Attorneys Press to Reach Hedgecock Case Settlement

Negotiations to settle Mayor Roger Hedgecock’s felony conspiracy and perjury case resumed Friday, and enough progress was made that attorneys agreed to ask for a delay in a court hearing set for Monday so they can continue talking about a possible plea bargain.

Friday’s talks were a marked contrast to developments just 18 hours earlier when both prosecutors and Hedgecock’s defense attorney walked out of closed-door negotiations in Superior Court. Saying talks had broken off without an agreement, both sides predicted Hedgecock would face a second trial.

Several sources knowledgeable about the negotiations say the out-of-court settlement of Hedgecock’s legal problems could include dropping 14 of the 15 felony counts in exchange for Hedgecock’s resignation. The plea bargain also would involve the settlement of a $1.2-million civil lawsuit filed against the mayor and several supporters by the state Fair Political Practices Commission for a substantially smaller fine than the suit seeks.

Early Friday afternoon, Dist. Atty. Edwin L. Miller and Assistant Dist. Atty. Richard D. Huffman met for 90 minutes with Michael Pancer, Hedgecock’s defense attorney, in Pancer’s office on the 11th floor of the Home Federal Building. The attorneys met with J. Michael McDade, Hedgecock’s chief of staff, and decided to buy more time for plea-bargain negotiations next week by asking Superior Court Judge Barbara Gamer to delay a court hearing scheduled for Monday.

Pancer, who has asked to be removed from the case, had predicted Thursday that Hedgecock would name a new defense attorney at the Monday hearing. Sources close to the case said the new choice could be Oscar B. Goodman, a well-known Las Vegas attorney who represented U.S. District Judge Harry Claiborne, the first sitting federal judge to be convicted of a crime.

Because of the impending change, the Monday hearing was perceived as a sort of deadline for plea-bargain negotiations and discussions took on an added air of urgency.

Friday, however, Pancer said he wants the Monday deadline pushed back a week so he can continue to confer with Miller and Huffman. Pancer said Goodman will not be included in any negotiations.

”. . . I’m still Roger’s attorney,” Pancer said after the meeting in his office. Asked why he will request the delay on Monday, Pancer said, “We’re still talking.”

Miller did not return telephone calls to his office, and Huffman declined to discuss the meeting or how it came about.

“I don’t have any comment today,” he said. “I don’t have any agreement today. There’s really nothing to discuss today.”

The meeting Friday was an informal one between the attorneys, in contrast to their appearances at five court-mandated “readiness conferences” convened by Superior Court Judge Ross G. Tharp. Such conferences are routine in felony cases to see if a plea bargain can be struck.

Tharp, who left San Diego on Friday for a vacation in Mexico, convened conferences on Wednesday and Thursday, the latter a complicated affair that lasted four hours and involved 13 attorneys and business leaders. The array of people was called in by Tharp to help hammer out settlements in Hedgecock’s criminal case and a $1.2-million civil lawsuit filed against the mayor and several supporters by the FPPC. FPPC Chairman Dan Stanford flew down from Sacramento to attend Thursday’s conference.

Based on the accounts of several sources familiar with the negotiations, here are the elements of the plea bargain being discussed:

- The mayor’s resignation.

- An agreement that 14 felony perjury charges facing the mayor be dropped.

- A “trial on the transcript” for the single felony conspiracy count against the mayor. This technique would allow Hedgecock to submit a transcript of his first trial, which ended in a hung jury on Feb. 13, to a judge who would determine whether the mayor is guilty or innocent. The procedure would avoid lengthy hearings and attorneys fees for Hedgecock, and could mean he would not have to enter a plea in the case.

- A possible stipulated settlement with the FPPC in which the agency would set an official fine of as much as $200,000 but later collect a reduced fine of substantially less, perhaps less than $50,000. Negotiators are arguing over the amount of money. The FPPC has sued Hedgecock for about $900,000 for what it alleges is his part in more than 450 violations of local campaign contribution ordinances.

At least one sticking point in the criminal negotiations, sources have told The Times, is the sentencing on the conspiracy count. It is believed that Hedgecock’s camp wants to make sure that any felony conspiracy conviction be reduced to a misdemeanor by the sentencing judge, a move that would mean any criminal finding would have no impact on the civil case.

John R. Wertz, one of Hedgecock’s attorneys in the civil matter, said Friday he has held no further discussions with Stanford about the FPPC suit since the four hours they spent Thursday evening in Tharp’s court.

“There’s no progress in the civil matter,” Wertz said. “Whatever progress was made was yesterday, and we made substantial progress.

“We have no agreement, and we may talk next week,” said Wertz, adding that “there is some distance to cover.”

Stanford said Friday he was making telephone calls to other FPPC commissioners to tell them about Thursday’s session in Tharp’s court. Stanford said the calls were not a formal vote of the commission and that he had no plans to call a special meeting to consider a possible settlement of the lawsuit.

Staff writers Daniel M. Weintraub and Lanie Jones contributed to this report.