O'Donnell's attorneys are not the first to raise questions about politically motivated prosecutions by the Justice Department under George W. Bush.
Lawyers across the country began making such arguments after then-Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales was accused of terminating eight U.S. attorneys on political grounds in 2006. Such claims are hard to prove and have had mixed results.
Federal prosecutors are investigating whether O'Donnell asked employees of his former law firm and their families to contribute money to Edwards' campaign and then reimbursed them for making the donations.
In 2006, O'Donnell pleaded no contest to state charges for similar conduct in the 2001 mayoral race of James K. Hahn. As a result of the misdemeanor conviction, he was sentenced to probation and ordered to pay more than $155,000 in fines and penalties.
The current investigation involves $28,000 in contributions to Edwards that were made before O'Donnell learned that he was under scrutiny for the Hahn donations. Prosecutors have called at least one witness before the grand jury, O'Donnell's secretary, Delores Valdez, according to a source who asked not to be named because of secrecy rules governing grand jury investigations. The source said Valdez was granted immunity.
According to sources close to O'Donnell, the lawyer has told prosecutors that he would be willing to admit to arranging for the contributions and reimbursing his employees if he was allowed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor, which would allow him to retain his law license.
In their bid to persuade prosecutors that filing a felony would be unfair, they have identified 21 cases since 2000 in which people or businesses accused of similar or worse offenses were fined by the Federal Elections Commission as opposed to being prosecuted. In some of those cases, the defendants tried to conceal their conduct by making cash reimbursements or disguising the payments as phony bonuses, salary increases or reimbursement for legitimate work-related expenses.
O'Donnell wrote personal checks to his employees to reimburse them and turned over all of his records to the government when he learned he was under investigation, a source close to the lawyer said.
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scott.glover@latimes.com
