Carona lawyers want trial moved

Attorneys for former Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona told a judge Friday that they want the corruption case moved outside Southern California, and possibly farther, because two radio shock jocks are trying to taint the jury pool.

In arguing for a change of venue, Brian A. Sun cited segments of KFI-AM (640) radio’s “John and Ken Show,” during which the hosts encouraged potential jurors to lie their way onto the panel and convict Carona.

The show’s hosts have told their fans that if they are summoned for jury duty and questioned about whether they listen to the program, they should not only deny it but go as far as to say that they hate the radio hosts, Sun said.

Sun, one of three attorneys defending Carona, did not say how far away the trial should be moved.

But he noted that it should be outside the reach of the Los Angeles radio show, which can be heard throughout many areas of the state, Las Vegas and parts of Arizona.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Brett Sagel said he would be surprised if any prospective jurors would lie just because two radio hosts asked them to.

U.S. District Judge Andrew J. Guilford said he would consider moving the trial.

He also said he was disturbed to hear that the radio hosts asked citizens to come to his courtroom and lie under oath.

But Guilford put off a final ruling until after the defense files a formal motion next week and invited the two sides to try to come up with other remedies.

The judge did agree to postpone Carona’s June trial at least two months and indicated that he might set the start date as late as October.

Guilford has yet to rule on a number of motions in the case against Carona, his wife, Deborah, and the ex-sheriff’s former mistress, Debra V. Hoffman. They are accused of participating in a broad criminal conspiracy to use the power of the sheriff’s office to obtain tens of thousands of dollars in cash and gifts.

Guilford must still issue a decision on whether to suppress secretly recorded conversations between Carona and former Assistant Sheriff Don Haidl, during which Carona reportedly discussed hiding evidence of receiving cash and gifts and allegedly tried to persuade Haidl to withhold evidence from and lie to a federal grand jury.

The “John and Ken Show” first surfaced as an issue in the case after the hosts began reading transcripts from the Haidl tapes on the air and encouraged prospective jurors to convict Carona.

During a hearing weeks ago, Carona’s lawyers argued that juror questionnaires -- designed in part to determine whether pretrial publicity has caused them to form opinions about the case -- should include questions about whether they had listened to the radio show.

At the time, Guilford expressed concern that such broadcasts could potentially create grounds for a new trial at significant government expense.

It was after that hearing that the radio hosts began telling their listeners to deny, if asked, that they had heard of them or their show, Sun said.

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christine.hanley@latimes.com