Saving Carona from his own words
The attorneys representing former Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona in his upcoming corruption trial have apparently decided that the less the jurors hear from the ex-lawman the better. On Monday, the lawyers took their latest stab at limiting what federal jurors will hear from about 10 hours of secretly taped conversations between Carona and friend Donald Haidl, who was cooperating with prosecutors. Jurors would no longer hear Carona making numerous sexist and racist comments if the lawyers get their way, says the OC Register and LAT.
Attorneys say the remarks have nothing to do with the legal issues at hand and fear they will generate anger an "unfair prejudice" among jurors to their client. The judge rejected a previous request by Carona's attorneys to exclude the recordings. In some of the transcripts released by prosecutors, Carona defends his record while bragging about his sex life:
"I've met millionaires, billionaires, I've traveled on personal airplanes, and I never shook anybody down .... Not that I haven't, you know, drank some great wine and had great booze and ... got some, you know, phenomenal (sex) along the way."
The trial is scheduled to begin in late August.
-- Jesus Sanchez
Photo: Mark Boster / Los Angeles Times
