The U.S. Supreme Court today declined to take up an appeal by former Florida Senate President W.D. Childers in a bribery case that has bounced around the legal system for years. Justices did not give any explanation for the decision.
The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in November ruled against Childers on a question about whether he received a fair trial before getting convicted on bribery and unlawful compensation charges. Childers, who represented the Pensacola area in the Senate for three decades, was convicted in 2003 for actions while serving on the Escambia County Commission after leaving the Legislature.
The appeals-court decision stemmed from arguments that Childers was not able to fully cross-examine a key witness in the case — another county commissioner — and whether Florida courts properly dealt with claims that Childers’ constitutional rights had been violated. Childers, 80, who was in the Senate from 1970 to 2000, has already served a prison term.
Source: The News Service of Florida