Lawyers for former Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona scolded federal prosecutors Friday for deciding last week to unveil partial transcripts of a secretly recorded conversation between the former sheriff and a top aide.
In the conversation, prosecutors allege, Carona and former Assistant Sheriff Donald Haidl discussed covering a trail of cash payments and gifts that Haidl gave to him. Unknown to Carona, Haidl was secretly recording the conversation for the prosecutors.
The transcripts are a key element in the corruption case against Carona, who is charged with selling access to his office for tens of thousands of dollars in cash and gifts.
The transcripts created widespread publicity and may have tainted potential jurors, defense lawyers wrote in a filing Friday, in which they argued that the recordings should not be admitted as evidence.
"They obtained wide media play of those excerpts and ensured that a substantial portion of the jury pool will be aware of Carona's alleged statements, even if the court ultimately suppresses them. The prosecutors could have avoided the taint, of course, by filing the excerpts under seal," the attorneys contend.
Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office, declined to comment.
In the filing, Carona's lawyers disclosed that there was more than one person trying to record conversations with the former sheriff -- Haidl's sister, Peggy, was at it as well.
She wore a hidden recording device to a July event at which she and Carona's wife, Deborah, were being honored for their service on the Orange County Fair board. Peggy Haidl did not record anything incriminating, the defense said.
The disclosure came as Carona's attorneys pressed to exclude as evidence the recordings that Donald Haidl made during three meetings with the former sheriff. Attorneys say that because Carona was represented by a lawyer at the time, it was improper for federal prosecutors to send anyone to meet with him and secretly record their conversations.
Ethical guidelines prohibit California lawyers from contacting parties represented by lawyers, even through third persons. Carona's lawyers say federal prosecutors broke those rules by sending Donald Haidl to meet with Carona and should be barred from presenting the recordings as evidence.
"The prosecutors did not advise Carona of his right to counsel; they secretly contrived to separate Carona from his counsel and to interrogate him, through Haidl, without his counsel present," Carona lawyers asserted.
