Arrested in what authorities called an underage sex ring, the lawyer will serve time for performing a lewd act on a 14-year-old girl.
By CHRISTOPHER GOFFARD
Published September 10, 2004
TAMPA - More than 3 1/2 years after David Russell Stahl was arrested as a key player in an underage-sex ring, the veteran Tampa lawyer was sentenced Thursday to six years in state prison.
Standing before Hillsborough Circuit Judge Wayne Timmerman, Stahl, 61, mixed expressions of remorse with bitter recriminations against a former paralegal who testified against him.
"I negligently, stupidly, wantonly enabled a young sociopath to wreak havoc on society," Stahl said of Shawn Martin. "I gave him a car. I gave him an apartment. I gave him a computer."
At Stahl's trial in June, Martin testified that Stahl showered him with such favors in exchange for introducing him to underage girls. After 13 hours of deliberations, a jury convicted Stahl of one count of performing a lewd and lascivious act on a 14-year-old girl in 1999.
The guilty verdict brought a possible 15-year sentence, but prosecutors and Stahl's attorney Chip Purcell hammered out an agreement whereby he would receive a six-year prison term in exchange for waiving his right to appeal.
"It's a little bit of a break on the time, in exchange for which we have closure," said prosecutor Mike Sinacore. "These victims are young people, and they want to get on with their lives."
Sinacore said the victims were never comfortable with coming to court to testify, much less with a possible retrial years from now.
Stahl's prison term will be followed by nine years of sex-offender probation, which includes a curfew and avoiding areas where children congregate.
Stahl, who won an $18-million verdict for a client in March, was arrested in February 2001. He was accused of hiring three young girls for sex in his Tampa law office and at his Odessa home.
Numerous glitches delayed the trial, including some of Stahl's lawyers asking to be removed from the case because he wasn't returning their calls.
On Thursday, with a separate charge of committing a lewd and lascivious act on a 13-year-old girl still facing Stahl, the state allowed him to plead guilty to a lesser charge of felony battery. His sentence on that charge - one year and one day - will run concurrently with the six-year prison term.
Also Thursday, prosecutors agreed to drop a charge against Stahl of unlawful sex with a 16-year-old girl. Prosecutors said the victim could not be found.
Stahl told Timmerman he wanted to express remorse for exercising "poor judgment." The judge noted, however, that during an interview for a presentencing investigation, Stahl appeared to blame his plight on his former paralegal.
"He just simply blamed everything on Shawn Martin," Timmerman said. "Maybe he's changed his mind due to good counsel."
The judge held up a stack of letters that friends and family, including Stahl's wife, had written on Stahl's behalf.
"These people love him, respect him," the judge said. "He's let them down."
In exchange for his testimony against Stahl, co-defendant Martin received a prison term of four years for lewd and lascivious conduct with a minor. In a related case, Lee Kadosa, an orthopedic doctor with a Tampa office, got probation after pleading guilty to felony battery on an underage girl.
