Note to readers: This is the third in a series of Record stories following the lawsuits swapped between the St. Johns County School Board and Photography is Not a Crime correspondent Jeff Gray. Go to http://bit.ly/23xSyzg to read Part I; read Part II at http://bit.ly/1ShEp48.

An ongoing dispute over public records requests between the St. Johns County School Board and Photography is Not a Crime correspondent Jeff Gray might be inching closer to a resolution, although it's unlikely either side will go silently.

Gray, a father of three children attending county schools, has claimed he's an activist on a mission to get public agencies and private companies with state contracts to get their procedural act together and comply with Florida's public records laws.

He said the St. Johns County School District's policy does not comply with Florida's statutory requirements, that it infringes on his right to access and obtain public records, and that he is, therefore, not required to follow the policy.

The School Board has claimed Gray's refusal to follow the policy is "antagonistic and disruptive to the lawful, orderly and safe operation" of district schools and offices, that the policy is in compliance with state law, and that Gray has continually refused to cooperate because his interests are more about making money via lawsuits and YouTube posts than actually obtaining the records he's requested.

Gray claimed the School Board's complaint against him, filed Dec. 7, is a strategic lawsuit against public participation - called a SLAPP - a lawsuit intended to censor, intimidate or silence critics by burdening them with the cost of a legal defense until they abandon their criticism or opposition.

However, Judge Howard Maltz of the 7th Judicial Circuit Court on Thursday denied Gray's Dec. 29 anti-SLAPP motion for summary judgment in a hearing inside his chambers. In partially granting the School Board's Jan. 19 cross-motion for summary judgment and deeming its lawsuit not unfounded, Maltz gave Gray 30 days to provide affirmative answers to the complaint. Motions regarding attorneys' fees were also withdrawn.

Gray has yet to file a response to the School Board's complaint. His attorney, Lesley McKinney, had argued Thursday it was proper procedure to first submit a motion for summary judgment, rather than affirmative defenses, in potential anti-SLAPP cases.

The complaint requests a definitive judicial declaration on the validity of the School District's public records procedures; issuance of an injunction against Gray for continuing to defy them; and recovery, as damages for malicious prosecution and abuse of the process, of attorney fees incurred in the School Board's successful defense of Gray's lawsuit.

Gray had filed his suit against the School Board on Oct. 14 claiming non-compliance with Florida's public records law in the handling of an in-person request he made at the Maintenance Department on Aug. 26 to inspect and photograph material safety data sheets there.

Gray said he was not permitted to inspect or photograph the records he requested that day, which he considered an unlawful breach in protocol and of his right to access the requested documents.

In its response, the School Board said Gray misdirected his request to a secretary it claimed had no responsibility for or authority over the requested records. It also said Gray's complaint omitted mention that the Community Relations Department contacted him by email Aug. 28 offering to produce the records at the Maintenance Department office, where they are kept, and that Gray refused the offer.

There was some back-and-forth in the proceedings regarding the School District's policy and whether it was reasonable to re-route Gray's public records requests to the Community Relations Department, but, ultimately, Gray filed a notice of voluntary dismissal with prejudice of his case on Dec. 4.

He had told The Record his dismissal was a "strategic move" he and his attorney made.

"We decided the facts of the case and the law were on our side. However, it didn't seem we were getting a fair shake in the court," he said.

The School Board filed its own suit against Gray just three days after Gray's decision to dismiss his case, via authorization by Superintendent Joe Joyner. School Board members were individually informed of the filing of the suit upon authorization, with none expressing objections.

Joyner, in a sworn affidavit filed Jan. 19, said he made the decision to file the lawsuit because of Gray's "history of causing problems and disruption at District schools and offices, mainly stemming from public records requests."

Citing several instances in which Gray had shown up at county schools, he said although Gray dismissed his suit, his "antagonistic and provocative conduct" continued.

Nonetheless, Gray argued the School Board's suit against him was unfounded and served no purpose except to intimidate him from exercising his First Amendment rights and to suppress his investigations of the School District.

He referred to his investigation into the Nov. 18 crash along Interstate 95 involving Bus 268 that sent several Pacetti Bay Middle School students to the hospital and in which the bus driver, Joseph Sanks, 69, of St. Augustine, was cited for careless driving.

Gray's related public records requests, obtained through the School District's Transportation Department, revealed there was no pre-trip inspection form filled out before the crash.

"School bus safety and the integrity of public records are inarguably 'public issues' protected from assault by SLAPP suits," Gray's motion for summary judgment said. He cited five video-documented instances, filmed by Gray, of bus drivers allegedly not filling out pre-trip inspections.

Joyner, in his affidavit, said although he was aware Gray had approached bus drivers at R.B. Hunt Elementary on Dec. 4, he was not aware Gray was investigating bus inspection practices before filing the suit on Dec. 7.

