Twelfth Circuit Court Judge Mark Singer denied a move by John Maguire III’s attorney July 28 to dismiss a misdemeanor derelict vessel case before trial.
Maguire, who lives aboard a moored sailboat near the Cortez, sold bait from another boat at the Historic Bridge Street Pier in Bradenton Beach until April, when the Florida Department of Environmental Protection advised the city, based on its lease of submerged lands at the pier, that the business was prohibited there.
Five photos of Maguire’s vessel were submitted to the court and both Maguire and Manatee County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Daniel Hearn, who issued the the citation, testified.
Public defender Jessica Johnson asked the court to end the courtroom battle because the skiff behind Maguire’s sailboat was not “wrecked, “junked” or “substantially dismantled” as set forth in state law.
The prosecutor filed a traverse in June, which he amended in July — stating the state will present evidence that Maguire’s vessel was no longer seaworthy and a hazard to navigation “especially at night.”
A trial is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Sept. 6 at the Manatee County Judicial Center, 1051 Manatee Ave. W., Bradenton.