FHP Murder Suspect Pleads Not Guilty
By CHRIS BUTLER

SEBRING — The Sebring man law enforcement officers said shot and killed Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Nick Sottile outside Lake Placid last month has entered a written plea of not guilty.

Assistant State Attorney Steve Houchin said public defenders for 19-year-old Joshua Lee Altersberger entered the plea in advance of a scheduled Feb. 28 arraignment. The arraignment is where Altersberger is expected to formally enter his plea in court.

Houchin said the arraignment may not take place now that Altersberger has entered a written plea.

“Whether Altersberger shows up in court really doesn’t matter. It’s just a formality,” he said.

But Houchin said a status conference involving Altersberger may be postponed because of a dispute involving 10th Judicial Circuit state attorneys and Judge Susan Roberts.

Roberts is currently the only circuit judge hearing first-degree murder cases coming out of Highlands and its surrounding counties.

State attorneys want someone other than Roberts to preside over Altersberger’s upcoming trial, which they’ve previously said might be as far as two years away.

Tenth Judicial District spokesman Chip Thulberry said from Bartow Friday that status conferences are held after arraignments to best determine how trial cases are proceeding and a possible trial date.

State attorneys let it be known in paperwork filed last week that they want Roberts removed from first-degree murder cases falling within
her jurisdiction.

They said in the documents that Roberts has conducted her court in an “inexcusable” manner. State attorneys also said she’s shown insensitivity to families of murder victims and stated her opposition to the death penalty in at least one instance.

Roberts denied state attorneys’ recent motion that she disqualify herself from those cases, however. State attorneys subsequently appealed Roberts’ decision with the Second District Court of Appeals.

Thulberry said it’s unlikely the appeals court will issue a ruling between now and Wednesday.

Calls left seeking comment with 10th Judicial Circuit Public Defenders’ Office Spokesman Marion Moorman weren’t returned before press time Friday. 

The first grand jury to assemble in Highlands County in two years formally indicted Altersberger earlier this month. 

State attorneys have already said they intend to seek the death penalty against the suspect.

FHP said Sgt. Sottile was shot and killed after stopping a 2003 Toyota Camry driven by Altersberger on northbound U.S. 27 last month for a traffic violation. According to an FHP report, Altersberger’s passenger, Quintin Jerome Kinder, 21, then fled into a nearby orange grove after the shooting.

Officers found and arrested Altersberger early the next morning.

According to the Highlands County Sheriff’s Office, Altersberger was arrested two years ago and charged with battery, aggravated assault with a weapon and cocaine possession.

Kinder was charged with trespassing in a cultivated grove after surrendering the next morning. The two suspects have been ordered held without bond and are currently being held separately from each other and other inmates in the Highlands County Jail.

Altersberger is charged with first-degree murder in the death of FHP Sgt. Nicholas Sottile and possession of a firearm after previously being convicted of a juvenile offense.

Anyone convicted of a criminal offense while a juvenile isn’t legally allowed to own a firearm until they are 24 years old.

Houchin has already said Altersberger’s arraignment will most likely be followed by a lengthy discovery process in which defense attorneys will ask for witness lists and lab reports from state attorneys.