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Former third grade teacher Karly Anderson has been found guilty by a jury of her peers for her behavior in a now infamous alcohol and drug-fueled teenage house party at her bosses home, Roosevelt Elementary School principal Elizabeth Hill-Brodigan. Anderson was arrested and charged several days after the January 21st, 2025 party. Her original charges were; FELONY CHILD NEGLECT WITHOUT GREAT BODILY HARM, CONTRIBUTING TO DELINQUENCY OR DEPENDENCY OF MINOR, and RESISTING OFFICER OBSTRUCT WITHOUT VIOLENCE. Those charges were later reduced to; BREACH OF PEACE DISORDERLY CONDUCT, DISORDERLY INTOXICATION ENDANGERING SAFETY, and RESISTING OFFICER OBSTRUCT WITHOUT VIOLENCE. The breach of peace charge was dropped during today’s hearing.

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Mrs. Anderson and her attorney Ken Weaver did an interview on national television on Inside Edition. During that interview, Mrs. Anderson declared she was not at the party nor saw any children with alcohol. Cocoa Beach Police body cam footage later published by The Space Coast Rocket proved those statements not to be true by her own words that were captured on video. In the video she stated she was indeed at the party while appearing to be highly intoxicated herself. She was upset that the first responders would not give her the details of the child that was being treated for an alcohol related condition while proclaiming she was a teacher and repeatedly using profanity to berate them and the officer on the scene.

Prior to the jury trial, prosecutors offered Mrs. Anderson a plea deal with no jail time, which she refused. Jury selection began yesterday where many potential jurors had to be recused stating they were familiar with our coverage as well as other media outlets on the incident. The actual trial began this morning around 9am at the Brevard County Harry T. Moore Justice Center with Judge Kimberly Musselman presiding.

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Prosecutors called the officer on the scene as well as an EMT who was on the scene as witnesses. Around 2pm, Mrs. Anderson’s defense attorney asked the judge for an acquittal of all charges. That motion was denied, and after closing arguments, the jury deliberated from about 2:30pm to 6pm delivering a verdict of guilty on both charges. Mrs. Anderson’s son was visibly upset with the verdict and left the court room abruptly. Also present were her parents and husband.

Judge Musselman moved into sentencing 10 minutes after the verdict. Mrs. Anderson was sentenced to 6 months of supervised probation on Count 1, 50 hours of community service and prohibited from consuming any alcohol or illegal substances for 6 months, subject to random testing. She must also donate $500 to the Children’s Advocacy charity. She was sentenced on Count 2 to 12 months of probation, another 50 hours of community service for a total of 100 hours. Her probations run concurrently. She will also have to pay court costs, fees, and investigation costs for Cocoa Beach Police.

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Her attorney indicated that Mrs. Anderson will immediately be appealing the verdict and was deemed indigent and will be provided a public defender for appeal purposes. He stated she has no source of income and has “lost her job” over this. It has been reported that Mrs. Anderson resigned from Brevard Public Schools for the second time after originally rescinding her initial resignation and being placed back into the classroom temporarily at Saturn Elementary, a title 1 school. That same day is when we published the body cam footage which sparked outrage by the community that she was back in the classroom around children with the pending charges.

The school district justified her being placed back in the classroom when on April 1, 2025, the State Attorney’s Office dropped the one felony charge leaving on misdemeanors.

At a press conference following the trial, attorney Weaver stated that this is what happens when cases get too much attention by the media, while giving his justification for the appeal. It should be noted that it was Mr. Weaver himself who’s initial interview on the matter was on the national tv show Inside Edition shortly after the arrest.

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