Hedgecock’s 3 Co-Defendants Obtain a Delay

A judge Tuesday agreed to delay a preliminary hearing for Mayor Roger Hedgecock’s three co-defendants in a campaign finance conspiracy case until next year while the mayor’s conviction is contested.

Presiding Municipal Judge Frederic L. Link continued Tuesday’s scheduled preliminary hearing for J. David (Jerry) Dominelli, Nancy Hoover and Tom Shepard until Feb. 3.

“We have met twice in chambers, and until the Hedgecock affair has some type of certainity, this case should be put over,” Link said.

The three defendants were indicted in September, 1984, on charges that they used Shepard’s political consulting firm to funnel more than $350,000 in illegal contributions into Hedgecock’s 1983 campaign.

Dominelli has pleaded guilty in federal court to fraud and income tax evasion charges involving the collapse of his investment firm, J. David & Co. He was sentenced in June to 20 years in federal prison. A federal grand jury is still investigating J. David & Co., as well as several people once connected to the firm.

Prosecutors allege that the $350,000, which came from the investment firm, was laundered for the Hedgecock war chest in the form of investments by Hoover, a J. David executive, in Tom Shepard & Associates. Shepard established the political consulting firm in early 1982.

Hedgecock was convicted Oct. 9 of one felony count of conspiracy and 12 perjury counts, but his lawyers are trying to force a new trial or dismissal of the charges, contending that a court bailiff tampered with the jury during its deliberations.

Hedgecock’s request to remove the judge from the hearing on the motion for a new trial is before the state Supreme Court.

Hedgecock was tried separately because he waived his right to a preliminary hearing.