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Carona Attorneys allege prosecutors misled the grand jury asks judge to dismiss charges The former Orange County sheriff says federal prosecutors have no jurisdiction in his, his wife’s or Hoffmans case.
By Michael Webster Feb 24 2008 11:00 AM PST Attorneys for former Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona filed a motion in federal court Wednesday asking that U.S. District Judge Andrew J. Guilford release transcripts of grand jury proceedings to determine whether prosecutors misled the grand jury that returned indictments against the Caronas and Hoffman. The motion further asks the judge to dismiss most of the charges against them, and asking the judge to dismiss one count of conspiracy and three counts of mail fraud against Carona. The motion further alleges the federal prosecutors had no jurisdiction in the case to file the charges in the first place.
The motion contends that California's Fair Political Practices
Commission adequately regulates the acceptance of gifts by elected
officials -- the basis for most of the charges against Carona -- so the
U.S. attorney's office should not be allowed to prosecute him. Prosecutors claim It is a federal crime to send fraudulent documents through the U.S. mail. They contend that Carona failed to list gifts he had received from Haidl on his conflict-of-interest disclosure forms. Carona’s attorneys claim those forms that Carona filed were hand-delivered to the Orange County clerk's office in Santa Ana, so U.S. mail was not used. Prosecutors instead targeted his mailings to Sacramento and claim those were the fraudulent documents he sent through the U.S. mail. The witness-tampering charges relate to secretly recorded conversations Carona had with former Assistant Sheriff Donald Haidl during which he allegedly told Haidl to provide false statements to a grand jury about gifts he gave the former sheriff.Carona's lawyers have previously filed a motion to have those recordings excluded as evidence. And if successful it would result in the dismissal of those charges. "When federal jurisdiction hangs by such a slender thread and the federal interest is so weak, the courts should be especially reluctant to permit the federal government" to prosecute local elected officials, Carona's lawyers contended in the motion. Carona's attorneys also alleged that prosecutors have improperly accused him of providing preferential treatment to Haidl's teenage son when the boy and two friends were caught with a small amount of marijuana in 2003. That case is cited in the indictment as evidence that Carona provided favors to Haidl in exchange for cash and gifts. The state attorney general already investigated the marijuana incident and found that Carona was not involved in the decision to release Haidl's son, the motion notes. "This is precisely the circumstance where principles of federalism require the federal government to stay out of local politics: where the very state and local agencies charged with investigating a matter have done so competently and thoroughly," the motion states. The motion asks that Guilford release transcripts of grand jury proceedings to determine whether prosecutors misled the grand jury that returned indictments against the Caronas and Hoffman. Guilford is scheduled to consider the motion at a March 14 hearing.
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