Federal prosecutors have filed a motion contending that lawyers for ex-sheriff Michael S. Carona have abused the subpoena process by asking for files that could include nearly 30,000 pages.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth Julian is asking a federal judge to inspect subpoenas for records in the past by Carona’s lawyers and to quash two subpoenas already issued.

Julian contends in the motion filed before U.S. District Court Judge Andrew Guilford that subpoenas for documents should be for specific items of admissible, relevant evidence.

But, he contends, defense attorneys for Carona are issuing subpoenas for broad categories of information that is tantamount to a fishing expedition for unknown evidence.

For example, Julian wrote, one defense subpoena to the Orange County District Attorneys Office calls for the production of between 20,000 to 30,000 pages of documents from investigative files..

Carona’s lawyers are seeking information that lead to the prosecutions of former assistant sheriff George Jaramillo and former Carona lawyer Joseph Cavallo.

Both men, former friends and allies of Carona, are now listed as unindicted co-conspirators with Carona against him in the federal public corruption indictment returned originally filed six months ago.

Defense lawyers also are seeking all documents from an investigation by the Securities & Exchange Commission concerning former assistant sheriff Don Haidl and his business. Haidl also is a former friend of Carona who is now a witness against him.
 

Julian is seeking to quash the subpoenas to the OC DA’s Office and the SEC.

 Meanwhile, Guilford is expected to rule soon on several previous pre-trial motions, including defense motions to dismiss the charges.

–Larry Welborn

This entry was posted on Monday, April 14th, 2008 at 11:27 am and is filed under Courts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.