Story thread · 2 reports / 2 sources

He had a boating accident 6 years before Clearwater Ferry crash. Jurors may not be told

tampabay.com · 10h · first reportShare

Six years before prominent Pinellas business owner Jeff Knight rammed into the Clearwater Ferry with his private boat, killing one passenger and injuring 10 others, he was involved in another vessel incident resulting in injury. Prosecutors want to tell a jury about the prior incident to show a “pattern of criminality” or an “absence of mistake or accident,” according to notices filed in court. But this week, Knight’s attorney filed a scathing motion challenging the prosecution’s evidence against the St. Petersburg concert venue owner and asking the judge to bar any mention of the 2019 accident. “A prosecutor confident in the proof of the charged offense has no need to tell the jury what the defendant was accused of six years earlier,” J. Kevin Hayslett wrote in the motion. Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney Bruce Bartlett did not immediately respond to a voicemail seeking comment Wednesday morning. On the evening of April 27, 2025, Knight’s 37-foot boat crashed into the Clearwater Ferry ne