Carona

Appellant Michael S. Carona, formerly the Sheriff of Orange Country, California, was charged with several federal crimes relating to alleged corruption. The jury acquitted him on most counts but found him guilty on one count of witness tampering in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1512 (b)(2)(A). He appeals that conviction on two primary grounds.

The first concerns the admission into evidence of a recorded conversation between Carona and a confederate who was at the time of the conversation cooperating with federal prosecutors. The district court held that the prosecutors violated Rule 2-100 of the California Rules of Professional Conduct (“Communication with a Represented Party”) by communicating with Carona, known by them at the time to be represented by counsel, through the cooperating witness, to whom the prosecutors had given fake documents to use in eliciting incriminating statements. The district court did not suppress the evidence or impose sanctions on the government for this violation, however, leaving any discipline for the violation to the state bar. Carona contends, among other things, that the evidence should have been suppressed and that the lead prosecutor should…