Mayor’s Attorney Will Challenge Prosecutor
Orange attorney John D. Barnett will argue that the city’s independent prosecutor has no jurisdiction to file misdemeanor charges against Mayor Tom Daly, who is accused of breaching state and city campaign contribution laws.
Barnett asked the court Monday to continue Daly’s arraignment in order to give him time to file an objection to the complaint.
The arraignment for Daly, his campaign treasurer and estranged wife, Debra Daly, and former Councilman Irv Picker was continued until March 27 in Municipal Court in Fullerton.
Charges against Daly and Pickler include accepting campaign contributions that exceeded donation limits and failure to itemize and report the donations.
Barnett said that the hiring of independent prosecutor Ravi Mehta by Councilmen Lou Lopez and Bob Zemel last September was politically motivated.
He also called the charges “the most expensive and the least productive prosecution of a misdemeanor in the history of the state.”
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