Jan 25, 2008 5:51 pm US/Pacific
Federal Judge Postpones Setting Ed Jew Trial Date
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) ―
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Former San Francisco supervisor Ed Jew.
CBS
Former San Francisco Supervisor Ed Jew appeared briefly Friday in federal court where he faces corruption charges and was given a March 19 date for a hearing on an expected pretrial defense motion.
Defense attorney Stuart Hanlon explained to U.S. District Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco the motion would be in regards to an alleged conflict of interest on the part of Jew's previous attorney, Steven Gruel.
Illston said, "I'm not sure what you're talking about," but agreed to hear the motion on March 19 and to postpone setting a date for Jew's trial on five counts of mail fraud, bribery and extortion.
The judge said she expects to set the trial date at the March 19 session. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Wang told the judge prosecutors are hoping for a trial in early July.
Jew, 47, the owner of a Chinatown flower shop, was accused in a Nov. 6 grand jury indictment of trying to extort $84,000 from the owners of eight tapioca drink shops and a dessert cafe in exchange for help in obtaining city permits.
He resigned from his post as a supervisor representing the city's Sunset District on Jan. 10 amid separate allegations that he lived in Burlingame rather than San Francisco when he ran for office in 2006.
The resignation put an end to two civil proceedings in which Mayor Gavin Newsom and City Attorney Dennis Herrera sought to remove Jew from office for allegedly lying about his residence.
But Jew still faces state criminal charges of lying about where he lived in addition to the federal corruption charges. The state charges, filed by District Attorney Kamala Harris, include nine counts of perjury, election code violations, voter fraud and providing false documents.
Hanlon, who represents Jew in both criminal cases, said outside of court that his priority is to deal with the federal case first.
Hanlon said the alleged conflict of interest came about when Gruel, a former federal prosecutor, allegedly contacted the FBI last spring on behalf of State Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco/San Mateo, after Yee told Gruel of an allegation that Jew was attempting to engage in extortion. The contact occurred before Gruel became Jew's defense lawyer in the federal case.
Hanlon contended, "That is a real serious conflict of interest," but said he was still doing research on how the alleged conflict might affect the case and on what remedy the defense motion may seek.
Yee spokesman Adam Keigwin referred to a Jan. 14 statement in which Yee said, "In April 2007, I was given information that Ed Jew was attempting to extort funds from the owners of a Quickly tapioca drink business.... It was my ethical responsibility to inform the proper law enforcement officials to investigate."
Keigwin said that because the case is pending, Yee couldn't give further details on whom he contacted.
Gruel said Friday he couldn't comment on the conflict allegation because he is bound by attorney-client confidentiality.
"I'm ethically bound and prohibited from discussing any aspect of my former representation of Ed Jew," Gruel said.
Jew declined to comment on the pending cases outside of court on Friday, but said of his current routine, "I'm taking care of my daughter, helping her with school work and working seven days a week" in the flower store.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Bay City News contributed to this report.)
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