"...and if witness Fousesquawk had appeared, he would have testified as follows...
'Mike Carona? Never hoiwd of em.'"
The testimony/evidentiary part of the Mike Carona trial ended today in a bizarre fashion. Several witnesses were supposed to appear and testify in Mike Carona's behalf or in Government rebuttal.
Only they didn't show. Main sticking point? It seems the witnesses had indicated that as to certain questions, they would invoke their 5th Amendment rights.
Just the kind of witnesses every lawyer dreams about putting on the stand, right?
At any rate the defense and prosecution reached an agreement that the Government would stipulate that.......
If witness so and so had appeared he/she would have testified that......
One of the problems in this trial is that some of the jurors have used the occasion to take little siestas during testimony. To make things worse, they now had to endure listening to the attorneys actually reading the stipulated testimony in court.
The other noteworthy testimony this week came from Orange County DA Tony Rackaukas, who told jurors that George Jaramillo had pressured him to go easy on accused rapist, Greg Haidl (son of Don Haidl). Specifically, Jaramillo tried to get the DA to try young Haidl as a juvenile. Jaramillo also reportedly threatened to arrange a
4 million dollar campaign contribution to whomever would run against Rackaukas in the next election if the DA didn't cooperate. Rackaukas testified that the meeting ended angrily, he did not do what Jaramillo asked-but that Carona himself never pressured him.
Thus, the trial of Mike Carona limped to the finish line. Now all that is left is closing arguments. Due to the Christmas holidays, that will happen on January 6.
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