D.A. Asks Court to Reject Latest Hedgecock Plea

The San Diego district attorney’s office on Monday urged a local court to reject former Mayor Roger Hedgecock’s request for a new trial, dismissing Hedgecock’s plea as little more than a rehash of his earlier, unsuccessful bid to overturn his felony conviction on campaign-law violations.

In a brief filed with Superior Court, prosecutors argued that Hedgecock’s most recent petition for a new trial “offers nothing substantial or new” to the evidence that Hedgecock’s attorneys presented in December when they failed to persuade Judge William L. Todd Jr. to reverse the 13-count conviction.

Last month, Hedgecock’s attorneys filed a motion in Superior Court contending that the “deliberative ability” of some jurors was impaired by their “excessive drinking” of alcoholic beverages during deliberations. Defense attorney Charles Sevilla also stated that the question of whether the jurors’ drinking affected the verdict “was not raised” in the December hearing.

Prosecutors, however, argued Monday that “all appropriate evidence regarding” the jurors’ drinking was considered by Todd last year and “inherently denied” as sufficient grounds for a new trial.