ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — The former Windermere police chief who was convicted of perjury in 2014 was back in court Tuesday.
A jury found Daniel Saylor guilty of giving a false testimony concerning a friend's child rape allegations.
A judge sentenced Saylor to eight years in prison for perjury, but he's claiming the perjury charge was a result of the way his attorney handled the case that led to the perjury charge.
Saylor said he was convicted because the attorney didn't take the perjury charge seriously. Saylor said he never wanted to take the stand and that his attorney was ineffective.
[ Read: Ex-Windermere police chief gets 8 years in prison after guilty verdict in perjury trial ]
He said had he known what he would be up against, he would have taken a plea deal for five years, which means he would already be out of jail.
When Saylor was accused of lying on the stand in his friend's rape case, he was already accused of covering up the allegations against Scott Bush.
[ Read: Scott Bush found guilty, tells victims, ‘Shame on you girls for lying' ]
Saylor told the jury that two agencies declined to prosecute Bush. He was called out as a liar in open court by the state attorney and was then charged with perjury.
He took the stand in his defense, something he said he never wanted to do.
He said it was one of many mistakes his attorney made because he thought the case would be a slam dunk.
“It was almost a joke. Mr. McCollum told me, ‘I am your attorney, correct? I said, ‘Correct.’ And he said, ‘You need to trust me.’ I said, ‘Of course I trust you, you are my attorney. He said, ‘We have this, we got this. Don't worry about this. This is an easy thing. The state never wins perjury charges,’” said Saylor.
Saylor's former attorney took the stand and disputed the claims.