The School Board claimed Gray's right of access to public records is not a First Amendment right and, therefore, Gray's claim the School Board filed suit to unlawfully limit his access to those records was not cognizable under anti-SLAPP statutes.

School Board attorney Frank Upchurch III said Gray's counsel would have had to prove, first of all, that the lawsuit the School Board filed against him was without merit and, second, that it was filed in retaliation for his exercise of First Amendment rights.

Maltz said during the hearing there seemed to be a need for clarification and judicial determination given the nature of the case and the actors involved.

The dispute between the School Board and Gray goes back years and has repeatedly spilled over the brim of Maltz's courtroom during the course of the proceedings.

Several instances in which Gray showed up at School District facilities making additional requests and filming or photographing school property resulted in trespass warnings against Gray issued by Joyner and each of the district's 37 principals on Jan. 7.

Gray was ordered to not come within 500 feet of any school, with limited exceptions, but, on March 14, deputies with the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office arrested Gray on a single charge of trespassing after he was observed holding a sign just outside the fence at St. Augustine High School.

In a video of the arrest posted to his "HonorYourOath" YouTube channel, Gray, when asked what he was doing outside the school, told deputies he was "peacefully assembling and peacefully protesting."

According to an arrest report, Gray was taken into custody without incident. Jail records show he was released the following afternoon on $250 bail.

A video published on March 16 to Gray's YouTube channel included the following statement: "I am out of jail and safely at home. ... I was treated well by SJSO Jail staff. I want to thank everybody for their support and calls to the jail. Word got back to me that the phone lines were melting."

Gray has insisted he was not breaking the law by holding a sign and standing on a public sidewalk. He also said his trespassing order and the corresponding statute, as it pertains to "school safety zones," has a clear exemption for protected First Amendment activity.

As written in Florida Statute 810.0975: "This section does not abridge or infringe upon the right of any person to peaceably assemble and protest."

Access denied

Well into its fourth month, the public records lawsuit has drawn the attention of public records advocates across the country and raised an additional question of public access to judicial proceedings.

James "J.C." Playford, a correspondent with American News and Information Services, based in San Diego, Calif., told The Record on Friday he was prevented from sitting in on the hearing.

He said he spoke to three different bailiffs with the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office outside Maltz's chambers on Thursday, but to no avail.

Playford said his interest in Gray's case is a result of following filming- and photography-related cases around the country and that he felt his constitutional rights were violated. As of Friday afternoon, however, he had not filed a complaint.

Cmdr. Chuck Mulligan, spokesman for the Sheriff's Office, said deputies are in the courthouse for security.

"The judge had the hearing in his chambers and our deputies simply said, 'It's being held in the judge's chambers, so take it up with the judge,'" Mulligan said. "They don't control the judges. They don't control their dockets. They don't control their calendars."

A secretary in Maltz's office Friday afternoon said Maltz was unavailable for comment, as he was not in his office.

Craig Waters, public information director for the Florida Supreme Court, said the question of whether there's a difference between a hearing held in a judge's chambers as opposed to a courtroom, in terms of public access, is a complex one.

"To my knowledge, the courts really have not provided a clear-cut answer in any Florida litigation I have seen," he said in an email to The Record on Friday. "This partly is a result of the fact that the distinction, if any, between 'traditional' and 'nontraditional' media is itself relatively new."

Waters added, however, that it's been his practice not to make distinctions among different "types" of media.

"This is based on my view that the First Amendment makes no such distinctions," he wrote.

But First Amendment rights also encompass a wide range of issues extending beyond traditional roles of media.

According to a report in The San Diego Union-Tribune from July 17, 2015, Playford filed a complaint accusing a San Diego firefighter of battery while trying to keep Playford from aiming a camera and spotlight on a patient being treated.

Playford told The Record he doesn't take his rights lightly.

"The things that are going on with cameramen in America are sickening and disgusting," he said. "St. Johns County just made it clear they don't care about a free press. To be holding closed-door meetings for lawsuits that the government is bringing on, that they shouldn't be bringing on, is nothing more than trying to hide what's going on."

Mulligan questioned the true motivations of advocates like Gray and Playford, however.

"They're just testing law enforcement," Mulligan said. "Well, that's great. They know one or two laws out of the whole book. We're expected to know 4,000."

What is a public record?

"Public records" means all documents, papers, letters, maps, books, tapes, photographs, films, sound recordings, data processing software or other material, regardless of the physical form, characteristics or means of transmission, made or received pursuant to law or ordinance or in connection with the transaction of official business by any agency. The only exceptions are for records specifically made confidential by the Florida Constitution and records exempted by Florida statutes.