By PAUL DE LA GARZA, Times Staff Writer
Published July 7, 2006
TAMPA - Two months after a jury convicted retired Army Col. Tom Spellissy of bribery, a federal judge Thursday threw out the bulk of the case against him, calling it "a serious miscarriage of justice."
U.S. District Judge James Whittemore dismissed two bribery counts and ordered a new trial on two counts of wire fraud. He let stand a conviction on a single count of conspiracy.
"This is one of those cases which, I believe, is exceptional," Whittemore said. "I firmly conclude that a serious miscarriage of justice may have occurred in this case."
A defense consultant, Spellissy faced up to 20 years in prison. He and his company, Strategic Defense International Inc. of Clearwater, also faced a $250,000 fine. Sentencing was scheduled Aug. 14.
After the hearing, prosecutor Robert O'Neill said it was premature to say whether he would retry Spellissy on the wire fraud charges.
O'Neill said he did not know how the ruling would affect sentencing for the remaining charge of conspiracy. But defense attorney Jeff Brown said Whittemore's decisions would cut Spellissy's sentence in half.
Outside the courtroom, Spellissy and his defense team beamed.
"I feel a little bit better than when I walked in here," Spellissy said.
"We're happy," said defense attorney Pat Doherty. "Essentially, it looks like we're 80 percent of the way to where we want to be."
Last year, prosecutors accused Spellissy of paying $4,500 in bribes to William Burke, a private contractor at Special Operations Command, to get preferential treatment for his clients in the defense industry.
Before he retired in January 2005, Spellissy was in charge of helping to arm special operations forces at SOCom, which has its headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base.
Burke pleaded guilty and was sentenced to probation. He agreed to cooperate with the government in prosecuting Spellissy.
During the trial, Burke changed his story. He testified that he and Spellissy did nothing illegal.
Burke said he pleaded guilty to spare his family the embarrassment and cost of a lengthy trial. He also said federal investigators pressured him into pleading guilty.
On May 12, a jury convicted Spellissy of all charges. Jury foreman Thomas Jordan said the evidence, including bank records and e-mails between Spellissy and Burke, supported the verdict.
In an interview Thursday, Burke stood by his testimony.
"The things that I said in the courtroom were the facts," he said. "Obviously, what I said p----- off a lot of people."
In light of the judge's ruling, Burke said he would meet with his attorney to review his options. "The whole thing has been traumatic."
Whittemore scheduled Thursday's hearing to consider a defense motion to vacate the jury's guilty verdicts or grant Spellissy a new trial.
Doherty and Brown argued the government did not prove Spellissy paid Burke $4,500 in exchange for favorable treatment for his clients. The evidence, the lawyers said, showed Spellissy paid Burke for legitimate work.
Doherty pointed out Burke repeatedly testified he and Spellissy did nothing illegal.
But O'Neill pointed to a series of e-mails between Burke and Spellissy that he said supported the verdicts. Burke told Spellissy he had been instrumental in securing more than $10-million in funding for Spellissy's potential clients.
In his ruling Thursday, Whittemore said the e-mails supported the jury's guilty verdict on the single conspiracy charge.
But on the most serious charges, Whittemore said, the evidence did not support Spellissy's conviction on two counts of bribery and he granted the motion for acquittals.
Whittemore characterized the government's case as weak. He also questioned the behavior of federal investigators in the case.
Whittemore, for example, said former Pentagon investigator Robert Calvert lied to Burke when he told him Spellissy formed his company illegally. Whittemore said Spellissy went through the proper channels at SOCom to create his company, known as SDI.
In applying for a search warrant for Spellissy's home last year, Calvert also lied to the federal magistrate regarding the evidence investigators collected, he said.
Saying prosecutors failed to prove their case, Whittemore decided to grant the defense motion for a new trial on the wire fraud charges, which stemmed from two wire transfers from Spellissy to Burke totalling $4,500, in the interest of justice.
[Last modified July 7, 2006, 01:20:11]