State Attorney Willie Meggs has until next Friday to lay out the case leading to the indictment of Rep. Ray Sansom, Bob Richburg and Jay Odom.
Leon
County Circuit Judge Terry Lewis has ruled in favor of a motion by
defense attorneys that Meggs provide a statement, or bill, of
"particulars." (background here)
"We're very pleased," said Sansom attorney Steve Dobson. "We genuinely
want to know what our clients have done that is illegal."
Sansom,
Richburg and Odom have been charged with felony official misconduct for
allegedly scheming to get $6 million in taxpayer money for a building
Odom planned to store aircraft in at Destin Airport.
A grand
jury based the charges on, among other things, a 2006 budget document
that implies the money was for a college training and emergency
response facility only. The final document omitted that the building
would be at Destin Airport. (more on that here) But Dobson says that is not proof enough. "How on earth do you falsify the general appropriations act?" he asked.
A
House investigator, Steve Kahn, reached the same basic conclusion as
Meggs, plus found fault with other actions, including a secretive
meeting Sansom and Richburg set up with the Northwest Florida State
College Board of Trustees. An ethics commission review is under way.
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