Judge is asked to drop most charges against Carona

Attorneys for former Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona implored a federal judge Friday to dismiss most of the charges he is facing, contending that prosecutors from the U.S. attorney’s office overstepped their authority in targeting him.

Carona attorney John D. Cline said the federal government is obligated to allow states to set and enforce their own political corruption laws. He said California’s Fair Political Practices Commission, the state attorney general and local district attorneys are the appropriate entities to handle allegations such as those against Carona.

Cline argued that the allegations in the indictment do not amount to a federal crime and that four charges -- conspiracy to commit fraud and three counts of mail fraud -- should be dismissed. He said the case is “exactly the kind of area where the federal government ought to stay away.”

A federal grand jury indicted Carona in October on charges that he sold the power of his office for tens of thousands of dollars in cash and gifts. Many of the gifts were from businessman Donald Haidl, whom Carona appointed as a volunteer assistant sheriff even though Haidl had no law enforcement experience.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Kenneth Julian responded that the charges were appropriate, noting that Carona failed to mention the gifts on disclosure forms he sent through the mail.

“If you get payments and then you lie about them, and then you take steps to benefit the payer,” that’s mail fraud, Julian said.

U.S. District Judge Andrew J. Guilford did not issue an immediate ruling. The defense has also asked Guilford to dismiss two witness-tampering charges.

Carona lawyer Brian A. Sun reiterated Friday that the defense would not be prepared to properly present its case by the scheduled June 10 trial. Guilford responded by suggesting that Sun file a motion requesting a new trial date.

The judge also discussed the questionnaire that prospective jurors will be asked to fill out, designed in part to determine whether pretrial publicity has caused them to form opinions about the case.

Guilford said he was concerned to hear that KFI-AM (640) radio’s “John and Ken Show” has been running segments intended to taint the Carona jury pool, including readings from transcripts of a secretly recorded conversation that Carona had with Haidl. During the conversation, Carona allegedly discussed how he left no trail of the payments that Haidl had given him.

Such a broadcast could potentially create grounds for a new trial at significant government expense, Guilford said.

--

stuart.pfeifer@latimes.com