The First District Court of Appeals says State Attorney Willie Meggs
cannot appeal the Ray Sansom case, because parts of it are still in
pending in circuit court. Here is today's ruling.
"We
didn't think the state had the right to appeal at this point," Steve
Dobson said. Meggs said he had not yet read the ruling. But he conceded
the issue still in circuit court is not strong on its own. "There's no
case there," he said.
Attorney
General Bill McCollum had filed the First DCA appeal for Meggs. A
circuit court judge did not dismiss all of the official misconduct
charge against Sansom. At issue is a budget document from 2007 that
Meggs contends shows Sansom all along intended to use state money to
put a building at Destin Airport, next to Jay Odom's corporate jet business.
The margin note, with the
initials of Sansom top aide Mike Hansen, said "per S.D. (speaker
designate) to fund." A circled number 1 meant it was Sansom's top
priority. When the item appeared in the budget, there was no mention of
the airport.
Dobson
said no one knows who created the document or where it came from.
Meggs
said that the document is "just part of the proof of the
misappropriation of money." But taken in a narrow view, he said, the
note itself is not solid evidence because it's not an official budget
document. "What's left is nothing," he said.
Lewis also let stand a perjury charge against Sansom. Meggs said he is not sure how he'll proceed.
McCollum's office declined comment, citing the ongoing legal proceedings.
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