San Diego

Describing former San Diego Mayor Roger Hedgecock’s appeal of his felony conviction as “the desperate act of a convicted perjurer grasping at straws,” the California attorney general’s office Thursday asked the state Supreme Court to uphold Hedgecock’s conviction.

In a 117-page brief, Robert Foster, a supervising deputy attorney general, used terms such as “absurd” and “untenable” to dismiss the legal arguments offered by Hedgecock’s attorney in his bid to overturn the former mayor’s 13-count conspiracy and perjury conviction.

Last summer, the state Supreme Court agreed to hear both defense and prosecution appeals concerning Hedgecock’s October, 1985, conviction on charges stemming from illegal contributions to his 1983 mayoral campaign from the now-defunct La Jolla investment firm of J. David & Co. That hearing is expected to be held early next year.

One of the critical questions to be examined by the high court focuses on a 4th District Court of Appeal ruling last April ordering a local judge to hold a hearing on jury-tampering allegations that Hedgecock argues entitle him to a new trial.

The passage of time, Hedgecock’s attorney contends, has caused jurors’ memories to fade, making it difficult to reconstruct the key details relating to the 3-year-old tampering allegations. Because any hearing on the charges would therefore be flawed, Hedgecock argues, any error is sufficient reason for overturning his conviction.

Saying that Hedgecock’s position “borders on the absurd,” Foster encouraged the state Supreme Court to overrule the order for the tampering-allegations hearing and to uphold Hedgecock’s conviction in its entirety.

Hedgecock, now a radio talk-show host, faces a one-year jail sentence but is free pending the appeal’s outcome.