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A defense attorney in the Colonies corruption trial took San Bernardino County District Attorney Mike Ramos to task on Wednesday, accusing him off filing a bogus case against the four defendants solely for his own political gain.
Stephen Larson, counsel for Rancho Cucamonga developer Jeff Burum, concluded his opening statement with a 2011 videotape of Ramos calling Colonies the largest instance of political corruption in the Inland Empire’s history.
Immediately after the videotape, a display of some of Ramos’ campaign materials from 2010 and 2014 was shown to the two juries that will decide the case. All of those items, most of which appeared to be mailers, prominently mentioned of the Colonies case and Ramos’ determination to bring the accused to justice.
Larson spent more than one day telling the jurors that no crimes were committed in connection with the development of Colonies Crossroads and Colonies at San Antonio, commercial and residential projects developed by Burum in Upland.
Larson then aimed his fire directly at Ramos, accusing the county’s top law enforcement official of filing false charges against the defendants for his own political gain.
“He calls this the biggest political corruption case ever in the Inland Empire,” Larson said of Ramos, who has been subpoenaed to testify in the trial. “What this is is a politically motivated trial. No bribes took place. No crime was committed, there was no quid pro quo. We believe the evidence we present at trial will show that.”
Burum, former assistant county assessor James Erwin, former county Supervisor Paul Biane and Mark Kirk, one-time chief of staff to former Supervisor Gary Ovitt all face bribery and corruption charges in connection with the 434-acre Colonies projects.
Burum is alleged to have paid $400,000 in bribes to his three fellow defendants and former Supervisor Bill Postmus. Prosecutors allege those payments – actually donations to political action committees controlled by Biane, Erwin and Kirk –
opening the door for their development.
During his opening statement, Larson seemingly poked holes in that argument, pointing out that the board voted overwhelming on multiple occasions to settle the Colonies matter before it was settled officially in November 2006.
“Clearly they wanted to put the matter behind them,” Larson said. “There was no reason for a bribe. They were already voting yes.”
All four defendants – Erwin is being tried separately – maintain their innocence and say the charges against them are politically motivated.
Prosecutors on Wednesday called their first witness, former Supervisor Dennis Hansberger.
