By Gillian Flaccus
Associated Press
SANTA ANA, Calif. — It’s been more than five years since federal prosecutors began building their sweeping public corruption case against former Orange County Sheriff Michael Carona.
Now, with sentencing at hand, the disgraced lawman and one-time rising GOP star is about to find out how much longer his legal ordeal will last.
Prosecutors were pressing for Carona to be sentenced Monday to nine years in federal prison for a single felony count of witness tampering, while the defense wants only probation. Probation officials have recommended 6 1/2 years behind bars.
Carona, once head of the nation’s fifth-largest sheriff’s department, will likely appeal any sentence that is not probation, his attorneys have said. He also has petitioned to remain free while appealing his conviction.
Whatever U.S. District Judge Andrew J. Guilford decides, the hearing will mark the end of a legal saga with a soap opera-like plot that began when the sheriff was first indicted in October 2007. He stepped down three months later.
Indicted with Carona were his wife and his longtime mistress. The government has since dropped charges against both women.
Jurors ultimately rejected the heart of the government’s case in January, after a 10-week trial that featured a parade of five dozen witnesses including a former assistant sheriff who testified for the prosecution in exchange for a plea deal.
Prosecutors had alleged conspiracy and multiple counts of mail fraud and witness tampering in a case that included allegations of pay-to-play schemes and money laundering.
Government attorneys also tried to show another side of the publicly charming sheriff by playing secretly recorded conversations in which Carona frequently used sexual and racial slurs and spoke lightly about his longtime affair.