Judge Expected to Rule Today on Trial for Baugh

Municipal Judge William Evans is expected to rule today on whether Assemblyman Scott R. Baugh (R-Huntington Beach) must stand trial on charges that he intentionally falsified campaign and financial disclosure documents in a key election for control of the California Assembly.

The ruling will come almost two years to the day after voters recalled Republican Doris Allen and replaced her with Baugh.

Baugh is charged with five felony perjury counts and 13 misdemeanor violations of the Campaign Reform Act for allegedly falsifying five state-required financial disclosure forms related to the 1995 campaign.

Prosecution and defense lawyers gave their closing arguments in the pretrial hearing Tuesday, and Evans promised to decide within a day whether there is “reasonable cause” to believe that Baugh committed the alleged crimes and should face trial. Evans could also dismiss the charges or refer the matter to the state Fair Political Practices Commission, which has administrative jurisdiction over campaign finance rules.

Neither Baugh’s lawyer Allan Stokke nor Assistant Dist. Atty. John Conley would predict the outcome.

The hearing, which began in mid-September, covered 10 days of testimony but was extended by a series of court delays, including two witnesses who initially refused to testify, citing their constitutional protection against self-incrimination. Both of them--Baugh ally Laurie Campbell and his former chief of staff Maureen Werft--eventually testified.

Prosecutors allege that Baugh purposely misreported tens of thousands of dollars in contributions and loans relating to the campaign.

Although he concedes that he made mistakes in campaign reporting, Baugh has maintained that he broke no laws and that the reporting errors were largely the result of mistakes and bad advice of campaign treasurer Dan Traxler.