ORANGE : Felony Convictions in Bid Case Contested

Attorneys for two contractors convicted of felonies this week in the Orange Unified School District bid-rigging scandal will ask a Superior Court judge to reduce the charges to misdemeanors.

The attorneys say that the sentences--a suspended term of one year in Orange County Jail and three years of unsupervised probation--passed on contractors Ronald Brock and William A. Gustafson by Superior Court Judge Myron S. Brown on Monday are applicable only to misdemeanors and that felony convictions against their clients should be dropped.

The judge found the contractors guilty on all five counts, including three felony counts of conspiracy and embezzling public money.

In a letter to Brown, Brock’s attorney, Evan L. Ginsburg, wrote that after reviewing his notes from the hearing, he thought that “there may be anomaly in the sentence.”

“The sentence you have given Mr. Brock . . . would indicate a misdemeanor sentencing,” Ginsburg wrote. “ . . . However, I believe that the finding of guilty on all charges would cause Mr. Brock to be guilty of a felony. . . . It was my understanding that with no provable losses (and possibly no actual losses), a misdemeanor finding would be made against my client.”

The prosecution was unable to document that Gustafson and Brock caused specific losses to the district. At a restitution hearing held earlier, Judge Ronald E. Owen determined that the contractors’ conduct had not caused the district to suffer any provable loss.

If Brock is convicted as a felon, Ginsburg wrote, his contracting license could be suspended, and “his other privileges in society would also be severely impacted.”

“The judge I’m sure intended to make those (charges) misdemeanors,” said Patrick Sarsfield Hallinan, Gustafson’s San Francisco-based attorney. “. . . I think that Judge Brown simply made an error. I think he’s a straight shooter, and if he knew that if he found guilt on all those counts that it would mean conviction of felony, he never would have done it.”

Hallinan said he will try to arrange a meeting with the judge to clarify the matter.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Donna L. Crandall agreed that the issue “needs to be clarified for everyone’s sake.”

“My feeling is still that the sentence that they received does not begin to address the seriousness of the charges,” Crandall said.

Brock and Gustafson were indicted by the 1987 Orange County Grand Jury on charges that they were part of a bid-rigging scheme to divert school district construction and repair jobs to selected companies in exchange for kickbacks to district maintenance officer Steven L. Presson. Presson, who was also convicted in the scandal, will be sentenced next month.