Ray Sansom case likely headed to trial after judge's order

A judge has again rejected former House Speaker Ray Sansom's attempt to dismiss the criminal charges against him stemming from a $6 million budget appropriation that prosecutors say was going to benefit a private developer.

The order makes it very likely the case is headed to trial. ``These new motions . . . do nothing to change or eliminate the facts and reasonable inferences therefrom the state relies upon,'' Circuit Court Judge Terry Lewis wrote in the order made public Thursday. ``I determined in my last order that this was a question for the jury and nothing in these subsequent motions has convinced me otherwise.''

Sansom is accused of putting $6 million into the 2007 state budget for a project at Destin Airport. Officially it was to be an emergency operations training center to be operated by Northwest Florida State College, and a staging area during a storm.

But records show that a private developer, Jay Odom, had wanted to use the building for his corporate jet business.

A grand jury indicted Sansom, Odom and former college president Bob Richburg on official misconduct charges. Those charges were later changed to grand theft and conspiracy to commit grand theft.

During a court hearing earlier this month, Sansom's lawyer, Steve Dobson, said it is undisputed that the building would serve ``instructional purposes and to service first responders in the city of Destin in the event of a hurricane.'' He said Sansom's actions were ``completely legal and completely good for his community.''

Leon County State Attorney Willie Meggs said Sansom conspired with Odom and Richburg to conceal a gift for the developer as an educational facility.

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