Compton Council Member Must Face Election Fraud Trial

Compton City Councilman Floyd A. James and political consultant Roderick Wright were bound over for trial in Los Angeles Superior Court this week after failing to convince a judge that a trio of felony election fraud charges against them were based on insufficient evidence.

After hearing from six prosecution witnesses and watching defense lawyers cross-examine them, Municipal Court Judge Xenophon F. Lang ruled that “sufficient cause” exists to believe that James and his campaign adviser may have broken the law during a bitter reelection battle last year.

Last December a grand jury indicted James and Wright on charges of illegally inducing people to vote, committing election fraud and conspiring to violate mass-mailing requirements. The men are accused of offering record albums of a Jesse Jackson speech in return for voter pledges of support, and of trying to smear opponent Patricia A. Moore in a last-minute mailer declaring that she had been disqualified as a contender. Early in the campaign, Moore had indeed been disqualified because of a postal error, but she was reinstated long before the April, 1985, primary.

Moore had narrowly defeated James in the primary, forcing a runoff. But James won the June general election--and a second term--by a margin of almost 2 to 1 after issuing the album offer and the mailer in May.

Lang directed both men to appear for Superior Court arraignment on July 16. Their trial will probably not occur until fall. If convicted, each could receive up to nine years in state prison.

“I thought that it would be different,” said a disappointed James, as he emerged from Tuesday’s preliminary hearing still maintaining that he is innocent.

But for the first time, James acknowledged that he would “strongly consider” pleading guilty to avoid mounting legal expenses if prosecutors would reduce the charges to misdemeanors. That would probably require him to pay a fine, but would also allow him to escape the threat of jail and retain his council seat.

“What I’m looking at is fighting a court case that is going to mean from $25,000 to $30,000 in legal costs,” James said. “Naturally, that is always a consideration.”

Even before the preliminary hearing began last Friday, it was apparent that lawyers for James and Wright were conducting some sort of plea negotiations with Deputy Dist. Atty. Candace J. Beason. On at least two occasions, court proceedings were delayed while Beason apparently consulted with her superiors in the district attorney’s special investigations division, which handles cases involving public officials.

“There were some discussions,” said Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., the councilman’s attorney. “We were trying to see if the matter could be resolved.” Beyond that, neither defense lawyers nor Beason would detail the negotiations.

James said he has given no thought to stepping down from his council seat and continues to enjoy “tremendous support” from his constituents.

During the hearing, defense lawyers made much of the campaign involvement of Rep. Mervyn Dymally (D-Compton), who vigorously supported Moore against James. One prosecution witness, Francesca M. Houpe, said that after she went to James’ headquarters and received a Jackson album, she immediately visited Dymally’s Compton office. Within a few days of that visit, she teamed with Moore to file a civil suit against James, claiming that he was illegally trying to buy votes with the album offer. On the witness stand, Houpe said that all of the civil suit costs--except for $50 that she initially paid a lawyer--were being borne by Dymally.

After summarizing the evidence against James and Wright, Cochran declared that the prosecution had failed to prove that the men intended to commit election fraud. James was unaware of many of the details surrounding the album offer and the mailer, Cochran said.

“Put this case out of its misery now,” Cochran urged the judge. “Is this a case that should be in the Superior Court? I think not.”

Wright’s attorney, Gerald Chaleff, argued that many of the Compton voters who received the Jackson albums did not pledge to support James--indeed, Houpe and another prosecution witness said that when they went to James’ headquarters and received albums they openly announced that they would not vote for the councilman.