D.A. Indicates Baugh Charges Likely to Be Refiled

Prosecutors have indicated to the attorneys for embattled Assemblyman Scott Baugh that the district attorney’s office likely will refile charges against the Huntington Beach Republican next week, a defense lawyer said Thursday.

“There is an indication they will refile charges” against Baugh and “they seem to be leaning” toward doing so through a criminal complaint rather than a grand jury indictment, said Allan Stokke, one of several lawyers representing Baugh.

Prosecutors said they’ll probably decide by Wednesday what course to take.

“We are going to get [the entire case] back on track and to [trial] as quickly as possible,” Dist. Atty. Michael R. Capizzi said. “No final decision has been made at this point” about which option to pursue to revive the counts that were dismissed last month.

Attorneys for both sides appeared briefly Thursday before Superior Court Judge James L. Smith, who is trying the case. Stokke made his comments following a private conversation in the courthouse corridor.

Initially, trial was set to begin Thursday for Baugh, who last March was indicted by a grand jury on 22 counts of perjury and campaign reporting violations.

Smith dismissed 17 of the counts last month, and the remaining five charges could have gone to trial by now, but both sides had agreed this week that the trial should be delayed.

In rejecting the 17 charges, Smith ruled prosectors had withheld from the grand jurors evidence about the key witness against Baugh.

Capizzi must decide whether to refile the dismissed charges on a direct criminal complaint, which would almost certainly entail a preliminary court hearing at which a judge would rule on the sufficiency of the evidence against Baugh.

Prosecutors could also return to the Orange County Grand Jury to seek a new indictment, which would preclude the possibility of a public preliminary hearing.

Either option, if it resulted in a trial, would mean the case would go to Superior Court for reassignment to a trial judge.

Prosecutors were unhappy with Smith’s ruling and his remarks that they had “overstepped . . . recognized bounds” before the grand jury.

Baugh also appeared in court Thursday accompanied by his fiancee, Wendy Ward. They are to be married Oct. 12. Loans from Ward, which were allegedly misreported on Baugh’s campaign finance reports, figured in six of the counts against him.