Not-Guilty Plea for Clinton’s Half-Brother

A plea of not guilty was entered Monday in a Torrance courthouse on behalf of Roger Clinton, half-brother of former President Bill Clinton, who faces charges of drunken driving and disturbing the peace.

Attorney Mark Geragos entered the plea for Roger Clinton, 44, who did not attend the Superior Court arraignment. A pretrial hearing was set for July 25.

Roger Clinton, who lives in Torrance, was arrested Feb. 21 by Hermosa Beach police after his Ford Expedition was spotted allegedly careening down a city street. About an hour earlier, Clinton tried to start a fight at a nearby bar, police said.

Geragos said his client is a victim of “political profiling,” and the attorney contends that police radio records show that officers identified and staked out the former president’s half-brother an hour before his arrest.

Police deny targeting Clinton because of his family ties. The alleged surveillance would have been “logistically impossible,” Hermosa Beach Police Officer Paul Wolcott said, stressing that other disturbances had kept officers busy that night. Clinton had been identified earlier by police because of the bar incident, he said.

Clinton’s arrest came a month after then-President Clinton pardoned him for a cocaine distribution offense. Roger Clinton had served a year in federal prison for that conviction.