There have been some new developments in the she-said-he-said case involving the 40-year-old son of City Commissioner Merili McCoy and County Mayor Sonny McCoy.
Back on January 28, Jan Rylander, 41, spent much of the day in a Plantation Key courtroom to show support for her boyfriend, Sean McCoy. McCoy was on trial for allegedly battering another woman. Circuit Judge Reagan Ptomey declared a mistrial after McCoy was seen talking to one of the jurors. The charges were subsequently dropped.
On the way back to Key West, McCoy reportedly told Rylander that he wanted to stop to have a few drinks at a roadside cafe. But she told him that she had to get back to care for her ailing 81-year-old father. She says she left McCoy with friends at the bar.
Ed Horan, McCoy's first lawyer, said that Rylander then showed up unannounced at McCoy's mobile home on Stock Island in the wee hours of the following morning and began to ransack the place.
But Rylander says that McCoy began to repeatedly call her at home about 2:30 a.m., demanding that she bring over a tie that he had been wearing in court. Phone records seem to support this claim.
Finally, Rylander said, she went to McCoy's trailer. They argued and McCoy allegedly threw her on the bed and choked her.
"Then, he threw me on the floor and punched me in the eye," she told Deputy Sheriff Paul Sholtz. She said McCoy only stopped choking her after she bit him on the arm. He then reportedly ran out of the trailer and threw her car keys onto the top of a nearby building.
McCoy was arrested.
The following day, however, when Sheriff's Detective Christine Scott arrived at Rylander's home to take pictures of her black eye and bruises, she reportedly said that she was out of film and promised to return. She didn't.
Incensed, Stella Rylander, Jan's mother, had a friend take photos of the bruises. She then complained to the State Attorney's Office, where she was advised to file a formal complaint against Detective Scott with the Sheriff's Internal Affairs division. She did.
She also had a physician examine her daughter and provide a report. That report states that Jan Rylander had "bruising over the left eye, considerable redness and scratches on her neck and chest, a swollen and tender right arm."
During the struggle in McCoy's trailer, Rylander said McCoy pushed her into a TV-stereo entertainment center. Later, McCoy would say that she damaged the unit while she was ransacking his home. He filed a complaint to have her arrested.
Detective Scott came to Rylander's home with an arrest warrant on March 25. To give her an opportunity to get someone to come in and care for her father, she was not arrested on the spot, but was given the opportunity to turn herself in later and post a $15,000 bond.
Rylander is scheduled to be arraigned on April 10. Attorney Ted Herzog is expected to enter a plea of not guilty.
McCoy, now represented by Attorney Sam Kaufman, had pled not guilty. A jury trial had been tentatively set for April 15 in Judge Susan Vernon's courtroom, but this week, Kaufman filed a motion asking Vernon to recuse herself. The motion says that McCoy feels that Vernon has not treated him fairly in the past and that she may have a problem with him and his family.