Kelly Mathis said he can see the daylight.
The daylight for when he will be able to practice law again.
The 5th District Court of Appeal rejected a request Thursday by the Florida Attorney General’s Office for a rehearing on the court’s decision to throw out 103 gambling-related convictions against Mathis and that he receive a new trial.
Mathis’ defense attorney Mitch Stone said the state can seek a review of the appellate court’s decision from the Florida Supreme Court. Absent that, the case returns to the trial court in Seminole County on Dec. 19.
Prosecutors would have a designated period — which Stone believes is 90 days on an appeal — to retry Mathis unless there’s a waiver of speedy trial.
It’s too early to tell whether the defense would request that waiver, but Stone said, “We haven’t waived up to this point.”
It’s also unknown whether prosecutors will pursue a second trial against Mathis.
Kylie Mason, a spokeswoman for the Attorney General’s Office, said the Office of Statewide Prosecution is in the process of determining its next course of action.
Mathis said he was surprised at how quickly the appellate court ruled on the request for a rehearing. The decision was released just over three weeks after the defense filed its response.
Mathis was one of 57 people arrested in the 2013 Allied Veterans of the World investigation, in which prosecutors said the charity operated an illegal gambling operation through dozens of internet cafes.
None of the other defendants went to trial, with most of them reaching plea agreements and others having charges dropped. Mathis was never interested in a plea agreement in the case.
Prosecutors called Mathis the “mastermind” of the operation, saying at trial he knowingly provided false legal advice about the internet cafes.
He was convicted on one count of racketeering and 51 counts each of conducting an illegal lottery and possessing an illegal slot machine.
In October, the appellate court tossed the convictions against Mathis, saying the trial judge prohibited the defense from entering key evidence.
That evidence included testimony from several people who agreed with Mathis’ legal opinion that the internet cafes were operating legally under Florida’s sweepstakes law.
Mathis knows he may face another trial, but believes prosecutors will have a “very tall mountain to climb” since the defense will be able to present testimony that was disallowed in the first trial.
“I think they will have a hard, if not impossible, time to show that I somehow knew I was giving illegal advice when virtually everyone outside Seminole County agreed it was legal,” he said.
Stone said the team is “basically back to square one, preparing to go to trial again,” pulling files out of cold storage.
“Let them try to climb the mountain,” Mathis said. “I’ll be there to try to push them back down.”
Mathis was suspended by The Florida Bar after his convictions. The former president of The Jacksonville Bar Association knows the court’s latest ruling puts him one step closer to being an attorney again.
“I’ve thought about when I would be able to sign things again and say I’m a practicing lawyer,” Mathis said.
A career he’s loved since being admitted to the Bar in September 1988.
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