Judge’s Bid to Settle Snyder Case Fails

A judge’s efforts to negotiate a settlement of the political fund-raising conspiracy case against former Los Angeles City Councilman Arthur K. Snyder went for nought Friday when county prosecutors said they would not downgrade the charges against the colorful but controversial downtown lawyer-lobbyist from felonies to misdemeanors.

Superior Court Judge John W. Ouderkirk said a plea agreement would be preferable to a trial that lawyers estimated could take six weeks to four months.

But with no agreement after an hour, Ouderkirk was unwilling to downgrade the charges himself and set an April 22 trial date.

Last month, the district attorney’s office said it would seek a year in County Jail rather than a state prison sentence for Snyder if he would plead guilty to charges that he used hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal campaign contributions to curry influence as a lobbyist.

But Deputy Dist. Atty. Katherine Mader insisted that the charges, which stem from what prosecutors call “the largest case of campaign money laundering in California history,” constitute felonies that would result in the loss of Snyder’s law license.

Even if the district attorney’s office had agreed with Ouderkirk’s suggestions, there remained doubts whether a deal could have been struck.

Snyder told reporters outside the courtroom that he was ready to enter a plea to misdemeanor charges only if he did not have to serve jail time, did not lose his lawyer’s license and did not have to admit guilt.

“I can’t very well say I committed the crimes, because I didn’t,” Snyder said. “And I don’t want to tell a lie that I did . . . under oath.”

Snyder, 62, and several associates are accused of funneling campaign checks to city and state politicians from a large network of friends, relatives and associates, who were in turn secretly reimbursed with cash.

Ouderkirk told Mader on Friday that Snyder could hardly be expected to agree to a felony plea if he would be banned from practicing law.

Moreover, he said, convicts sentenced to a year in jail serve no more than 68 days as a result of overcrowding. A compromise, Ouderkirk said, would be a plea to multiple misdemeanors, under which Snyder could face several years in prison if he committed further offenses.

The judge set an additional hearing next Friday for two co-defendants: Snyder’s sister-in-law Blanche Poon and law firm employee Aide Posadas.