Prosecutor Accuses Defense of ‘Panic’ : Records Will Discredit Witness, Mayor’s Lawyer Says

Harvey Schuster, the surprise upcoming prosecution witness in the perjury and conspiracy trial of Mayor Roger Hedgecock, will be discredited based on his personal business, banking, travel and entertainment records, Hedgecock’s attorney predicted Saturday.

“Those records will help us establish why Mr. Schuster is a liar,” said defense attorney Michael Pancer. “It won’t be hard to impeach him.”

But Assistant Dist. Atty. Richard Huffman discounted Pancer’s claim, and accused him of posturing.

“I’m shocked to see another lawyer blowing his brains out in the newspaper about what he thinks he’s going to prove in court. When a lawyer starts flapping around in the newspaper, I think he’s in a panic,” Huffman said.

On Friday, Superior Court Judge William Todd granted Pancer permission to subpoena some of the records of real estate investor Schuster, although Todd rejected Pancer’s request to subpoena material dating back over five years.

“I think I have sufficient records for our purpose,” Pancer said of subpoena limitation.

Unsuccessful Mistrial Move

Earlier last week, Pancer unsuccessfully moved for a mistrial after the district attorney’s office announced it would call Schuster as a prosecution witness.

Pancer argued that the late introduction of a prosecution witness in the trial, now in its fourth week, would “completely undermine” the mayor’s defense because Schuster might testify that Hedgecock knew of the alleged role of former financier J. David (Jerry) Dominelli in bankrolling the political consulting firm that ran Hedgecock’s 1983 campaign for mayor.

Hedgecock has said he was unaware that Dominelli helped finance the political consulting firm owned by Hedgecock friend Tom Shepard, while the prosecution charges that the mayor knew of the financial ties between Shepard and Dominelli.

Pancer now says that based on an investigation into Schuster’s likely testimony, and given the nature of the subpoenaed records, Schuster will actually serve to benefit Hedgecock’s defense.

“He (Schuster) will be proven to be a liar, and it is a sign of the D.A.’s desperation that he has sunk to use this man” as a witness, Pancer said.

Huffman said Pancer’s effort to subpoena records dating back five years was “harassment and an absolute absurdity.”

“We have interviewed Mr. Schuster and looked at some of the material--but not all of the junk the defense counsel thinks he needs--and I have no reason to believe Mr. Schuster is not an honest, truthful person. There is no merit in anything Mr. Pancer has said. There’s an old adage among hunters, that a hit duck flutters.”

Huffman said the subpoenaed material will be turned over to Pancer on Monday, and that Schuster will be called as a witness Tuesday.