A judge has dismissed an argument by developer Jay Odom that he has a First Amendment right to seek help from elected officials -- in this case, former House Speaker Ray Sansom -- and therefore the state's grand theft charges should not apply to him.

Odom has been charged along with Sansom and former college president Bob Richburg for their role in a $6 million taxpayer-funded airport building that Odom wanted to use to store private aircraft.

During a hearing yesterday, Judge Terry Lewis set the trial to begin March 21. Sansom had wanted to delay the trial until June or July, citing his new job at a charter school for troubled kids. But Lewis said spring break would be a good time.