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PENSACOLA - A judge ordered the arrest of a suspended Escambia County commissioner when he failed to show up Wednesday for his sentencing for bribery, extortion, grand theft and other charges.
Willie Junior's lawyers said his wife, Abbie, last saw him when he left home Tuesday morning on foot to get a haircut.
Circuit Judge Jere Tolton issued the order for Junior's arrest before a courtroom filled with friends who had planned to testify on his behalf. Junior's wife was also there.
"He's been to all the other court appearances that he's been required to attend," defense lawyer Michael Griffith said later. "So this comes as a great shock to us."
State Attorney Curtis Golden said his investigator began a search for Junior.
Junior could have faced as much as 125 years in prison if convicted on 11 criminal charges. But in exchange for pleading no contest and agreeing to testify against other corruption defendants, including former Florida Senate president and suspended fellow Commissioner W.D. Childers, he was promised a term of no more than 18 months. Childers was convicted last year of bribing Junior to vote for the $3.9-million purchase of a defunct soccer complex in 2001. Junior was the star prosecution witness.
The 1st District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee on Tuesday heard Childers' appeal. Childers, who received a 31/2-year sentence, meanwhile is free on bail.
A variation in Junior's testimony is a key issue in Childers' appeal.
At Childers' trial, Junior testified Childers passed him a note with "100" written on it twice. He said Childers told him the note meant each would get $100,000 for voting for the soccer complex purchase.
That was a change from Junior's testimony in the earlier trial of Joe Elliott, who sold the county the complex, when he said Childers said nothing when handing him the note.
Childers' lawyer, Richard Lubin, told the appellate court Tolton should have allowed him to question Junior about why he changed his story. Lubin claimed it was because Junior was worried he might lose his plea deal after Elliott was acquitted of bribery.
After that acquittal, prosecutors tried to back out of the plea deal with Junior, but Tolton refused to let them just before Childers' trial in 2003.
Two months earlier, Junior had been hospitalized, apparently due to an adverse reaction to anxiety and depression medications, a doctor said.