Florida Republican could face death penalty under child abuse law he championed

A Florida Republican from Donald Trump's home district could potentially face the death penalty under a law he had championed as a state legislator.

Mike Caruso, the Palm Beach County clerk of courts and a staunch ally of Gov. Ron DeSantis, was arrested Tuesday morning on child sexual abuse charges, and a plugged-in reporter in the state pointed out a morbid irony in the case.

"As a FL legislator, Mike Caruso supported death penalty for pedophiles in 2023," said Axios reporter Marc Caputo. "Now he has been arrested for allegedly molesting his grandson. The state plans to present the case to a grand jury and that could lead to his own execution if he’s charged and convicted under that law."

Florida passed a law in 2023 that allows the death penalty for defendants convicted of sexual battery on a child under 12, and sources with knowledge of the allegations told the Miami Herald that Caputo's alleged victim was younger than 5 years old.

Caruso, who had been running unopposed in Tuesday's Republican primary, was arrested that same morning on suspicion of molestation, kidnapping, luring and enticing a child, lewd and lascivious exhibition and child abuse, according to an arrest affidavit.

The charges are related to three separate incidents, the Herald reported, and the boy's parents reported their suspicions to law enforcement after the little boy acted out sexually at home.

The Florida law calling for the death penalty for pedophiles is intended in part to challenge the 2008 Supreme Court precedent in Kennedy v. Louisiana, which found that execution was too harsh for a child sexual assault case that did not result in death.

The governor's office declared an intention to challenge that precedent after DeSantis signed the bill into law.

Caruso was previously accused of child sexual abuse, but investigators later determined those allegations to be unfounded after interviewing the child and the child's mother.

He was also the subject of other reports to the Florida Department of Children and Families, according to records, but details about those cases are not public.

Caruso had served two terms in the Florida legislature, easily winning both elections, but he left that term-limited seat in August 2025 when the governor appointed him Palm Beach County’s Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller.

A Democrat ultimately won the seat he vacated in the Palm Beach district, which includes the president's home at Mar-a-Lago, in a March special election.