Simon Suspects Democratic Jurors Tainted Fraud Verdict

California Journal ^ | September 13, 2002 | David Lesher

[snopercod]

Bill Simon, the Republican nominee for governor, spoke with CaliforniaJournal recently for a story to be published in the magazine's special election issue this October. In that story the governor and a broad arrayof other state leaders and politicians examine the current race for governorand the state of politics in California today. Here, California Journal offers a timely sample of the coverage that will appear in its October special issue.

SACRAMENTO-Bill Simon said in a recent interview with California Journal that some of the jurors who found hisfamily company guilty of fraud earlier this summer were Democrats who may have been influenced by his Republican campaign for governor.

"It could be possible," he said. "Occassionally, there are outlandish jury verdicts. Was this a politically motivated verdict?I don't know. But it is not founded on the facts."

Simon spoke with the magazine before a Los Angeles judge Thursday overturned the jury's unanimous finding that William E. Simon and Sons defrauded a former business partner, who also turned out to be a convicted drug dealer.

Campaign officials said the candidate's suspicions about the jury were based on interviews with jurors conducted by attorneys for William E. Simon and Sons after the verdict.

Attorney John Morrissey told California Journal that the jurors said their decision was not influenced by politics. Buthe also said they had seen campaign television commercials by the time the trial started in July. And he said they identified one juror who was active in Democratic politics and had strong feelings about the court case.

"In many ways, she apparently drove the conversation,"he said. "How big a part of [the verdict] it is, I don't know."

Morrissey did not reveal the identity of the juror and he said the lawyers did not interview her. But during the juryselection process, he said she described herself as a "politically active" college graduate student. He said she had experience on ballot measure campaigns and she assisted a college professor working on the recent Democratic reapportionment process.

Morrissey was not involved in the jury selection for the case and he did not know why the individual juror was not excused by attorneys for the Simon firm. He speculated that the lawyers may havereached their limit on how many prospective jurors they were allowed torule out.

Morrissey also said his notes from the jury selection process did not identify how many jurors were registered as Democratsor Republicans, which he said is a customary question during a trial likethis one.

While the jurors said their decision was not influenced by politics, Morrissey said, "for whatever reason … [jurors] saw this as big guys versus little guys-and they saw Simon and Sons as the big guy."

Last July, the jury found that William E. Simon and Sons concealed from the founder of a Southern California payphone company its plans to borrow heavily and expand the company so it could go public. The plan failed and the company was taken over by banks, costing the partner, Edward Hindelang, $23 million. The jury ordered Simon's firm to pay $78 million.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge James C. Chalfant overturned the jury verdict because he said Hindelang "defrauded" Simon's firm and other investors by not disclosing his previous drug conviction and the fact that federal authorities were attempting to recover drug money, some of which may have been used to found the phone company.

Simon's suspicions about the jury were not the only political fingers pointed at this court case, however.

Campaign aides to Governor Gray Davis reacted to the judge's decision by noting that Chalfant was appointed by former Republican Governor Pete Wilson and that he and his wife and father have been contributors to GOP campaigns, including Wilson's. Garry South, chief strategist for Davis, stopped short of saying the decision was politically motivated.

"I'll let you decide," he said.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

That has not been posted apparently!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks for finding the article:

Judge throws out fraud verdict against Calif. GOP gubernatorial candidate (Further Detail )

[lewislynn]

I ate dinner and shared communion with my family. ...Oh, is that supposed to imply credibility or is that an attempted holier than thou shot?

You're running on and on but so far you've only managed to claim it's true because YOU and some liberals say so.

I, on the other hand have given you THE document (AB1890) with the list of members, a press release of Pete Wilson giving credit to Brulte and numerous other facts YOU refuse to accept, you even refuse to accept the words of the article YOU posted. Instead you suddenly give me the word of Peace, The San Fransico Chronicle, and some other phony baloney piece of shit called "The Wisdom Fund" as gospil...all of a sudden THOSE, not Pete Wilson, not the actual bill itself are more credible than the liberal rag(s) you've posted. And we all know how the Democrats are the party of deregulation.

Have a nice day.

[Coop]

Camejo ain't looking too good either.

Okay, last resort - move to Hawaii! :-)