No Verdict Yet in Hedgecock Conspiracy Retrial

Jury deliberations continued without a verdict late Sunday night in the conspiracy and perjury retrial of San Diego Mayor Roger Hedgecock.

The jurors Saturday had asked to re-read the transcript of an interview between Hedgecock and a political practices investigator. The March, 1984, interview was between Hedgecock and an official of the state Fair Political Practices Commission. The jurors also asked for and received a list of all the exhibits introduced during the trial.

The prosecution has argued that the transcript shows that Hedgecock repeatedly lied to the FPPC about the financing of his 1983 mayoral campaign. But the defense has said it shows the mayor was willing to cooperate with the investigator.

Because Hedgecock did not take the witness stand, and because his lawyer presented no witnesses for the defense, the transcript is said to include Hedgecock’s only account of his actions available to the jury.

Hedgecock is charged with participating in a scheme in which Nancy Hoover and J. David (Jerry) Dominelli, the principals in the now-bankrupt investment firm of J. David & Co., funneled tens of thousands of dollars in allegedly illegal contributions to Hedgecock’s 1983 race through a political consulting firm owned by Tom Shepherd, a friend of the mayor.