Just-In

In less than 20 minutes of deliberation today, a six-member jury found former Clay County Commissioner Christy Fitzgerald not guilty of using public works employees to do work at her home when they were being paid by the county.

Jurors in St. Johns County, where the trial was moved because of pretrial publicity in Clay, said the state did not prove the former commissioner knew she was doing anything wrong.

Ftzgerald was tried on a single count of petty theft that county employees worked at her Fleming Island home one day in the fall of 2004 to clean up debris at a storm-damaged dock while they were on the clock for the county.