Steel attorney aims to get charge dropped

Deepa Bharath

SANTA ANA -- Costa Mesa Councilman Chris Steel’s attorney is poised to

make a motion next month, the outcome of which will determine whether one

of the two felony charges against him will be dismissed.

The Orange County district attorney in May charged the councilman with

perjury and accused him of allowing resident Richard Noack to sign the

2000 election nomination papers on behalf of his wife and for supplying

his own signature in place of a legally blind woman in 1998.

Defense attorney Ron Cordova said after a preliminary hearing Friday

that the judgment in a civil lawsuit brought against Steel by Costa Mesa

resident Michael Szkaradek will have a bearing on the criminal trial.

Superior Court Judge Thierry Patrick Colaw threw that civil case out

in July, saying Szkaradek did not show enough evidence that Steel

deliberately falsified the election nomination papers.

The judge did not consider the 1998 charges in that trial because,

according to state election code, too much time had lapsed for that

charge to be tried in civil court.

Cordova said the motion, which is expected to be heard Oct. 12, will

determine whether Colaw’s judgment “will act as a bar to the prosecution”

in the 2000 charge.

“This is a case with interesting legal issues,” he remarked. “This

issue is definitely one of them.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Mike Lubinski said he has not seen Colaw’s decision

but added that the decision on the upcoming motion “will resolve the

issue” surrounding Steel’s 2000 election nomination papers.

Steel said bringing up the motion “is the best we can do.”

“It gives us some flexibility, some leeway,” he said Friday, outside

the courtroom.

Steel has consistently declined several offers from the district

attorney to plead guilty to misdemeanor charges and give up his seat.

“A lot of people said I should cop a plea,” he said. “They say I’ll

take the political heat, but I won’t have to face the trial. But this is

something I feel I have to do to clear my name.”

Steel said he feels “kind of good going into the trial.”

“I think people have been pretty sympathetic to me, especially in the

charges relating to Mr. Noack,” he said.

The motion is scheduled to be heard at 8:30 a.m. Oct. 12 in Judge

Carla Singer’s courtroom at the Orange County Superior Court in Santa

Ana.