Saturday, March 21, 2009

Disbarred St. Petersburg attorney skips out on his own trial

LARGO — Martin “Kirby” Watson was in deep trouble to begin with. The disbarred attorney faces prison if convicted of bilking clients out of $500,000.

But this morning, authorities say, he made a mistake that no one who went to law school should ever make:

He skipped out on his own criminal trial.

Instead of picking a jury, Pinellas-Pasco Circuit Judge Christine Hellinger revoked Martin’s $70,000 bond and issued a warrant for his arrest.

Attorney Charles Gerdes represents one of the families reportedly victimized. Will his clients ever get their money back now that the defendant has disappeared?

Russian Properties News