Aguilar Cleared on 1 Count; Jury Hung on Others

A federal jury Monday acquitted U.S. District Judge Robert P. Aguilar of one of eight corruption counts and announced it was deadlocked on the remaining seven.

Federal prosecutors, stung by the defeat, vowed to refile the seven charges against Aguilar.

Jurors said they leaned heavily toward acquitting Aguilar on all but one of the counts. But the jurors said a few holdouts among them prevented the majority from finding the 58-year-old judge not guilty on the remaining counts.

Visiting U.S. District Judge Louis Bechtle of Philadelphia declared a mistrial on the deadlocked charges and set June 4 as the date for the start of the new trial.

Monday’s verdict was announced after the jury had deliberated for seven days following a month of testimony.

After the jury’s decision was read, defense attorneys Patrick Hallinan and Doron Weinberg hugged juror Joan McErlean.

Jury foreman Carl D’Amico said of Aguilar, “At the extreme, some of the things he did could be looked at as bad judgment. But there is a big difference between bad judgment and a criminal act.”

D’Amico declared that he believes Aguilar is a “great man.” Appalled that prosecutors plan to pursue the seven charges against Aguilar, the Bank of America vice president said, “I wish the government would go away and find something else to do.”

Aguilar, a San Jose resident, was the first federal judge ever indicted under federal racketeering laws, and was the first California-based federal judge to face criminal charges of any sort.

He was acquitted of trying to influence fellow U.S. District Judge Samuel Conti at a time when Conti was hearing a case involving Aguilar’s longtime friend Ronald V. Cloud. Cloud was convicted of bank fraud in 1986.

The jury deadlocked on the racketeering count against Aguilar, but leaned toward acquittal, jurors said.

Jurors also deadlocked on a count involving Aguilar and two co-defendants, former Teamster leader Rudy Tham and Abe Chapman, a distant relative of Aguilar’s and a self-described mob assassin of the 1930s nicknamed “The Trigger.” The three of them had been charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice in connection with a case involving Tham.

Jurors said they leaned 7 to 5 toward convicting Aguilar on only one count--that he leaked to Chapman the news that Chapman might be under wiretap surveillance by the federal government.