By Dan Tracy
The state has until Tuesday to provide an Orange County judge with written reponses to arguments made by attorneys for a jailed former Orlando expressway authority director that their client did not break a public meetings law.
Scott Batterson has been incarcerated since late August, when he was convicted on two bribery related charges. He likely faces a sentence of 42 months in jail, according to court guidelines.
His attorneys, Robert Stovash and Amy Tingley of Orlando, asked Judge Tanya Davis Wilson this morning to do away with a misdemeanor charge of violating the so-called Florida in the Sunshine laws.
During the course of a two-hour hearing, they argued Batterson did not knowingly break the law and, instead, was talking with friends, not other board members.
It is not clear when Wilson will rule.
Batterson was convicted Aug. 26 after a three-day trial of offering a $5 million-a-year contract to an engineering consultant in exchange for hiring his friends.
A civil engineer, Batterson was placed on the board of the now defunct Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority by Gov. Rick Scott in 2011. Scott removed him from the board a day after his conviction.
Tingley also sought to overturn the decision of the four-woman, two-man jury and get a new trial, but another judge, Jenifer Davis, ruled against the request.
dltracy@tribune.com or 407-420-5444.