Attorney Pierce O'Donnell Update

According to City News Service:

Campaign Contributions -- DA Wants Charges Reinstated Against Six in Campaign Contributions Case

LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Prosecutors asked today that charges be reinstated against six people who were accused, along with a prominent lawyer, of trying to hide the sources of contributions to Jim Hahn's 2001 mayoral campaign.

In a 29-page brief, county prosecutors urged the Los Angeles Superior Court's appellate division to reverse an order dismissing the case against the six and to order the trial court to reinstitute criminal proceedings.

Attorney Pierce O'Donnell, 58, is awaiting trial on two dozen misdemeanor charges of improper identification of campaign donors for allegedly trying to hide the sources of contributions to the ex-mayor's first campaign.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ann I. Jones ruled on Feb. 10 that charges should be dismissed against the defendants who had been charged along with O'Donnell.

They are: Hilda Escobar, a legal secretary; Linda Fraser, an attorney who worked as a legal secretary; Neil Sacker, an attorney and personal friend; Else Latinovic, who worked as a law firm office administrator; Latinovic's mother, Anita, and Dolores Valdez, O'Donnell's personal secretary.

The judge granted motions by five of the defendants to ``dismiss the prosecution based on the improper use of their immunized testimony'' to the city's Ethics Commission, and Valdez's challenge to the criminal complaint on a separate ground.

Prosecutors Lael R. Rubin and Scott D. Collins contend in their brief that the trial court ``erred'' in dismissing the charges.

Also in the LA Times