Judge Disqualifies Himself From GOP Aide’s Election Law Case

SANTA ANA —  Superior Court Judge David O. Carter disqualified himself Friday from any further action in the case of GOP political aide Rhonda J. Carmony, who faces trial on charges of election law violations.

Another judge will decide Monday who should hear a defense motion seeking removal of the Orange County district attorney’s office from prosecuting her case, effectively postponing the beginning of her trial, set to start the same day.

Carmony, the former campaign manager and now fiancee of Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach), is charged with three felonies for allegedly orchestrating a scheme to put a decoy Democratic candidate on the ballot in a special election of 1995, using petitions that were improperly and fraudulently certified.

Republican Scott Baugh of Huntington Beach won election to the 67th Assembly District seat and he too faces felony charges in connection with the election. Both he and Carmony have denied any wrongdoing.

The case took an unexpected turn Wednesday, when Carter rebuked prosecutors for raising a 13-year-old incident that they had raised as a possible conflict of interest for Superior Court Judge James L. Smith, the judge assigned to preside over Carmony’s trial.

Carter, who presides over the entire criminal side of Superior Court, defended Smith’s handling of the 1983 incident, which involved an Orange Unified School District air conditioner. Smith’s wife worked for the district, and the couple had been trying, without success, to pay for the air conditioner, which was left at their home by a district employee. Both Smiths appeared as witnesses before the grand jury in 1987 and testified about the incident.

The investigation into corruption in the school district lead to the resignation of all the school board members and the conviction of several district employees.

Carter said he believed prosecutors were using the incident in an attempt to “muscle” Smith off the case and said Smith had acted with “integrity” at all times. Smith had earlier thrown out most of the charges that prosecutors brought against Baugh in a grand jury indictment, and the prosecution’s unhappiness with Smith’s action was no secret.

Carter also criticized Rohrabacher for publicizing a private discussion in Smith’s chambers about the air conditioner incident, while trying to discredit the district attorney’s office and the handling of Carmony’s case.

Assistant Dist. Atty. Brent Romney said Friday he had brought the issue to Smith’s attention because Carmony had won a discovery order requiring his office to disclose to the defense complaints involving allegations of political or governmental corruption. Carmony is trying to show she was singled out for prosecution when other people in similar situations were not.

Romney said he believed that Smith had a possible conflict because he would have to rule on whether the air conditioner incident would be among the complaints referred to the defense. Romney said nothing he did could be construed as misconduct.

In a brief hearing Friday, Carter agreed with prosecutors that he should remove himself entirely from the case, and let Presiding Superior Court Judge Theodore E. Millard assign someone to rule on Carmony’s motion to disqualify the prosecutors.

In her motion, Carmony is asking the Superior Court to require that the district attorney’s office be replaced as prosecutor by the state attorney general.

She alleges, among other things, that Dist. Atty. Michael R. Capizzi has prosecuted her for her political associations and to enhance his own political career.

Defense attorneys will also be seeking to further explore the incident involving Smith and the Orange Unified School District, alleging that prosecutors wanted to “intimidate” the judge because they were upset over some of his rulings in the Baugh and Carmony cases.

Prosecutors have not yet filed a response to the motion.