Jury finds ex-FHP captain not guilty of misdemeanor

DADE CITY -- A jury this evening found former Florida Highway Patrol Capt. Greg LaMont not guilty of the allegation that cost him his job with the FHP in the first place.

"He is very excited and looking forward to getting his job back," said defense attorney George Angeliadis. "This is just the first hurdle. We've got one more to go."

The jury of five women and one man took about 35 minutes to acquit LaMont of a misdemeanor charge of criminal mischief stemming from a 2006 traffic stop on a Pasco stretch of Interstate 75.

LaMont was accused of striking a motorist's car, denting it, and yelling at the driver "are you brain dead?"

He spent 26 years on the force and commanded troopers in Pasco, Hernando, Citrus and Sumter counties before he was fired last year after an internal investigation into the 2006 traffic stop.

LaMont has appealed his dismissal. His attorney said the jury's decision should give the state pause before deciding to fight to keep the former trooper from getting his job back. That appeal was on hold, waiting for the criminal trial to proceed.

It was a misdemeanor case tried in County Court by one of Pasco's most senior prosecutors, witnesses were flown in from Michigan, and for what, Angeliadis asked?

"The state of Florida has cost taxpayers thousands of dollars prosecuting a misdemeanor," the lawyer said. "It cost taxpayers to fly these witnesses down here. It cost taxpayers to send a lawyer to Michigan.

"It's just a complete waste of resources and taxpayer money."

-- Jamal Thalji, Times staff writer