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Former Homestead Mayor Bateman Found Guilty In Corruption Trial

MIAMI (CBSMiami) - A jury found former Homestead Mayor Steve Bateman guilty of two felony counts of illegal compensation and one misdemeanor count of illegal lobbying.

"I think they got it wrong," said Bateman following the verdict.

The charges came after a CBS4 News Investigation by Jim Defede showed Bateman was on the payroll of Community Health of South Florida but did not disclose it.

CLICK HERE To Watch Maggie Newland's Report

Prosecutors said his $125 an hour job conflicted with his role as mayor of Homestead and that he used his power as mayor to try to get a pump station built that would benefit the health care company without revealing his consultant job.

"He is entitled to have a job of course, but not if it conflicts with his job as the mayor and that's what he did. He sold his office," said prosecutor Isis Perez during closing arguments Monday.

Defense Ben Kuehne said his client acted appropriately and the pump station benefited a number of businesses.

Kuehne said there was no evidence that Bateman acted corruptly and he worked to keep his two roles separate.

It took the jury less than three hours to convict Bateman.

"We presented it to the jury. The jury has spoken and they made it very clear they are not in favor of public corruption this needs to stop," said Perez.

The case isn't over yet, though.  The judge hasn't pronounced Bateman guilty at this point  because there are still legal motions he plans to rule on.

"Judge Luck decided to withold ruling on the question 'Is there enough evidence to be evaluated legally by the jury?' He let the jury make the factual determination what do they think the evidence means and he now has to decide if legally the evidence is adequate to support the charges," explained Kuehne.

There will be another hearing October 7th.

"I still feel the same way as innocent as day one. I just don't think the jurors understood this very complex case. I think we will have a second day in court," said Bateman.

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