Conviction of Fiedler Called Very Difficult : Hard to Convict Fiedler, Top Prosecutor Says

A top Los Angeles County prosecutor predicted today that it will be very difficult to convict Rep. Bobbi Fiedler, who was indicted last month for allegedly offering a $100,000 campaign contribution to state Sen. Ed Davis to lure him out of the Republican U.S. Senate primary.

Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Gilbert I. Garcetti told a reporter that politicians tend to make believable witnesses at trial and that juries tend to require a “higher burden of proof than the law requires before they will return a verdict of guilt.”

Although transcripts of the Los Angeles County Grand Jury hearing released Wednesday show that the D.A.’s office actually recommended against the indictment of Fiedler (it did recommend the indictment of her chief aide, Paul Clarke), Garcetti said the prosecution will nonetheless forge ahead.

Innocence Not Established

“If the evidence established her innocence, we could not and would not go forward,” he explained. “That is not our conclusion.”

Garcetti defended the grand jury, saying its members acted fairly and did not reach their conclusions hastily.

Asked whether their action regarding Fiedler was a case of amateurs disregarding professionals’ advice, Garcetti responded: “It is always difficult to convict an elected politician. . . . It is always difficult. I’ve been doing this for a number of years, and jurors have a tough time convicting an elected politician because they usually make a pretty good case for themselves on the witness stand. This is not the coldblooded killer, the person who looks like a crook. This looks like an average citizen and it’s a lot harder. They almost require a higher burden of proof. . . . “

Fiedler and Clarke are due to be arraigned and enter pleas Friday on the single-count indictment stemming from a state election statute that makes it a felony to pay or offer money to a candidate to persuade him to drop out of a political race.

High-Publicity Campaign

The two defendants have launched a high-publicity campaign in recent days to rebut the charges, including frequent TV appearances and an extraordinary press conference and tape playing session Wednesday in which Fiedler aides made public a series of once-secret tapes recorded by Davis’ campaign manager at the district attorney’s request.

The tapes, released to the defense as evidence Monday, appear to include no passages in which Fiedler ever offered any money in exchange for Davis’ leaving the race.