A judge on Tuesday dismissed a felony count of filing false election papers against former Orange County Assessor Webster Guillory and reduced two other counts to misdemeanors.
The count was dismissed at the request of Deputy District Attorney Brock Zimmon based on evidence that came to light in a preliminary hearing today before Orange County Superior Court Judge Gassia Apkarian.
The count related to papers signed by assessor’s office employee Shaw Linn, but actually circulated by another employee, Mike Hannah, who intended to run to succeed Guillory, who planned to resign.
When Hannah backed out of the race, however, Guillory decided to quickly gather signatures to get on the ballot. The veteran politician was knocked out of office in November after prosecutors filed charges against him.
Guillory, 70, of Newport Beach, now faces two misdemeanor counts of filing false nomination papers. The maximum punishment is two years in jail, Zimmon said. Before today, Guillory was facing four years and four months behind bars if convicted.
A pretrial hearing is set for April 27.
Guillory’s attorney, John Barnett, said after today’s hearing, “The evidence is very clear Mr. Guillory did not file a false document. He had no reason to file a false document, a document he knew to be inaccurate or false.”
Barnett said Hannah was at work and close by while Guillory was scrambling to gather signatures so he could have easily tracked Hannah down to sign the document.
“It’s now so clear the people cannot identify a motive, a reason” that Guillory would intentionally break the law, Barnett said. “They tried to do it today and they simply have not done it. And absent any reason to do it, their case fails.”
Barnett chalked it up to a mere mistake that was not criminal.
On March 7 of last year, the deadline for filing nomination papers for the primary, Guillory gathered signatures on two petitions while an associate gathered and collected three full pages of 10 signatures each, Zimmon alleged when he charged the former assessor.
Guillory signed his name on two of the petitions collected by his associate — falsely claiming he had collected and witnessed the signatures, Zimmon alleged.
Claude Parrish, a former chairman of the state Board of Equalization, defeated Guillory in the November general election.
— City News Service