VIERA, Fla. -- A jury Friday convicted state Rep. Bob Allen of soliciting prostitution from an undercover male officer in July.

Allen faces up to 60 days in county jail and a $500 fine for the second-degree misdemeanor. The Merritt Island Republican was accused of peering over a stall in a men's public park restroom, then agreeing to pay $20 to perform oral sex on Titusville officer Danny Kavanaugh.

The jury deliberated three hours and 20 minutes. After jurors filed out, Allen reached back into the gallery to touch his wife's hand. She sat behind him Friday, as she had all week.

Defense attorney Greg Eisenmenger said he'd appeal, alleging Assistant State Attorney Pat Whitaker made unfair closing arguments about Allen's intent and reaction to the arrest. Whitaker was confident the conviction would stand.

"We're going to continue to seek justice," Allen said after the verdict. "I am innocent; I've done nothing wrong."

Eisenmenger argued in trial Allen thought he was being robbed, so he went along with whatever Kavanaugh said until he could flee. Even if he was soliciting sex, Eisenmenger told the jury, Allen was not guilty because it was the officer who first mentioned money.

The lawmaker actually co-sponsored a bill months before his arrest that would have increased public sex charges from a misdemeanor to a felony. The proposed bill addressed "unnatural and lascivious acts or exposure or exhibition of sexual organs" within 1,000 feet of a park, school or child care facility.

The trial stretched longer than expected, with jury selection requiring two days because of heavy publicity. Eisenmenger succeeded in barring two statements that received some of the broadest coverage: Allen's concern about getting robbed by a "stocky black man," who turned out to be Kavanaugh, and an apparent try to sway the arrest by saying he was a legislator.

Kavanaugh and another undercover policemen were surveilling a nearby condo for burglars when they allegedly saw Allen stare at them and enter the restroom several times. Kavanaugh got a supervisor's approval to investigate, but was not recording the exchange because he wasn't planning a prostitution sting.

Kavanaugh, fit and young, said the seven-year state house veteran peeked into the handicapped stall when he entered for a paper towel, then went inside to join the officer.

He said Allen asked to go somewhere private, then testified telling the defendant: "I'm looking to get some money. Can you hook me up with $20?"

"Sure, I can do that. But this place is too public," Allen allegedly said.

Allen's defense said he couldn't have looked into the stall and made eye contact with Kavanaugh because he wasn't tall enough to see past the 5'7" stall door. Kavanaugh is 6-foot; Allen is listed in police documents at 5-foot-11.

The jury on Thursday traveled by van to see the park bathroom - a rank place with drab concrete walls and a big, secluded handicapped stall in the rear.

Allen stopped as he and Kavanaugh left the restroom and asked if he was a police officer, then motioned to follow, Whitaker, the prosecutor said.

"If I was a cop, why would I be hanging around here?" Kavanaugh testified saying. "Well they come here too sometimes," he said Allen responded.

As they neared the car, Kavanaugh said he asked what Allen wanted him to do. According to Kavanaugh's testimony, the discourse went as follows:

"I don't know what you're into," Allen said.

Kavanaugh asked if Allen wanted oral sex.

"I was thinking you would want one," Allen said.

"But you'll still give me the $20 for that, right?" Kavanaugh said.

"I would not argue with that," Allen answered.

Allen was elected to the Florida House in 2000. He was chairman of the House Committee on Energy and a Florida co-chair for U.S. Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign. The arrest came a month after U.S. Sen. Larry Craig was arrested for soliciting sex in a men's airport bathroom in Minneapolis.