Colonies trial could go away Friday

A San Bernardino County Superior Court judge is scheduled to decide Friday whether the last defendant in the Colonies Crossroads corruption trial should be retried.

Jurors in the trial of James Erwin, former assistant county assessor and president of the sheriff’s union, deadlocked this month on all seven felony counts filed against him.

Erwin faced bribery and perjury charges in connection with the development of Colonies Crossroads, 434-acre retail development in Upland.

He and his three co-defendants – developer Jeff Burum, former Supervisor Paul Biane and Mark Kirk, former chief of of staff to then Supervisor Gary Ovitt – were charged with bribing county officials in order to get a favorable settlement from the board of supervisors.

Burum, Biane and Kirk were acquitted of all charges against them last month. Erwin, who was tried by a separate jury, was not so fortunate.

Jurors voted 10-2 and 9-3 for not guilty on several charges, but 11-1 and 8-4 for conviction on two perjury counts, said Rajan Maline, Erwin’s lawyer.

Judge Michael A. Smith must now decide whether Erwin should be retried on some or all of the charges originally filed against him or whether to dismiss the case entirely. While not making a prediction, Maline said he is confident going into the hearing.

“The 10-2 and 9-3 counts are overwhelmingly in our favor, “ Maline said. “I’m concerned about the others, because the first thing the judge will look at is the jury split, but that’t not the only thing he will look at.

“There are solid public policy reasons why those charges should be dismissed.”

The felony perjury charges against Erwin relate to a Form 700 candidate statement – a financial disclosure document that elected officials in California are sometimes required to file – that was not properly filled out.

State law mandates that those charges should be misdemeanors, not felonies, Maline said.

Maline blamed the deadlock on  several “rogue jurors” who did not listen to the evidence.

“They decided to go their own way, regardless of the law,” Moline said.