Former Miami-Dade Judge Phillip Davis once won acquittal with a teary courtroom outburst and the Hollywood line, ``I could have been somebody!''

It would not work again.

A new set of jurors ignored Davis' tears on the stand, convicting him Wednesday of looting public grant money intended to help inner-city Miami residents. The verdict came 16 years after another jury cleared him in a notorious judicial bribery case.

``He said he could have `been somebody,' and he got a second chance,'' said lead investigator Tony Ferris, of the Miami-Dade Inspector General's Office. ``He could have been a hero to the youth of the community, and instead he chose greed.''

After the verdict was read, Davis calmly shed his suit jacket, handed his jewelry to his wife and was handcuffed, bound for jail.

Jurors deliberated for five hours over two days, after hearing Davis testify with the aid of a PowerPoint presentation. He repeatedly invoked his passion for ``empowering'' poor people, and at one point, teared up and asked to go home. ``We felt bad for him . . . but the decision wasn't made on feelings; it was made on the evidence,'' said jury foreman Caleb Lopez, a principal at Pine Lake Elementary. ``We all had a sleepless night last night.''

Davis and administrative assistant Joan Headley each were convicted of nine fraud and money-laundering charges, all felonies. They face from four to 30-plus years in prison. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Beatrice Butchko set sentencing for Jan. 8.

EARLIER CASE

Once a circuit judge in the same courthouse, Davis was arrested in 1991 in an FBI sting known as Operation Court Broom. Agents recorded Davis arranging a $20,000 payoff from a lawyer.

At trial in 1993, Davis admitted snorting cocaine in his chambers and tearfully blamed the bribes on his addiction. Jurors acquitted him.

Davis was disbarred but rebounded in the late '90s by helping establish Miami-Dade Resident College, a grant-funded program intended to teach impoverished inner-city residents job and life skills.

In closing arguments Tuesday, Broward County prosecutor Al Guttmann said Davis and Headley inflated salaries and submitted fake bills to steal more than $80,000, some of which was illegally used to start a for-profit ``pretrial intervention'' program for young criminal defendants.

``From the beginning to the end, it was one fakery after another,'' said Guttmann, who -- along with co-counsel Don TenBrook -- was specially assigned to the case because Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernández Rundle had supported Davis' pretrial program.

`SHAM CORPORATION'

To hide the fraud, the stolen money was funneled through a ``sham corporation'' created by Davis to hire and pay workers for the program, Guttmann said.

Defense attorneys Robert Barrar and Sara Shulevitz contended that the employees' invoices -- while not reflecting true billable hours -- covered legitimate expenses under a billing procedure approved by the county.

After the verdict, Barrar said that Davis ``was extremely disappointed. He expected to be found not guilty because he is not guilty. We plan to appeal and continue to fight.''

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