When former Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona was indicted on federal corruption charges, he proclaimed loud and clear that he would be vindicated. Since then, his attorneys have worked long and hard (and up till now unsuccessfully) to get most of the evidence excluded from the trial (scheduled for August). First they tried to get tape recorded conversations between Carona and his former crony, Don Haidl, thrown out on legal grounds. Now that that has failed, they are still trying to get certain tapes thrown out on the grounds that they "likely to offend and anger the jury".
I'll say!
In these conversations, Carona (who has called himself an evangelical Christian) is heard using racial epithets, vulgarity and bragging about his high-flying life style and sexual exploits as OC Sheriff.
"......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."*
Of course, the issue to be decided is whether the tapes prejudicial nature outweighs their probative value. As today's Orange County Register pointed out in its editorial, the very corruption charges leveled against Carona revolve around his acceptance of various gifts and favors while in office. Carona's attorneys argue that these conversations are irrelevant.
Meanwhile, Orange County has appointed a new sheriff, Sandra Hutchens, to try and clean up the squalid mess left behind by the man Larry King on Life Support once called, "America's Sheriff".
* OC Register editorial Local p 6 dated July 7, 2008
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