Roger Hedgecock - Politics

Politics

Hedgecock first became active in politics at an early age, having volunteered to work in U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater's 1964 Presidential campaign. In 1976, he was elected to the San Diego County Board of Supervisors and served until 1983, having become the youngest person to have served as a county supervisor in San Diego. In 1983 he was elected mayor of San Diego. Although San Diego municipal elections are "non-partisan" (i.e., party affiliation is not listed on the ballot), Hedgecock ran as a "progressive" Republican. He campaigned to stop the "Los Angelization" of San Diego, a term in San Diego politics synonymous with the uncontrolled urban and suburban development, overcrowding and pollution of Los Angeles.

In 1985 he was forced from office, after a second trial found him guilty of one count of conspiracy and twelve counts of perjury, related to the alleged failure to report all campaign contributions. His first trial had ended in a mistrial due to a hung jury. "Within days of the Oct. 9 guilty verdict, two of the 12 jurors in Hedgecock's case alleged in sworn statements that Burroughs provided jurors with alcohol, told them stories, guided deliberations and pressured the jury to reach a quick verdict," and even expressed his opinion that the defendant was guilty. State prosecutors then conducted an investigation into the possibility of criminal jury tampering, but they refused to release the transcripts of their investigation interviews to the defendant's attorneys.

An appellate court in San Diego ruled in 1988, that the judge that presided over the second trial " -- who had announced from the bench that he believed Hedgecock was guilty -- was wrong to block release of" those transcripts to the defendant. Nevertheless, the defense was still denied access to those documents for two more years, until the time of the final appeal to the California Supreme Court which "...threw out the 12 perjury convictions and set aside the remaining conspiracy charge, pending a hearing on Hedgecock's claim for a new trial, which was based on allegations of jury tampering."

"The hearing for a possible third trial never took place. The defense obtained the transcripts in October, 1990. The next month, the deal was struck. Hedgecock accepted a conviction on a single felony charge in return for no jail sentence and no retrial. The deal also called for a judge to reduce the felony to a misdemeanor and dismiss the case, which is precisely what happened."