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Florida field rushers facing felony charges under law aimed at Donald Trump protesters

On3 imageby: Dan Morrison10/14/25dan_morrison96
Ben Hill Griffin Stadium (The Swamp)
Matt Pendleton | Imagn Images

There is nothing like the magic of rushing the field after storming the field following a major upset. Certainly, a handful of Florida Gators fans wanted to capture that when they tried to take the field following their win over the Texas Longhorns. Now, those same fans are facing felony charges.

While field storming is fun, there have also been some scary incidents over the years. Because of that, the SEC has tried to discourage the act by adding fines to schools. However, laws go further than that in Florida. So, the four fans are now staring down trespassing charges that are elevated to a felony level. What’s unique about that in Florida is that it wasn’t designed to punish college football fans. It was designed to target Donald Trump protesters.

Governor Ron DeSantis signed the bill last May. Now, at least one Republican senator, Jonathan Martin, R-Fort Myers, is saying that these trespassing charges were not how the law was intended to be used. It was Martin who sponsored the bill.

“That’s not the intent, and they can quote me in the case law if that becomes an issue… This is specifically intended to address the Secret Service efforts to keep our president safe while he’s in the State of Florida,” Martin said. “Currently people who are trespassing at those events or locations where the president is located are only committing a misdemeanor. This keeps happening very frequently.”

The law specifically bans anyone from entering an area that has been law enforcement or a large, ticketed sports or entertainment event without a ticket. It can come with penalties of up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. The felony charges that the fans are facing fall under that law. This is also the first football season that the law is in place. Previously, this would have been a misdemeanor.

Bennett Hutson, the defense lawyer for one of the students and one of the men, has predicted that this will ultimately result in misdemeanor charges. He also argued that they were charged with felonies to deter future field stormings.

“They want to get the message out that they don’t want people to do this,” Hutson said. “They want people to respect their integrity, the integrity of the stadium and the safety of the student athletes and all the staff.”

Notably, while the law does include a way to punish people who run past police at ticket events, like a football game, that didn’t seem to be the initial intention. At a hearing regarding the bill last March, Senator Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, clarified by asking if field storming at college football would result in a charge. At that point, Martin said, “That’s not the intent, and they can quote me in the case law if that becomes an issue.”

After unanimously passing the Florida House, only two Florida democrats opposed it in the Senate. It was also, according to Martin, a bill driven by law enforcement within the state.

Among the four Florida fans facing charges are two students and two older men. It’s also known that one of those two students is from Parkland and one is from New Jersey. The older men received an additional three-year campus ban. The State Attorney’s Office hasn’t yet formally charged the four fans, rather, they’ve only been arrested and booked on those felony charges.