ORLANDO, Fla. — Attorneys for suspended Orlando Commissioner Regina Hill have asked a judge to bar a key witness from testifying against her, saying she has exhibited a pattern of dishonest behavior as the attorneys gear up for trial.
Sandra Lewis, a notary whose stamp and signature appear on a mortgage application Hill filed several years ago, gave evasive, contradictory, and sometimes false answers to questions Hill’s attorneys threw her way, they claimed.
The filing said Lewis feigned a lack of memory when answering basic background questions and tried to obscure the work she did for Shan Rose, a political opponent of Hill’s, and Andrew Bain, who served as state attorney when Hill was arrested and charged.
The document also stated Lewis was paid for political activities through her beauty school, which she failed to answer questions about.
“The notion that the State would proceed with this witness is disturbing,” attorneys wrote. “She had two opportunities to provide truthful sworn testimony with an intervening period to consult with the State and a lawyer. Yet, she consistently engaged in deception and obstruction.”
Lewis’s, testimony would help prosecutors prove their accusations that Hill committed mortgage fraud when she applied for a loan in the name of a 96-year-old constituent without the woman’s consent.
WFTV interviewed Lewis shortly after the accusations against Hill became public last year. She admitted her stamp was on the document but pointed to several inconsistencies with the application and suggested the document had been altered.
Lewis did not immediately return a request for comment Saturday.
Hill is facing a maximum 180 years in prison if convicted, though she’d likely be sentenced to significantly less time. She said all accusations against her are false, and she had permission to apply for the mortgage, live in one of the woman’s houses and spend the woman’s money.
Her trial is expected to take place in the fall. It’s not clear if it will happen before or after she faces Rose in her fight to regain her commission seat in November.
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