Carona’s lawyers fear jury pool is tainted

Lawyers for former Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona scolded federal prosecutors Friday for deciding last week to unveil partial transcripts of a secretly recorded conversation between the former sheriff and a top aide.

In the conversation, prosecutors allege, Carona and former Assistant Sheriff Donald Haidl discussed covering a trail of cash payments and gifts that Haidl gave to him. Unknown to Carona, Haidl was secretly recording the conversation for the prosecutors.

The transcripts are a key element in the corruption case against Carona, who is charged with selling access to his office for tens of thousands of dollars in cash and gifts.

The transcripts created widespread publicity and may have tainted potential jurors, defense lawyers wrote in a filing Friday, in which they argued that the recordings should not be admitted as evidence.

“They obtained wide media play of those excerpts and ensured that a substantial portion of the jury pool will be aware of Carona’s alleged statements, even if the court ultimately suppresses them. The prosecutors could have avoided the taint, of course, by filing the excerpts under seal,” the attorneys contend.

Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office, declined to comment.

In the filing, Carona’s lawyers disclosed that there was more than one person trying to record conversations with the former sheriff -- Haidl’s sister, Peggy, was at it as well.

She wore a hidden recording device to a July event at which she and Carona’s wife, Deborah, were being honored for their service on the Orange County Fair board. Peggy Haidl did not record anything incriminating, the defense said.

The disclosure came as Carona’s attorneys pressed to exclude as evidence the recordings that Donald Haidl made during three meetings with the former sheriff. Attorneys say that because Carona was represented by a lawyer at the time, it was improper for federal prosecutors to send anyone to meet with him and secretly record their conversations.

Ethical guidelines prohibit California lawyers from contacting parties represented by lawyers, even through third persons. Carona’s lawyers say federal prosecutors broke those rules by sending Donald Haidl to meet with Carona and should be barred from presenting the recordings as evidence.

“The prosecutors did not advise Carona of his right to counsel; they secretly contrived to separate Carona from his counsel and to interrogate him, through Haidl, without his counsel present,” Carona lawyers asserted.

The defense motion portrayed prosecutors and Haidl as frustrated by efforts to get Carona to make incriminating statements during the recorded conversations. After the third meeting and while he was still being recorded, Haidl says it was “like . . . pulling teeth, all the way,” according to the defense motion.

Haidl had agreed to cooperate with prosecutors after a plea negotiation. He pleaded guilty to tax evasion charges, and prosecutors have agreed to inform the judge who sentences him of his cooperation. Another former Carona assistant, George Jaramillo, has pleaded guilty to tax evasion and fraud charges.

Defense lawyers say prosecutors crossed ethical lines further by providing Haidl with phony grand jury subpoenas to use as a ruse in questioning Carona. Arguments on the motion are set for Feb. 29.

Federal prosecutors have asserted that the recordings were proper and lawful evidence-gathering, noting that no appellate court has ever thrown out such recordings from a federal prosecution.

In October, a federal grand jury indicted Carona; his wife, Deborah; and his former mistress, Debra V. Hoffman, in a broad public conspiracy case that alleges that the sheriff sold his office for gifts and money. The former sheriff is also charged with two counts of witness-tampering for allegedly trying to influence Haidl to withhold evidence from the federal grand jury. Hoffman faces three additional counts of bankruptcy fraud. Their trial is scheduled for June 10.

Also Friday, prosecutors presented U.S. District Judge Andrew J. Guilford a list of proposed questions for prospective jurors to which both sides have agreed. They focus on the panelists’ backgrounds and what, if anything, they might know about the charges.

Attorneys will ask Guilford to resolve objections about dozens of other proposed questions. Among those are several that Carona’s lawyers want to ask concerning prospective jurors’ feelings about marital infidelity. The lawyers appear to be concerned about how jurors will react to evidence of Carona’s affair with Hoffman.

“A man who is unfaithful to his wife probably engages in other questionable behavior as well,” reads one question proposed by the defense that prosecutors want to exclude from the jury questionnaire.

“In your opinion, should Hillary Clinton have dumped Bill Clinton for his marital infidelity?” reads another.

Another proposed question, which prosecutors oppose, could address Carona’s relationship with two of his former assistant sheriffs, Haidl and Jaramillo. “Which statement do you agree with more: Birds of a feather flock together, [or] opposites attract?”

stuart.pfeifer@latimes.com

christine.hanley@latimes.com