Claim of Former Compton Official Rejected by Judge

A federal judge Monday rejected claims by former Compton City Councilwoman Patricia Moore that she is being prosecuted on federal extortion charges because she is black.

In denying Moore’s motion to throw out the 25-count criminal case against her, U.S. District Judge Consuelo B. Marshall said the defense had failed to meet the burden of proof mandated by a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision.

In that ruling, which grew out of a crack cocaine case before the same judge, the high court declared that to support a claim of selective prosecution, defendants must show “similarly situated whites” are getting away with the same crime.

“If there had been evidence to that effect, the court would have no hesitance in sanctioning the government,” Marshall said.

The judge also rejected Moore’s request to suppress a confession she allegedly made to FBI agents and her testimony before a federal grand jury, saying there was no evidence that her statements were coerced.

In the spring of 1994, according to government documents, Moore was confronted by the FBI with videotapes allegedly showing her soliciting and receiving bribes from Compton businessman John Macardican.

Moore, who had served on the Compton City Council from 1989 through 1993, returned with her lawyer and negotiated a deal with the government.

In exchange for leniency, she agreed to plead guilty to two criminal counts and become an undercover operative in an FBI investigation of official corruption in Compton.

Moore also reportedly agreed to testify against then-Rep. Walter R. Tucker III, who served as Compton’s mayor in 1991 and 1992. Tucker was convicted in the same courtroom last December.

For five months, Moore collaborated with the FBI in its investigation. Her telephone calls to various business and political figures were recorded, and she wore a concealed tape recorder on at least eight occasions.

She contends she did so because prosecutors threatened to lock her away in prison “for 200 years,” a claim vehemently denied by the government and discounted Monday by Marshall.

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After her stint as an undercover operative, Moore pleaded guilty in open court, but then had a change of mind--and a new lawyer. Late in 1994, she persuaded Marshall to allow her to withdraw her guilty plea on grounds that her previous lawyers had failed to fully investigate the possibility of taking the case to trial.

As a result, Moore was indicted anew, this time on 25 counts of extortion and income tax fraud.

Marshall’s rulings on Monday clear the way for the trial to begin early next month.

“I’m obviously disappointed by the rulings,” Moore’s chief counsel, Thomas A. Mesereau Jr., told the judge afterward. He said the evidence is clear that “whites are after blacks in Compton” and that such prosecutions would not occur in “Santa Barbara or Santa Monica.”

But Mesereau and associate counsel Cheryl C. Turner did succeed in discomfiting the prosecution by playing for the judge an audiotape in which the government’s star witness talked about black politicians.

In the tape, Mesereau said, businessman Macardican could be heard whispering to two FBI agents: “This is a wild case. . . . Those black politicians, those blacks are coming from everywhere.”

The tape was among hundreds of secretly recorded audio- and videotapes turned over to the defense under pretrial discovery rules, but the prosecution apparently was unaware of Macardican’s comments.

At first, Assistant U.S Atty. John M. Potter expressed doubt that Macardican had made such a comment, but after listening to the tape, he acknowledged that his chief witness had uttered something about black politicians.

Reporters attending the proceedings had difficultly hearing Macardican’s comment when it was played before the judge.

Mesereau and Turner said outside of court that they intend to use the taped remark to discredit Macardican when he testifies for the prosecution.

In clearing the way for the trial to begin, the judge also denied a motion by Moore’s attorneys to disqualify Potter from prosecuting the case.

Mesereau said he wants to interrogate Potter about conversations he had with Moore when she was a “cooperating witness” for the government. The judge said, however, that other government attorneys or FBI agents were present during those discussions and could be called to testify.