Scott Batterson bribery conviction upheld on appeal

shutterstock_248648887

Former Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority board member Scott Batterson‘s 2014 bribery conviction has been upheld on appeal.

On Friday, Florida’s Fifth District Court of Appeals upheld the trial court conviction without comment.

Batterson was convicted in a 2014 scandal in which he was seen as the linchpin of a pay-to-play deal at the expressway authority. The state had argued that Batterson tried to cut a deal with a contractor in exchange for the contractor hiring friends of his.

On Oct. 17, 2014, Batterson was sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison by Orange County Judge Jennifer Davis. He has been out on bail since.

Batterson had made it clear to the contractor, according to the state’s case, that he and a newly appointed member of the authority’s board, Marco Pena, with help from lobbyist and former Florida House Speaker-designee Chris Dorworth, would be able to gain control of the board and steer a $5 million contract to the contractor.

The appeals court upheld the conviction by a 2-1 vote, with Judges Wendy Berger and Thomas Sawaya voting to affirm, and Judge Richard Orfinger dissenting.

Orfinger offered a dissenting opinion that argued that a bribery charge requires the perpetrator to receive something in return, but that Batterson did not.

Batterson and Pena resigned from the board after previously pleading guilty to charges of violating the state’s open-meeting laws.

 

Scott Powers

Scott Powers is an Orlando-based political journalist with 30+ years’ experience, mostly at newspapers such as the Orlando Sentinel and the Columbus Dispatch. He covers local, state and federal politics and space news across much of Central Florida. His career earned numerous journalism awards for stories ranging from the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster to presidential elections to misplaced nuclear waste. He and his wife Connie have three grown children. Besides them, he’s into mystery and suspense books and movies, rock, blues, basketball, baseball, writing unpublished novels, and being amused. Email him at [email protected].



#FlaPol

Florida Politics is a statewide, new media platform covering campaigns, elections, government, policy, and lobbying in Florida. This platform and all of its content are owned by Extensive Enterprises Media.

Publisher: Peter Schorsch @PeterSchorschFL

Contributors & reporters: Phil Ammann, Drew Dixon, Roseanne Dunkelberger, A.G. Gancarski, Anne Geggis, Ryan Nicol, Jacob Ogles, Cole Pepper, Gray Rohrer, Jesse Scheckner, Christine Sexton, Drew Wilson, and Mike Wright.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @PeterSchorschFL
Phone: (727) 642-3162
Address: 204 37th Avenue North #182
St. Petersburg, Florida 33704




Sign up for Sunburn


Categories