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Activist's 'one strike' eviction going to retrial
By CHRISTOPHER GOFFARD, Times Staff Writer
TAMPA -- At Connie Burton's trial in September, a jury verdict seemed to end her three-year legal battle to keep her apartment at the Robles Park public housing complex. Because of her son's marijuana arrest, the six-person panel concluded she must go. But Hillsborough County Judge Eric Myers on Tuesday ordered a new trial for Burton, saying he had "grave concerns" about the fairness of the first trial because a juror drowsed through much of it. "He slept for substantial periods of time," Myers said of the juror. Burton, 46, who is president of the Robles Park tenants' association, called the ruling a "victory for the people." Burton's legal clash with the Tampa Housing Authority started in May 1999, when the authority began eviction proceedings against her after her son Narada was arrested on a marijuana possession charge. Under the "one-strike" law, the authority can evict tenants if someone listed on their lease breaks the law. Burton and her supporters contend the authority targeted her because she has been its most outspoken critic, both as president of the tenants' association and as host of a WMNF-FM 88.5 call-in show. "We had an opportunity to shake the tree," Burton said of her legal fight. "The Housing Authority has been spending tons and tons of money on this injustice, and they have not been able to win this case. They can't win this case." The Housing Authority acknowledges spending at least $100,000 in legal fees on the effort to oust her, while Burton's lawyer, Guy Burns, said he has given some $100,000 worth of his own work to the case free of charge. Even after the jury verdict in September, Burton was allowed to stay at her apartment, where she lives rent-free, pending her lawyer's motion for a new trial. On Tuesday, Burns asked the judge for a new trial on the grounds that the evidence against Burton was weak, and that a juror was overheard speaking about the case during the trial, which is forbidden. Myers rejected those arguments, but said that he and court deputies noticed the same juror sleeping during trial. Burton's lawyer said he had not noticed the juror sleeping, since the jurors were not in his direct line of sight. Frazier Carraway, the lawyer representing the Housing Authority, said it was not clear when the case would come to trial again. "Nobody has raised the issue of not continuing to pursue it to me," Carraway said.
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