CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SAN FRANCISCO : Prosecution Rests in Aguilar Retrial

Prosecutors in the corruption retrial of federal Judge Robert P. Aguilar concluded their case with the testimony of Aguilar’s colleague, Robert F. Peckham, former chief judge for the Northern California federal court district, and two FBI agents. Peckham and the agents who followed as defense witnesses testified that in the summer of 1987, the FBI agents saw Aguilar, 59, lunching with Abe Chapman, 84, a self-described mob hit man in the 1930s who also had several drug convictions. The agents said the FBI did not know that Chapman was a former relative of Aguilar’s by marriage. Aguilar’s lawyer, Paul Meltzer, was repeatedly stopped from asking questions about whether the FBI investigation and subsequent government prosecution of Aguilar were retaliation for the judge’s liberal views. Meltzer contends that Aguilar, appointed by former President Jimmy Carter, is being persecuted for his decisions “favoring women, gays, Hispanics and working people.”