GOP Aide Carmony to Be Retried Dec. 1 in Ballot Conspiracy Case

A new trial is set to start Dec. 1 for Republican campaign aide Rhonda Carmony, who is accused of violating election laws by conspiring to put a decoy candidate on the ballot during the Doris Allen recall.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Brent Romney said he had hoped for an earlier date, but Judge Francisco P. Briseno decided Friday that he could not fit it into his busy calendar until later in the year.

“We felt that the public deserved for the case to be resolved,” Romney said, adding that the lapse in time will not hurt his case.

Carmony, whose trial in June ended in a jury deadlock, worked as a campaign manager for Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach). She and Rohrabacher are engaged to marry this month.

Throughout the initial trial, Carmony maintained that she did nothing wrong during a GOP plan to assist Democrat Laurie Campbell, who testified that Carmony had a minor role compared with other GOP aides. Prosecutors charged Carmony, 27, with three felony counts of breaking election laws in the fall of 1995 to protect other Republicans.

A jury split 10-2, 10-2 and 9-3 in favor of conviction on the three counts.

“We didn’t present a defense then,” said Creighton Laz, who is representing Carmony. “Even without a defense, there was no conviction. That shows there are serious problems with the prosecution’s case.”

Neither Laz nor Romney would comment on their planned approach to the retrial, but both said they have learned from jurors and plan to do some things differently.