With tawdry moments that might play better to a Jerry Springer audience, jurors in Orange County are being introduced to the alleged sexual escapades and innuendoes that prosecutors say shape the corruption case against former Sheriff Michael S. Carona.
With his trial hardly a week old, witnesses have been repeatedly asked about Carona's alleged extramarital affair with a local attorney, with tales of a love nest, a getaway trip to Las Vegas and a secret bank account. There has been testimony about an alleged romance with a second woman, a tearful breakdown on the witness stand and a witness' apology to Carona's wife for the testimony she was about to offer.
There was even testimony about a pair of birthday cards Carona mailed to the wife of an assistant sheriff and signed "The Little Sheriff," which she told jurors was a sexual reference.
To prosecutors, testimony of infidelity and lust is critical to the government's case as they attempt to show that beneath Carona's public image as a conservative, Christian, crime-fighter, he was a womanizer partly motivated by a desire to keep his longtime mistress happy by supplying her with money and perks he gained by compromising his elected office.
Carona's attorneys conceded in their opening statement that their client might have made mistakes in his personal life, but they urged jurors to keep in mind that any moral indiscretions are not evidence of corruption. They have argued that the inclusion of Carona's love affairs is gratuitous and prejudicial.
The 11-man, one-woman federal court jury does not have to look far to see the women in Carona's life. Every day in court, Carona and his mistress, Debra Hoffman, sit at separate defense tables, one behind the other as they face charges that they conspired with others to trade his powers as sheriff for their own profit. Deborah Carona, the ex-sheriff's wife, watches from the gallery, usually alone in a mostly empty courtroom. She awaits a separate trial.
In the first three days of the trial, jurors were told that Carona had been cheating on his wife for years with Hoffman, who a witness says set up a savings account for the two of them with an Italian name in the hopes it would not be discovered. They were also told that Carona lavished Hoffman with jewelry, treated her to shopping sprees and took her to Las Vegas on private jets.
