PANAMA CITY — The State Attorney’s Office can continue its prosecution of an expert witness accused of perjury, a judge ruled Thursday in a hearing to determine if prosecutors who will testify against the accused amounts to prejudice against him.
Attorney Michael Grabner had sought to have the office disqualified from prosecuting his client, John Lloyd, because Assistant State Attorney Bob Sombathy, who prosecuted the case in which Lloyd is alleged to have knowingly misrepresented his qualifications for testifying as an expert, has taken an informal role in prosecuting Lloyd in addition to his role as a witness against him.
Grabner’s motion suggests Sombathy and Assistant State Attorney Megan Teeple, who is prosecuting Lloyd on several felony counts of perjury, are taking the case against Lloyd personally, but Judge Michael Overstreet found no reason an attorney couldn’t be both witness and prosecutor and no evidence of prejudice against Lloyd.
Lloyd was arrested in February after he testified in a hearing and at the trial of Timothy Foxworth, who was charged with aggravated child abuse for allegedly causing his infant son’s skull fractures. Doctors who treated the boy said Foxworth’s explanation for the injuries was implausible, but Lloyd testified the injuries could’ve been sustained as a result of a short fall to a tile floor as Foxworth said.
Jurors convicted Foxworth of the less severe charge of child abuse, which reduced the maximum prison sentence by 25 years. The deputy who arrested Lloyd said law enforcement was of the opinion that Lloyd had cheated the child out of justice.
Prosecutors believe Lloyd misrepresented himself as a professor of medicine when in fact, Lloyd, who holds a Ph.D. but is not a physician, was never employed as such. Lloyd also is accused of several other misrepresentations.
Overstreet also continued Lloyd’s trial, which had been scheduled to begin next week, over strong objections from prosecutors who have already made arrangements including booking 13 hotel rooms and three flights for witnesses.
Since his arrest, Lloyd has continued to testify as an expert in other trials in Florida and at least one in Texas. He was charged in July with perjury in St. Lucie County as well, which prompted Teeple to ask Overstreet to revoke Lloyd’s bond and lock him up.
Overstreet didn’t go so far as to throw Lloyd in jail, but he did modify the conditions of his bond. Lloyd is not allowed to testify as an expert in any case anywhere until Overstreet says otherwise.
Lloyd’s next court date was scheduled for September.