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Fresno District Attorney dismisses criminal case against city council president

The Fresno County District Attorney’s Office on Monday motioned to dismiss the misdemeanor attempted extortion case against Fresno City Council President Nelson Esparza.

Monday’s action was an explosive development for a pretrial conference, which typically is a routine, administrative hearing to prepare for trial. It also capped one of Fresno’s hottest political conflicts this year.

The case was dismissed “in the interest of justice.”

“I came into this process a free and innocent man, and I’m exiting this process the same way,” Esparza said after the hearing. “The outcome of the dismissal this morning is what we have been hoping for.”

During the hearing, Esparza made a brief statement about the conversation between him and former City Attorney Doug Sloan that led to the charges. Esparza acknowledged he did tell Sloan that if a resolution wasn’t followed, he’d vote to terminate him.

“I had no idea that he had misinterpreted our conversation,” Esparza said. “I never directed him not to comply with his legal and ethical obligations.”

Esparza said he has many thoughts about the whole situation, but he declined to share them outside of giving a short statement to the media. He thanked his family and attorneys for their support and said he plans to stay focused on governing the city.

Mark Coleman, Esparza’s attorney, said he wished the case was resolved sooner but ultimately was happy with the outcome.

Prosecutor answers questions

Prosecutor Victor Lai, who leads the Fresno County District Attorney’s public integrity unit, also answered reporters’ questions for the first time after the hearing.

Lai said Esparza’s acknowledgment in court about the conversation with Sloan was key.

“If Councilman Esparza had made his acknowledgment that he did today a little earlier, where he said, ‘OK, maybe I did say those words,’ maybe this would have been different,” Lai said. “I don’t know. I had to go with the information that we had at the time.”

Lai said he hopes Esparza can move forward and be a better councilmember with the understanding that people may interpret his words differently.

“I strongly believe the portion of government that affects people the most is local government,” Lai said. “It affects their daily lives. A lot of people don’t realize that all that the DA’s office wants is for local government to work.”

Lai shut down any speculation that the case was politically motivated and said District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp was not heavily involved, despite public speculation and accusations from local politicians.

“I have never been directed to investigate, or not investigate anybody, based on political affiliation, “Lai said. “If the DA asked me to do that, I would refuse because that’s not what we do.”

Lai said Smittcamp leads with integrity and would never put him in that position. Plus, the public integrity unit only investigates complaints submitted to the unit and never initiates investigations.

“So it’s not like she can go in and tell me to investigate anyway,” Lai said.

The case

Last month, a Fresno Superior Court judge reduced the charge from a felony to a misdemeanor.

Prosecutors filed the extortion charge as a felony over the summer, accusing Esparza of threatening Sloan’s employment. Sloan later left his post for a similar job in Santa Monica.

Esparza pleaded not guilty and maintained his innocence since his City Council colleague, Garry Bredefeld, first made the allegation in May. Esparza sued Bredefeld for defamation but later dropped the case.

The complaint alleged Esparza threatened the employment of Sloan, who later left his post for a similar job in Santa Monica.

Esparza’s attorneys tried to get the case thrown out, arguing that the conversation the allegations stood on was confidential under attorney-client privilege.

During the preliminary hearing, Sloan gave a lengthy testimony, answering questions both from the prosecutor and Esparza’s defense attorneys. Much of the defense’s cross examination focused on what Sloan didn’t do after the conversation in which Esparza allegedly threatened him.

Councilmember Miguel Arias also briefly testified.

Fresno County District Attorney investigators primarily collected testimony from Sloan and three people who corroborated his story as evidence to charge Esparza with felony extortion. According to an arrest warrant affidavit, Sloan told investigators Esparza threatened to fire him if he did work for councilmembers outside the council majority. The conversation between Sloan and Esparza occurred in late April, one day after a closed-session meeting in which Sloan’s job performance was reviewed.

Councilmembers Arias, Esparza, Tyler Maxwell and Esmeralda Soria (who left the council as of Monday for a seat in the State Assembly), all Democrats, often form the majority vote on action items and are broadly considered the council majority. Bredefeld is the lone Republican on the council, and Councilmembers Luis Chavez and Mike Karbassi, also Democrats, sometimes cast the swing votes.