Florida Keys defendant spit on two prosecutors, Monroe Sheriff’s Office says

A defendant attacked two Florida Keys prosecutors during a hearing Friday, spitting on them as court deputies restrained him, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.

Scott David Alan Hedger, 45, was attending a hearing around 11:30 a.m. in which Chief Assistant State Attorney Joseph Mansfield was making an argument against his attorney’s motion to reduce his prison sentence for a probation violation.

Hedger became angry and lunged at Mansfield and Assistant State Attorney Melissa Simons, said Adam Linhardt, a sheriff’s office spokesman.

As deputies gained control over him, he still managed to spit on the attorneys, Linhardt said.

Hedger is now in county jail on two counts of battery, but he has bigger issues. The hearing was about him violating his probation on a charge of leaving the scene of an accident involving serious bodily injury, a case in which he was originally charged with several more serious counts, including attempted murder.

He’s accused of dragging his ex-girlfriend with his pickup truck down a Tavernier street in September 2021. The woman was so badly injured, her leg bone was exposed when deputies arrived, according to his arrest report.

Hedger ended up pleading guilty to the charge of leaving the scene of an accident and served seven months in prison, with time served for 35 months he spent in county jail. Mansfield said the reason prosecutors agreed to the plea agreement is because the ex-girlfriend was too afraid of Hedger to testify against him.

His sentence began in September 2024 and was released at the end of February.

Although out of prison, Hedger still had four years of probation left on his sentence. One of the terms of probation was not to contact his ex-girlfriend.

But, within two days of being released on Feb. 24, Hedger called the woman 12 times from a bar in West Palm Beach, court documents reveal.

On Sept. 26, Monroe County Judge James. W. Morgan sentenced Hedger to 10 years in state prison for the parole violation. On Friday, Mansfield was arguing against Hedger’s attorney’s motion to reduce the sentence when he and his colleague were attacked.