10/13/2010
The request of Mildred Fernandez’s lawyer to remove State Attorney Lawson Lamar from her trial was denied by a circuit judge. Fernandez was suspended as Orange County Commissioner due to corruption charges.
In the argument presented by Fernandez’s lawyer, Anthony Suarez, he said that Lamar has been “compromised” due to the interactions he had with the political rivals of Suarez.
Judge C. Jeffrey Arnold stated that Lamar, being a Democrat, had not showed any bias in prosecuting public officials. The judge also stated that Lamar cannot actually control the events surrounding the arrest of Fernandez, who during that time was running for county mayor as a Republican. Fernandez’s arrest was brought about when an undercover agent, posed as a developer, and delivered huge contributions to her campaign, but Fernandez denied any wrongdoing.
The point of concern of Suarez was that, Lamar had a meeting with Eric Foglesong, the campaign manager of the rival of Fernandez, Bill Segal, just when the issues with Fernandez surfaced.
Other charges that were filed against Fernandez were bribery and racketeering. Suarez filed a motion for the dismissal of half of these charges.
In the latest motion made by Suarez, he argued that when lawmakers wrote racketeering laws, what they had in mind were organized crime figures and not political candidates. He further stated that the case of Fernandez could not be regarded as such.
