People v. Wessman CA4/2

I. INTRODUCTION

Defendant and respondent John Wessman was a prominent real estate developer in

the City of Palm Springs (the City). Codefendant Richard Meaney (Meaney) was a

business associate of defendant and codefendant Stephen Pougnet (Pougnet), who served

as the City’s mayor from 2007 until 2015. In February 2017, the People filed a criminal

complaint against all three individuals and, in August 2019, a grand jury returned a 30-

count indictment against them. The indictment charged defendant with nine counts of

bribery (Pen. Code,1 § 67, counts 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, & 18) and one count of

conspiracy to commit bribery (§ 182, subd. (a), count 30).

On December 4, 2020, the trial court granted defendant’s motion to set aside the

indictment pursuant to section 995, and dismissed all counts against defendant on the

basis that the evidence was not sufficient to sustain the indictment.2 The People appeal

from this order. Based upon our independent review of the record, we conclude the

evidence before the grand jury was sufficient to support the indictment and that the

alternative grounds for affirmance of the order suggested by defendant are not supported

by the…