State attorneys drop battery case against Hernando Democratic chair after protest clash

State attorneys have dropped the battery case against Brian Stewart, the Hernando County Democratic Party chair, after a confrontation at a Spring Hill “No Kings” protest turned a political rally into a criminal case. The dismissal, ordered by State Attorney William Gladson of Florida’s Fifth Judicial Circuit, closes the prosecution but does not settle the competing accounts of what happened near Cortez Boulevard and Mariner Boulevard.

Stewart, 63, was arrested March 28 after the clash with a counterprotester later identified as Thomas Michta. Deputies booked Stewart on a misdemeanor simple battery charge and released him after he posted a $1,000 bond about two hours later. Republican critics said Stewart struck Michta with a bullhorn, while Stewart and others at the scene said video of the encounter told a different story.

Gladson announced April 7 that he would not file charges, and court records show the case was officially closed by April 10. In his no-information filing, Gladson wrote that “A jury would likely conclude that this entire matter was a waste of time.” He said Michta’s account differed materially from the video evidence, and argued the footage showed Michta was not injured or afraid afterward.

Gladson also said the counterprotester appeared to be harassing a female protester before the confrontation, and cited Florida law on reasonable non-deadly force to defend property. Those details mattered because prosecutors did not simply decide the case was politically messy; they concluded the video, the alleged victim’s statements and the legal standard did not point toward a trial they believed they could win.

The arrest had already drawn sharp reaction from Florida Republicans. The Republican Party of Florida and Chairman Evan Power called for Stewart’s immediate removal after the arrest, arguing that a county party chair accused of battery could not credibly lead a political organization. Hernando County Conservatives chairman Louis Johns, by contrast, called the dismissal victim-blaming and said he had been in direct contact with the state attorney’s office.

The case landed in the middle of the nationwide March 28 “No Kings” day of action, which brought protests across Florida and the U.S. In Hernando County, the dispute became bigger than one arrest: it turned into a test of whether political activism on local streets can still be policed fairly, and whether residents will trust law enforcement when the same video can support sharply different interpretations. For Stewart, the dismissal ends the criminal case. For Spring Hill, the argument over what really happened is still very much alive.