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Feds Investigating Paris Hilton Prosecutor and Wife

By Jeralyn, Section Misconduct
Posted on Wed Aug 20, 2008 at 07:24:00 AM EST
Tags: Delgadillo, Paris Hilton (all tags)
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The LA Times reports that the feds are investigating LA City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo and his wife. The lengthy article doesn't mention that Rocky Delgadillo was the city attorney who insisted on hammering Paris Hilton, notwithstanding parallel conduct by his wife. But I did back when Paris was in the news:

Paris was sentenced for a probation violation for driving under suspension while on probation. Mrs. Delgadillo also drove under suspension and committed a traffic offense while doing so. She was not charged with driving under suspension, only the traffic offense, and was fined $186.00.

Paris got 23 days in jail for driving under suspension which was a violation of her probation. She wasn't charged or convicted of any traffic offense-- or of drunk driving-- on that occasion. She didn't cause an accident. Her only drunk driving charge was the one that led to her original term of probation. As I wrote here: [More...]

Meanwhile, the allegations against the City Attorney who asked for her jail sentence and his wife (who drove with a suspended license and no insurance but avoided jail even after being in an accident) continue to raise questions about "fairness and hypocrisy" in the LA criminal justice system.

While the federal probe appears to be about issues concerning Mrs. Delgadillio's conduct relating to her business and tax affairs, the publicity is re-raising issues about her other conduct and the sweet deal she got, compared to Paris. As the Times reports today:

Michelle Delgadillo also made headlines when The Times revealed that she had dented her husband's city car while driving with a suspended license.

Velasquez says a "political agenda" lies behind any allegations made against Delgadillo, who is said to be interested in seeking statewide office when his term expires next year.

"Any allegation of wrongdoing is nothing more than garbage being shoveled by the city attorney's political opponents hiding behind the cloak of anonymity," [spokesman]Velasquez said in one such comment. "This is a classic political smear."

Given how her husband asked the court to lower on the boom on Paris, I don't think it's either garbage or a smear. I think it's relevant.

On a related note, Delgadillo's office also insisted on a