Bar Lifts Hedgecock’s Suspension From Law Practice

The State Bar of California has authorized former San Diego Mayor Roger Hedgecock to return to law practice after a seven-year suspension resulting from the criminal case that drove him from office in 1985.

In an announcement, the Bar said the state Supreme Court had approved lifting Hedgecock’s suspension, giving him a probationary license for the next three years and requiring him to pass an examination on the rules of professional conduct.

Hedgecock was elected mayor in 1983 and resigned in 1985 after being convicted of conspiracy and 12 counts of perjury. A jury found that he had hidden more than $350,000 in illegal contributions from the J. David & Co. investment firm to his 1983 campaign.

The perjury convictions were overturned in 1990 by the state Supreme Court, which said the trial judge had failed to let the jury decide whether omissions on Hedgecock’s financial reports were significant. The high court sent the case to a judge for further review of allegations that a bailiff had tried to pressure jurors into reaching a verdict and had given them liquor.

Hedgecock negotiated an agreement with the district attorney’s office, leaving the conspiracy conviction on the books until he paid a $5,000 fine and finished a probationary period at the end of 1990. The conviction was then reduced to a misdemeanor and dismissed.

Hedgecock, a former city attorney of Del Mar and San Diego County supervisor, had his law license automatically suspended by the Bar in February, 1986. He has hosted a popular weekday talk show since 1986 on radio station KSDO, and also is a commentator on television station KUSI.