Three lawyers are preparing for what could be the biggest and most salacious case in county history: the trial of Sheriff Mike Carona.
Two seasoned government prosecutors, Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kenneth Julian and Brett Sagel of the Santa Ana office, are set to face off with a well-regarded defense lawyer, H. Dean Steward,himself the son of a federal prosecutor.
The controversial trial of Carona, deemed “America’s sheriff” after his lead role in the hunt for Samantha Runnion’s killer in 2002, stands to catapult all three lawyers into national attention. The trial is set for June.
“This is a once in a lifetime for everybody,” said Lawrence Rosenthal, professor at Orange-based Chapman University School of Law. “This is the kind of case that makes an attorney’s career go down in history.”
Steward, a San Clemente lawyer known for his work in federal cases, has defended Carona for the past three years after the sheriff was referred to him.
Julian and Sagel have handled business fraud, government bribery and child molestation cases for the U.S. Attorney’s office.
At the center of the case is whether Carona is guilty of a broad conspiracy since he was elected as county sheriff-coroner in 1998.
After a three-year investigation of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, Julian and Sagel indicted Carona on Oct. 30 for allegedly using his office to enrich himself and friends by accepting cash and gifts. His wife Deborah Carona and Newport Beach lawyer Debra Hoffman, referred in the indictment as Carona’s longtime mistress, also are charged.
Sheriff Carona faces an additional charge of witness tampering after allegedly attempting to persuade former friend and major fundraiser Don Haidl to lie to a federal grand jury. Haidl is set to be a key witness in the trial.
The case involves one other notable legal name: Judge Andrew Guilford.
He’s a former lawyer with the Costa Mesa office of Los Angeles law firm Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP who took part in the county’s last high-profile fight in 2005, representing Anaheim in its legal fight versus Arte Moreno’s Angels Baseball LP.
President Bush nominated Guilford to be a judge in 2006.
Until now, the three lawyers working on the Carona trial have kept relatively low profiles.
Julian, who’s deputy chief of the Santa Ana U.S. Attorney’s office (see story, page 4), led the investigation of a Santa Ana outpatient surgery center that led to felony charges of defrauding health insurance companies of $34 million in 2004.
Last year, he was the lead prosecutor on the indictment of Jose Abel Flores, a correctional officer at the Santa Ana Jail, for allegedly taking bribes in exchange for smuggling contraband for inmates.
Sagel helped prosecute and convict five Utah residents for their roles in a fraudulent scheme to obtain refund checks from the Internal Revenue Service in 2003.
He also led the prosecution of Jamie Watkins, a former operations manager for the Santa Ana office of Deloitte Consulting LLP who in February pled guilty to defrauding the Deloitte Touche USA LLP unit of more than $500,000.
Sagel currently is heading the prosecution of Nelson Mercado, a former bodyguard who in 2006 was accused of impersonating a federal agent in order to persuade Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie to hire him.
Julian and Sagel didn’t respond to calls for comment for this story.
They face a worthy adversary in Steward, according to legal sources.
Steward has been a trial lawyer for nearly 30 years. He’s considered by some to be the top defense lawyer in OC for federal cases.
About 70% of Steward’s practice focuses on white-collar crime defense work, he said. Narcotics cases and others make up the rest.
Steward is no stranger to controversial cases and unsavory characters.
He defended former Santa Ana councilman Ted Moreno, who was convicted and jailed in 2000 for accepting $31,000 in illegal campaign contributions.
His claim to fame: defending Barry Mills, founder of the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang.
Mills was sentenced to life in prison last year after a federal grand jury charged him and others with orchestrating a series of prison murders and violent attacks.
The sentence was seen as a victory for Steward. Prosecutors and most trial watchers expected the death penalty for Mills.
Steward wouldn’t speak in depth on the Carona case. He said that it will be treated like any other white-collar criminal case.
When asked how Carona is faring these days, Steward said, “Under the circumstances, I think Carona is handling it really well.”
Steward called a plea bargain unlikely.
With his federal court experience, Steward beat out the county’s other “go-to” criminal defense lawyers who specialize in state cases, legal observers said.
They include Allan Stokke of Santa Ana’s Stokke & Riddet, John Barnett of Orange and Ronald Brower of Santa Ana.
Stokke, who practiced as a prosecutor before becoming a defense attorney, said that both sides face a slew of challenges in the Carona trial.
A challenge facing Carona’s defense team could be explaining all of the acts in the indictment, Stokke said.
“It could possibly make the jury prejudice, making it much harder for defense to get a fair trial,” Stokke said.
Carona’s strong public image prior to the controversy could hurt prosecutors’ ability to sway the jury, according to Stokke.
The sheriff’s high-profile allies, including Republican lawyer Michael Schroeder and Flash Report publisher Jon Fleischman, could work to bolster Carona’s image during the trial.
It could pose a challenge for prosecutors, Chapman’s Rosenthal said.
“This truly is a puzzling case,” he said. “Both teams will have to overcome hurdles.”
