Carpenter a Victim of ‘Little Lies,’ Defense Contends

Former Sen. Paul Carpenter is the victim of unfair prosecution by government lawyers who induced a key witness to tell “little lies,” Carpenter’s attorney charged Wednesday.

Defense attorney Gerard Hinckley conceded Carpenter was “rude,” “arrogant” and dished out “abuse” to a lobbyist, but said he never sought to extort money from an undercover FBI agent or anyone else.

Hinckley’s comments came as both the defense and prosecution delivered their closing arguments in the monthlong political corruption trial of the Norwalk Democrat.

Assistant U.S. Atty. John Panneton angrily denied that federal prosecutors or the FBI ever suggested to government informant John Shahabian or any other witness that they lie on the stand.

Instead, Panneton said, testimony in the case has clearly demonstrated that Carpenter was an “influence-peddler” who used his elected position to extract money for his own personal gain from lobbyists and citizens seeking legislative action.

“Legislation should have no price tag,” Panneton said. “Our state Legislature can’t be turned into a country club where a price of admission must be paid.”

Carpenter, running for a second term on the State Board of Equalization, is charged with four counts of racketeering, extortion and conspiracy as a result of an FBI sting investigation of corruption in the Capitol. The jury is scheduled to begin its deliberations in the case today.

Carpenter is accused of extorting $20,000 in 1986 from an undercover FBI agent who was posing as an Alabama businessman seeking legislation that would give his shrimp importing company a $1-million tax break. He also is charged with attempting to extort payments on five other occasions from Capitol lobbyists and a Southern California businessman from 1980 to 1986.

“This case is about a public official who betrayed his office in his efforts to extract campaign contributions for his personal gain,” Panneton told the jury. “What right does this man have to tell anybody who to give money to?”

Panneton urged the jurors not to be fooled by subtle language Carpenter used in discussing the payments during tape-recorded conversations with the undercover agent.

“The world of bribery in the California state Legislature is clandestine,” he said. “It’s secret. It’s a wink and a nod. Whether it’s a wink and a nod or it’s blatant, it’s still bribery.”

A critical part of the government’s case is the role of Shahabian, then an aide to Carpenter, who negotiated the $20,000 payment to the senator.

After he was confronted with the evidence against him, Shahabian agreed to cooperate with prosecutors and testify against Carpenter. He remains an unindicted co-conspirator in the case.

Panneton described the pair as “two partners in crime.” He said Shahabian “couldn’t have pulled this off alone. He had a boss who didn’t reject the plan. He had a boss who embraced the plan.”

Later, he noted, Carpenter paid Shahabian a $7,500 commission for bringing in the contribution. The payment, he said, was “nothing more than a kickback for a bribe.”

But Hinckley, in his closing arguments, charged that Shahabian acted alone in arranging for the $20,000 payment and then, once he was caught, blamed Carpenter to save himself.

Hinckley charged that Shahabian lied on the stand to benefit the prosecution’s case. “He’s good friends with the government,” he said.

All along, he said, Carpenter had suspected he was the target of an FBI sting and had carefully avoided taking action that would be illegal. The government had no case against Carpenter, Hinckley charged, but chose to prosecute him because the senator had laughed at the undercover agent during the investigation.

“The last thing they wanted to do was to prove innocent the guy that laughed at them,” Hinckley said. “They decided to get him any way they could.”

Hinckley acknowledged that the evidence against Carpenter illustrated the former senator’s harsh side and his aggressiveness in raising campaign funds.

But he told the jury: “He’s not on trial for being arrogant. He’s not on trial for being rude. . . . Mr. Carpenter wanted to dish out abuse (to a lobbyist). But I don’t think the law has reached a point that it’s a federal crime to yell at somebody.”