The six member jury deciding the fate of Jacksonville attorney Kelly Mathis will return to deliberations today. Mathis was the lawyer for Allied Veterans of the World.
He’s accused of helping the charity group set up and run a statewide network of internet cafes that were really illegal gambling sites.
News4Jax’s Kumasi Aaron is in Sanford, covering the trial. She says both the prosecution and the defense are optimistic about their chances.
"The defense feeling like they really got their point home with the jury and that they’re going to understand that their client was in an advisory role in this," she said. "As far as the prosecution, they’re feeling the same way. That they were able to illustrate one, that this is gambling, and that he knew it, that he helped them because he is an attorney, he knew that."
Mathis faces more than 100 counts including racketeering, conspiracy, and helping run a lottery. If convicted, he could spend dozens of years behind bars.
He is also the first of more than 50 other defendants to go on trial in the Allied Veterans of World case that led to the resignation of Florida's lieutenant governor and a ban on all Internet cafes in the state.
