The State - News from April 26, 1988

Setting the stage for what one judge described as “a trial after a trial,” the 4th District Court of Appeal in San Diego ordered a lower court to hold a hearing on former San Diego Mayor Roger Hedgecock’s claim that his felony conviction should be overturned because of jury-tampering allegations. However, the appellate court added that if a Superior Court judge ultimately denies Hedgecock’s request for a new trial, the October, 1985, conspiracy and perjury conviction that forced his resignation from office should stand. “From our perspective, the bottom line is that we’ll get the new-trial hearing that we were denied the first time around,” Hedgecock attorney Charles Sevilla said of the 2-1 ruling. Prosecutors took heart from the fact that the appeals panel rejected a wide array of other legal arguments offered by Hedgecock’s attorneys as reasons why he deserved a new trial.