San Diego

Saying that continuing to serve as Mayor Roger Hedgecock’s criminal attorney would cause him “severe economic hardship,” Michael Pancer on Friday filed court documents asking to be removed from the mayor’s felony conspiracy and perjury case. In a motion filed in Superior Court, Pancer said that he could not “render adequate representation” to Hedgecock in his forthcoming retrial because of his work on other cases and the mayor’s present limited ability to pay for legal representation. Pancer, who asked for a March 25 court hearing on his request, represented Hedgecock in a seven-week trial that ended in a mistrial last month with the jury deadlocked 11-1 in favor of conviction. Hedgecock still owes him “considerable funds” for expenses in the first case, Pancer said. The mayor’s retrial has been scheduled to start May 8, but prosecutors say they doubt that the case will begin until this fall because any new attorney hired by Hedgecock would need months to prepare for the case.