Posted on 08/06/2013 9:27:34 AM PDT by Uncle Chip
A Sanford judge today ruled that Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi does not have to answer defense attorneys' questions under oath in a mammoth Internet casino gambling case pending in Seminole County.
Circuit Judge Kenneth Lester Jr. made that ruling this morning.
The case involves more than 50 defendants, accused of violating the state's gambling, racketeering and money laundering laws by operating Internet cafes that prosecutors say served as storefront gambling parlors.
Each had ties to the non-profit Allied Veterans of the World, a group that provided charity to military veterans but, according to authorities, donated just two percent of its $300 million in proceeds.
The most prominent defendant in the case is Jacksonville attorney Kelly Mathis, who served as the group's lawyer.
A dozen defendants, including Mathis, had subpoenaed Bondi because she had solicited a $25,000 donation from Allied's Oklahoma-based parent company, International Internet Technologies LLC, on behalf of the state GOP.
The judge today ruled that whatever she had to say about that would be inadmissible.
Presumably she would say that she believed the companies operated lawfully, the judge wrote, but Bondi's opinion on that is not relevant and would amount to hearsay.
She also is entitled to immunity, the judge wrote, because she's a high-level public official and defense attorneys have failed to show that what she would say is relevant and unavailable from others.
Two of her assistants were in court in Sanford Friday, arguing that the subpoena should be quashed. State agents raided dozens of Internet café sites March 13 and rounded up more than 50 suspects.
That same day, Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll resigned, making no mention of the company, but her Jacksonville public relations agency had done work for Allied in 2009 and 2010.....
(Excerpt) Read more at orlandosentinel.com ...
It's a small world after all.
Ah, the old charity scam. Pam Bondi needs to be tried.
freekitty ~:” Ah, the old charity scam. Pam Bondi needs to be tried.”
Wasn’t it Pam Bondi who recommended Angela Corey to try the Martin/Zimmerman assault , also in Seminole County ?
Yes —
And Judge Lester was the original Judge in the Zimmerman Trial.
I believe that is right.
This was filed by Georgia Sex Offender Cleve Molette:
http://www.flcourts18.org/PDF/Press_Releases/Amicus_Brief_July_23_2013.pdf
http://www.sorarchives.com/directory/ga/M/Cleve_Molette_738357
Probably doesn’t hurt that Lester’s wife is Assistant State Attorney Dorothy Sedgwick.
Down in the bayou they call it “back scratch fever”.
Pam Bondi for Vice President
tampabay.com ^ | May 5, 2016 | Adam Smith
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3428817/posts
“Pam Bondi was an early endorser of Trump. She’s the attorney general in her second term, an 18-year prosecutor. She’s an outsider who became an insider, and she has a good, strong relationship already with the candidate.... I think he’s looking for someone that brings something to his ticket that does not go against the narrative he’s been selling for the last six months, and I think people like Pam would fit the bill.”
You can have her. We in Florida do not want her.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.