Ex-Fla. House speaker wants charges dropped
TALLAHASSEE (AP) – A lawyer for former House Speaker Ray Sansom said prosecutors are trying to “veto by indictment legislation” as he asked a judge Wednesday to dismiss criminal charges against the lawmaker.
The official misconduct and perjury charges stem from the Destin Republican’s efforts, as House budget chairman, to steer $6 million to Northwest Florida State College for an airport building. The school then gave him a $110,000 job on the day last November when he was sworn in as speaker.
Circuit Judge Terry Lewis asked lawyers to submit additional written statements and said he would rule by Sept. 9. Lewis also heard similar arguments on behalf of two co-defendants facing the same charges – former Northwest Florida State President Bob Richburg and Destin businessman Jay Odom, a friend and political supporter of Sansom.
Prosecutors say the building at Destin Airport was to be a hangar intended for lease to Odom’s aircraft business and that all three lied to a grand jury.
All of the defendants attended the hearing in a courtroom with a view across the street of the Florida Capitol – the scene of the alleged crime. None said anything. Sansom, who passively chewed gum during the hearing, declined comment afterward.
Sansom’s lawyer, Steve Dobson, argued the charges should be dismissed in part because they violate the separation of powers clause in the Florida Constitution. He said only the Legislature – not the courts nor prosecutors – has the authority to decide how taxpayer dollars are spent.
“The entire Legislature voted on this, not just one man, and this is an attempt by the state attorney’s office to veto by indictment legislation,” Dobson said.
State Attorney Willie Meggs argued Sansom tricked his colleagues by labeling the building as an “emergency response workforce center” instead of what it actually would have been when he put the money in the budget, bypassing the committee process.
“There was one person in the Legislature who knew that language,” Meggs said. “The defendant Sansom himself admits that he is solely, totally responsible for having that language put in there. No one else did it.”
Meggs said he would have had no case if the budget line item also said it was to be a hangar. That’s because Sansom is accused of allegedly falsifying an official record – the appropriations act – “with corrupt intent to obtain a benefit for any person.”
Defense lawyers argued the budget item is accurate, despite that omission, because the building would have included some classroom space and be available to local authorities to use as an emergency center during hurricanes. Meggs said leaving out the hangar part was misleading.
“Does falsify mean misrepresent?” Meggs asked Lewis. “If the court finds that it doesn’t then this case is in a lot of trouble.”
Lewis repeatedly questioned the lawyers on that issue because appellate courts have not provided a clear answer in the only recent case that addressed it.
In that case, a trial judge threw out the conviction of Glendell Russ, then a Quincy city commissioner, who had been accused of falsifying a $600 city check intended to buy Christmas gifts for needy children in 1998. Russ had the check made out to Toys R Us. At the store, he offered to pay for a customer’s purchases totaling $159 if the customer would give him $100 in cash.
The trial judge ruled the check itself had not been altered or falsified even though Russ may have misrepresented his intentions. The 1st District Court of Appeal reinstated his conviction in a 2-1 ruling. The majority relied on a dictionary definition of “falsity” that includes “misrepresentation.”