Suspended Schools Superintendent Randy Acevedo on Wednesday asked for a new trial on his three official misconduct convictions.

Circuit Judge Mark Jones will decide whether to grant the request, but has not scheduled a hearing date.

Defense attorney Catherine Vogel filed the motion, citing multiple grounds under Rule 3.600. Most boil down to the argument that Acevedo was not aware of his wife's alleged theft of school district money and that the state failed to prove its case.

Vogel also cited an assertion that Acevedo was not legally bound by law to report a felony if he was aware of it, contrary to what Assistant State Attorney Mark Wilson told jurors in his closing statement.

"[Wilson] stated in his final closing argument, 'If [Acevedo] had reported this to the police sooner, we would not be here,' " Vogel wrote. "Such a reporting of a felony is not required by Florida statutes [for] official misconduct."

Other issues Vogel cites in her motion include:

• The state did not prove that Acevedo's wife, Monique, committed the crime of felony grand theft before convicting him of trying to obstruct, delay or prevent the knowledge of it from surfacing;

• The state presented no evidence that Acevedo knew the letter purportedly from the Monroe Association of ReMARCable Citizens was faked;

• The state presented no evidence that Acevedo obstructed or otherwise affected Finance Director Kathy Reitzel's investigation into his wife's alleged theft of school funds by giving Reitzel the faked letter;

• Acevedo did not affect the investigation by agreeing to meet with Reitzel to discuss her allegations against his wife on Feb. 17, three days after Reitzel confronted him about it; and

• Acevedo did not commit a crime when he signed a document saying he did not suspect and no one had alleged fraud in the 2007-08 school audit, based on testimony from an auditor with the Florida Auditor General's Office who said "as far as they were concerned," an addendum that auditors told Reitzel to write saying she suspected fraud but was signing the document at their urging, was "from both [Acevedo] and Reitzel."

State Attorney Dennis Ward said he wasn't surprised by the motion.

"This is standard procedure," he said. "Attorneys feel their client's right to a fair trail was prejudiced."

Vogel later told The Citizen she believes media reports about the unfolding scandal affected the outcome, and she worried that Acevedo's children face a tough future, should their parents go to jail.

Ward said he'll ask the judge to sentence Acevedo to three or four years in prison. Acevedo faces a maximum of 15 years and Monique Acevedo faces a maximum of 80 years, if convicted.

"He's got kids," Vogel said, referring to Miranda, a sophomore, and Cole, a senior, both at Key West High School, and Wade, 20, who has moved to Orlando. "I can't imagine if Randy and Monique are sentenced to prison -- the children aren't going to have parents; it's absolutely disastrous."

Randy Acevedo's parents and three brothers live in Key West and Monique Acevedo's parents -- her father is a reverend -- live in North Carolina.

Randy Acevedo will be sentenced on Sept. 17, if the judge does not grant him a new trial. His wife's trial is scheduled to begin on Oct. 26, if she does not strike a plea agreement with prosecutors before then.

jguerra@keysnews.com