It took a federal court order, but Mike Carona is finally a one-woman man.
At least temporarily.
The indicted ex-Orange County sheriff will have to adjust to that painful reality thanks to a mid-trial ruling.
Federal Judge Andrew Guillford removed as a defendant Debra V. Hoffman–Carona's top mistress and, according to federal prosecutors, a co-conspirator in a sensational public-corruption case. Over the government's objections, Guilford granted a late defense motion to sever Hoffman from the case for “issues of efficiency” and to protect “constitutional rights.” The matter rose as it became clear the two defense teams were working at odds with each other.
The judge's ruling put a smile on Hoffman's face. She grabbed an oversized purse and a jumbo See's Candies shopping bag, shot Carona an elated facial expression, ignored a nearby Debbie Carona (the sheriff's wife), and left the courtroom with her federal public defender. Hoffman later returned to the courtroom and sat in the front row.
The ramifications of the move aren't yet known, but there's a sense on the media bench that Carona's defense may seek a mistrial this week based on the harm Hoffman's defense attorney, Sylvia Torres-Guillen, repeatedly inflicted on Carona's cries of innocence.
But Hoffman's smile might not last long. Prosecutor Brett Sagel indicated to Guillford that the government plans to pursue Hoffman in a separate
trial. Among the alleged crimes: she lied in bankruptcy court about the more than $65,000 she'd received from Don Haidl, a wealthy businessman and Carona backer who says he funneled the money to the sheriff's mistress as a favor to OC's top cop.
Fun tidbit: The defense's insistence on severing Hoffman from the trial came shortly after Peggy Haidl, who is on the witness stand today, testified that “four or five times” she received handwritten instructions on hotel stationery from the mistress.
Prosecutors asked Haidl, then the secretary of the secretive Mike Carona Foundation, if she knew why Hoffman sent orders regarding foundation cash on different hotel letterhead.
Peggy Haidl replied, “To let me know she's at the hotel with the sheriff.”
–R. Scott Moxley / OC Weekly
CNN-featured investigative reporter R. Scott Moxley has won Journalist of the Year honors at the Los Angeles Press Club; been named Distinguished Journalist of the Year by the LA Society of Professional Journalists; obtained one of the last exclusive prison interviews with Charles Manson disciple Susan Atkins; won inclusion in Jeffrey Toobin’s The Best American Crime Reporting for his coverage of a white supremacist’s senseless murder of a beloved Vietnamese refugee; launched multi-year probes that resulted in the FBI arrests and convictions of the top three ranking members of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department; and gained praise from New York Times Magazine writers for his “herculean job” exposing entrenched Southern California law enforcement corruption.