Former Monroe County Attorney Jim Hendrick will not be acquitted of several felony charges, even after the fact.

Hendrick is serving a fives year probation after being found guilty in February 2007 of federal charges of obstructing justice, conspiracy and witness tampering.

On March 18, U.S. District Court Judge Shelby Highsmith denied Hendrick's motion for acquittal in the four-year-old case.

Hendrick attorney Edward Shohat filed the motion for acquittal last April, just weeks before he was sentenced for advising former County Commissioner Jack London about how to evade grand-jury questions during a bribery probe.

The verdict stemmed from an investigation that dated back to the 1990s linking Hendrick to London. London pleaded guilty to filing a false income tax statement after the investigation uncovered incidents in which he accepted a $29,000 bribe to expedite a hotel development in Marathon. Hendrick was convicted of facilitating the payment.

The motion for acquittal was the last outstanding in the complex trial.

In the motion, Shohat argued, among other things, that the government had not proven Hendrick “corruptly endeavored to obstruct” a grand-jury proceeding.

But U.S. Attorney Alexander Acosta argued the evidence left no doubt Hendrick tampered with federal witnesses in the bribery case.

Though Hendrick was disappointed with the ruling, he says he's ready to move to the next step.

“This will enable us to go forward with out appeal,” Hendrick said of the decision Tuesday.

Hendrick had also asked for a new trial. That motion was denied in July.

Under terms of his probation, Hendrick has to pay $50,000 in fines and perform 2,500 hours of community service. He's fulfilling part of that aspect of his sentence by consulting for Florida Keys Community College.

Hendrick is also required, under his sentence, to be employed full-time during the five years. He's bringing his land-use expertise to his new consulting firm, Critical Concern Corp.

According to terms of his sentence, Hendrick cannot “own, operate, act as a consultant, be employed in. or participate in any manner, in any business related to government contracting, or lobbying, on behalf of himself of others, before any government body during the period of supervision.”

London was expected to testify against Hendrick, at one time one of his closest friends, but died before Hendrick's trial.