Complaint Against Condit on Grand Jury’s Agenda
A grand jury was scheduled Thursday to review allegations that Rep. Gary Condit obstructed justice when he asked flight attendant Anne Marie Smith to sign an affidavit stating that they had not had an affair.
The Stanislaus County Grand Jury was expected to meet at 4 p.m. to take up the unusual allegations, said Marnie Ardis, the county employee who oversees the grand jury.
The civil grand jury proceedings are normally secret, but Ardis said she was willing to confirm the agenda in this case because Smith went public when her lawyer, James Robinson, held a news conference on the Stanislaus County courthouse steps after filing the complaint.
The 19-member panel will decide whether to probe Smith’s accusations or reject her complaint. The decision won’t be released to the public, but if the complaint is rejected, Smith and her lawyer will be notified by letter, Ardis said.
It would still be up to prosecutors to decide whether to pursue a criminal case, and Dist. Atty. Jim Brazelton said Stanislaus County is not likely to take any action based only on Robinson’s maneuvers.
Condit has denied asking anybody to lie, and his attorney, Abbe Lowell, said Smith and the congressman apparently define “relationship” differently.
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