Jury selection in the racketeering and bribery case of a former Orange County Commissioner Mildred Fernandez will get underway on Tuesday morning, after lawyers failed yesterday to get the charges dropped.
Fernandez’ attorneys were unsuccessful in convincing a judge that she was being “selectively prosecuted” by state Attorney Lawson Lamar and that it was a political witch hunt against her. The judge also did not buy that Fernandez was a victim of entrapment when she was taped during an undercover sting.
Fernandez was arrested in April last year after prosecutors say she accepting campaign contributions of $1,000 in exchange for agreeing to fast track a proposed building project. At the time, she was campaigning to become the next mayor of Orange County.
Charged with 15 counts, including bribery, racketeering and grand theft, Fernandez has maintained her innocence and earlier rejected a plea deal.
