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Suspended County Commissioner Terry Smith still denies he did anything wrong.
©Associated Press
September 19, 2002
PENSACOLA -- A suspended Escambia County commissioner on Wednesday avoided jail time for discussing public business privately with another board member, former Florida Senate President W.D. Childers.
Terry Smith was ordered to pay fines and costs of $4,987.64 and perform 250 hours of community service for violating the state's open-government Sunshine Law.
Okaloosa County Judge T. Patterson Maney gave Smith a year to make the payments and do the service hours helping needy people.
Maney rejected a prosecutor's recommendation for a maximum sentence of 60 days in jail on one count and six months' probation on a second, but he did formalize the jury's guilty verdict, meaning Smith will have a criminal record.
"I still don't think I violated the Sunshine Law," Smith told reporters. "I'll accept the punishment given to me."
Separate juries convicted Smith and Childers, also suspended, for a speaker phone call to Escambia Supervisor of Elections Bonnie Jones to discuss redistricting. Talking to Jones was legal, but the commissioners were convicted because they heard each other's comments to her.
Smith was convicted but Childers was acquitted of discussing landfill issues with two citizens over lunch at a restaurant. Childers' jury also acquitted him of a third count but deadlocked on a fourth. He is to be retried on the latter count Oct. 7.
Childers also is set for trial Feb. 10 on felony charges including bribery and money laundering stemming from a real estate deal.
Two other suspended commissioners have pleaded no contest to related charges in deals with prosecutors. They have agreed to testify against Childers.