State Senator and Orlando Lawyer Gary Siplin received a reversal of his 2006 grand-theft conviction. Prosecutors charged and argued that Siplin knew that a staff member was working on his re-election on state time, costing the taxpayers over $9,000. On Friday of last week, the appeals court ruled that evidence in the case was circumstantial.
Siplin, who spoke about the conviction for the first time, was elated with the final outcome. The judge in the case did send two misdemeanor charges back to a lower court to a lower court to try him again. The senator was elected to the state house back in 2000, and became part of the Senate in 2002.