryan Lober.
Lober, vice chair of the Brevard County Commission, makes county policy alongside Kristine Isnardi. As he had planned, Lober only represented his colleague’s husband long enough to get Reinman to release him from jail on a $36,000 bail.
But in that time, many residents accused Lober of at least the appearance of conflict by working with the wife and representing the husband. Lober insisted the two roles are unrelated and no conflict.
Among Funk’s first motions was to enter a not-guilty plea for Isnardi and seek a jury trial. He said the question of whether his client could get a fair trial in Brevard County would normally not be raised until the trial itself.
“If the prosecution (Assistant State Attorney Kathryn Speicher) and defense agree it’s impossible to find enough fit jurors, that’s when we would seek a change of venue,” Funk said.
But before the case even gets to trial, Funk stressed, he has a lot of work to do. After taking the case May 28, Funk filed notice of discovery, giving Speicher 15 days – or until this past Wednesday – to permit him to “inspect, copy, test and photograph” all police reports, statements from the confidential informant or other people, or any physical evidence the state intends to use.
How soon Reinman and a jury can hear Isnardi’s case depends on how long Funk and his partners need for their own investigation, Funk said.
