Oxnard Official Charged With Conflict May Fight on Constitutional Grounds : Courts: Milton Huertas’ attorney also says counts against his client are too vague to prosecute. Worker is accused of taking builder’s money in plan check process.

An Oxnard city plan checker accused of criminal financial conflict of interest may challenge the constitutionality of the charges levied against him if he is ultimately found guilty, his attorney said Wednesday.

Attorney David P. Callahan also filed a motion Wednesday alleging that the five misdemeanor counts against Milton Huertas, 40, are too vague to prosecute.

“It does not appear to be an imposition on the district attorney, after two years of investigation, to require them to specify the acts, the state of mind and the triggering financial interest,” Callahan wrote in his motion.

Municipal Judge John E. Dobroth agreed Wednesday to postpone Huertas’ arraignment to consider the motion and scheduled a hearing for Aug. 25. Huertas is also scheduled to enter a plea then if Dobroth denies the motion, which Callahan expects.

“I’m just trying to get a little more information out of the D.A.,” he said.

Callahan said he does not expect the constitutionality of the law to be discussed any time soon. That argument, which basically says that the law is too broad, may be used during the appeals process if Huertas is convicted, Callahan said.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Mary Pease declined to comment on the unusual motion, called a demurrer. Demurrers are routinely filed in civil cases but rarely in criminal matters, and usually allege that the evidence is too weak to proceed.

Huertas is accused of taking money from a developer to check his plans ahead of other plans, rather than follow the city’s first-come, first-served policy, prosecutors said.

He also is accused of approving projects that either he or his wife drafted.

Huertas collects a salary between $3,379 and $4,333 a month, city officials said.

“We have reassigned him so he is not working in the same environment,” said Bruce Dandy, Oxnard personnel manager. He said city officials will review Huertas’ employment status once criminal proceedings are completed.

Huertas did not attend his arraignment Wednesday. When reached at his office in the Public Works Department, he declined comment.