A retired assistant sheriff testified Thursday that he did not recall the department releasing a drunk-driving defendant from jail at the request of Newport Beach millionaire Don Haidl, a key government witness who made the allegation in the corruption trial of former Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona.
Kim Markuson was one of five witnesses called by attorneys Brian A. Sun and Jeffrey Rawitz as they began defending Carona against charges that he misused his office to enrich himself and others. The opening of the defense in federal court in Santa Ana followed nearly seven weeks of testimony from more than 30 prosecution witnesses.
Throughout the trial, Sun and Rawitz have sought to discredit Carona's chief accusers -- including Haidl and former Assistant Sheriff George Jaramillo -- characterizing them as vengeful former allies who were corrupted by their own greed and are now trying to win leniency by cooperating with the government.
The attorneys have on many occasions tried to undermine Haidl's testimony that he was appointed an assistant and got full access to Sheriff's Department resources, as well as a "get out of jail free card," in exchange for bankrolling Carona's first campaign in 1998 and bribing him with cash and other gifts for years.
During one of his 10 days testifying last month, Haidl surprised both sides when he said he used his get-out-of-jail card after his friend Joe Kowal called and asked him to help secure the release of a friend in custody on a DUI charge.
Kowal's friend was afraid for his life because of gang activity inside the jail and Kowal asked "was there anything I could do about it," Haidl testified. Haidl said that he called then-Assistant Sheriff Rocky Hewitt, who in turn talked to Markuson, then a commander at the jails, and that the inmate was released into a work furlough program.
In interviews with The Times the day of that testimony, both Kowal and Markuson said they were unaware of such an event. On Thursday, Markuson maintained that he had no knowledge of any such release, adding that the Probation Department would have had to sign off on the release.
Under cross-examination, Markuson said he was also unaware that a man facing a second DUI and an automatic 60 days in jail in 1999 -- who prosecutors say was Kowal's friend -- had been released into a work furlough program and never showed up for it.
