CLEARWATER — A judge on Friday refused to exclude a videotaped confession from the disciplinary trial of three Tampa lawyers accused of orchestrating the DUI arrest of a rival lawyer. 

The development was one of several defeats for defense lawyers, who sought to have both the video and the testimony of its maker banned from the trial.  Instead, the judge ruled that if the Florida Bar chooses to use the video, which has not been made public, he will hold a hearing to determine its admissibility. 

He also decided to allow the testimony of Kristopher Personius, who is expected to say that in January of 2013 he recorded his ex-wife Melissa Personius.  He has said that in the video, she confessed to working with her bosses at the Adams & Diaco law firm to arrange the DUI arrest of lawyer C. Philip Campbell. 

At the time, Personius' firm and Campbell were on opposing sides of a bitter defamation lawsuit between warring radio shock jocks Todd Schnitt and Bubba the Love Sponge Clem. 

Kristopher Personius "can testify … to anything he saw or heard," Pinellas-Pasco Senior Judge W. Douglas Baird said. " There's no restriction on that." 

Baird's ruling was an indication of the unusually permissive rules that govern the lawyers' disciplinary trial, which begins Monday and is expected to last more than a week.  Unlike criminal or civil proceedings, Florida Bar trials can include hearsay testimony in which witnesses relay information that someone else told them.  The case turns on the decision of a judge, called a "referee," rather than a traditional jury. 

Accused by the Bar of misconduct, unfairness to opposing counsel and disrupting court, the three lawyers face possible sanctions ranging from an admonishment to suspension to disbarment. 

Pointing to a Florida statute that makes it a crime to record a conversation without the other person's consent, Greg Kehoe, a defense attorney for the Adams & Diaco lawyers, argued that the video was made illegally and should not be considered as evidence. 

He went on to say that by sharing the video with one of its investigators, the Florida Bar's attorney on the case had committed a third-degree felony.  He asked the judge to dismiss the case entirely. 

"Nothing can un-ring this bell absent a dismissal of Mr. Personius, a dismissal of the tape, a dismissal of (Florida Bar attorney) Ms. Thompson, and a dismissal of this action," he said. 

Baird rejected this argument as well. 

"I don't feel that the Bar under the circumstances has done anything improper whatsoever," the judge said. 

Florida Bar attorney Jodi Thompson said the existence of the video was not a secret she kept from the defense.  Rather, she said Stephen Diaco has known about the video for almost two years.  In 2013, when the FBI began its investigation into a DUI setup, it approached Kristopher Personius for an interview.  Thompson said Diaco personally paid $2,500 for Kristopher Personius's lawyer. 

Kehoe responded that the Bar "has absolutely no proof" that his clients were aware of the video. 

More seats had to be added to the defense table Friday, as two more lawyers joined the Adams & Diaco team.  In addition to Greenberg Traurig attorneys Kehoe and Danielle Kemp, Robert Adams is now being represented by William Jung and Adam Filthaut by Mark O'Brien. 

According to the Bar's narrative, which is contested by the Adams & Diaco lawyers, the events that led to Campbell's arrest and the ensuing allegations of a DUI set-up began on an otherwise typical day after work. 

While seated at a bar in downtown Tampa, Campbell met Melissa Personius, an Adams & Diaco paralegal.  Witnesses said she flirted with him and lied to him about where she worked, telling him she was employed at another Tampa law firm.  Phone records would later show that over the next few hours, she texted and called her bosses multiple times.  They, in turn, texted and called each other. 

A few hours later, Campbell was driving Personius home when he was pulled over by Tampa police Sgt.  Ray Fernandez — a close family friend of Adams & Diaco attorney Filthaut.  Records showed that Filthaut and Fernandez had exchanged multiple calls and emails that evening, too. 

The lawyers dispute this version of events and have repeatedly said that they did not conspire to have Campbell arrested. 

Contact Anna M. Phillips at aphillips@tampabay.com or (813) 226-3354.  Follow her @annamphillips.