The Region - News from Feb. 7, 1985

The jury in the conspiracy and perjury trial of San Diego Mayor Roger Hedgecock began its deliberations, a process that could result in Hedgecock’s ouster as mayor of the nation’s eighth-largest city. During the 6 1/2-week trial, prosecutors charged that Hedgecock conspired with three of his closest supporters in a scheme to funnel tens of thousands of dollars in allegedly illegal contributions to Hedgecock’s 1983 campaign via a political consulting firm owned by a close friend of the mayor. Hedgecock, however, argues that the more than $360,000 that Nancy Hoover and J. David (Jerry) Dominelli, former principals in the now-bankrupt La Jolla investment firm of J. David & Co., invested in Tom Shepard & Associates was simply a routine business investment. Under state law, a felony conviction would result in Hedgecock’s removal from office.