CLEARWATER, Fla. — A Pinellas County judge is allowing high-profile Pinellas County attorney John Trevena to be released from jail on his own recognizance.
- Attorney John Trevena arrested on domestic battery charge against ex-wife
- Trevena blames ex-wife, Largo Police for what happened
- Trevena is attorney for Michael Drejka, accused in Clearwater shooting
- Florida Bar opens file concerning Trevena's arrest
Trevena was arrested Monday on a misdemeanor domestic battery charge. He appeared in court Tuesday via video, dressed in an orange jumpsuit.
Trevena is currently one of the attorneys representing accused Markeis McGlockton shooter Michael Drejka. Trevena allegedly shoved and kicked his ex-wife, Meredith Trevena, following a verbal argument inside her apartment.
Trevena was at the apartment Monday to retrieve items he believed were his, according to investigators.
Meredith Trevena said she captured the entire incident on cell phone video.
After his release, John Trevena blamed his ex-wife and the Largo Police Department for what happened.
"It comes to show that when you've sued a police department as many times as I have in the past, particularly the City of Largo, they get payback," Trevena said. And boy they got some good on me. I spent the last 18 hours incarcerated over nothing.”
The judge agreed to release Trevena but the attorney will be supervised by the sheriff's office. He also had to agree to give up his guns and stay away from his estranged wife.
Trevena disputed what was in the video recorded by his ex-wife and said he thinks the charge will be dropped.
"We got into a verbal altercation," he said. "I think part of it she might have even video recorded. There was never any physical violence between us, other than her initiating it trying to push me down the stairs of her apartment."
Trevena said he was at her apartment to retreive an expensive rug but said his ex-wife sold it for drugs.
He said he expects to remain on the Drejka case.
"He's got the best shot with me at the top of the team," he said.
The Florida Bar has opened a file concerning Trevena's arrest.
Trevena's arrest Monday is just the latest legal flap involving people connected to the Drejka case:
- Drejka's first attorney, Lysa Clifton, was investigated by the Florida Bar on allegations that she solicited her services to Drejka while he was in jail. She was removed from the case in October 2018 and in November 2018 arrested on a DUI charge.
- Pinellas Sheriff's Office detective George Moffett, who was among the first detectives to respond to the McGlockton shooting, was fired in January 2019 following a DUI arrest.