Judge Arditti Found Not Guilty; Attorneys On Both Sides Fined

Suspended district court judge Regina Arditti was found not guilty on Wednesday afternoon on all five counts she faced in her nepotism trial.

Arditti faced two charges of bribery, two charges of abuse of official capacity, and one charge of prohibition against trading.

Arditti’s family reacted loudly and her daughter ran out of courtroom. Arditti hugged her attorneys after the verdict.

After the verdict was rendered, visiting Judge Steven “Steve” Smith fined attorneys for the defense and the prosecution. Defense attorney Stuart Leeds was fined $2,750 and defense attorney Theresa Caballero was fined $4,500. Prosecutor Kyle Lasley was fined $20 for an “inadvertent” contempt of court citation.

The jury of 11 women and one man began deliberations began after lunch.

Just like in opening statements, it was objection after objection after objection during both sides’ closing arguments Wednesday morning.

In addition to those objections, defense attorney Theresa Caballero also asked for a mistrial dozens of times.

Those motions were denied.

Prosecutors used a very lengthy timeline to help jurors understand their argument.

Prosecutors said it’s an argument that dates back to January 2009 when prosecutors allege Arditti schemed with convicted state judge Manny Barraza to hire each others’ relatives. Those relatives — Arditti’s son and Barraza’s sister — testified they didn’t know anything about the alleged agreement.

Nearly 30 witnesses took the stand, most of them county employees who worked for the judges or in the human relations department.

With the exception of one witness, each of them testified they did not know anything about the alleged agreement.

That one exception was local attorney David Biagas.

“You would not have David Biagas in your home. You would not leave him alone with a piece of jewelry. You would not let him babysit your daughter,” defense attorney Stuart Leeds said. “You would not hire him as your lawyer and you should not let him convict judge Arditti.”

Prosecutor Joe Monsivais argued that, “The defense wants you to believe that David Biagas is a bad person because he testified against Manny Barraza and that he can’t be trusted because he’s not being prosecuted by the federal government, but one thing we know is that Manny Barraza trusted him. After David Biagas testified, Manny Barraza was convicted.”

Biagas was actually inside the courtroom for part of closing arguments Wednesday morning. The defense even pointed out his presence to jurors.

Three of Arditti’s four children also were in the courtroom, including the Dante Vance, the son allegedly involved in the illegal hiring agreement.

Closing arguments began and finished Wednesday morning.

Monsivais began opening statements with an admission.

“This was not a smash and grab kind of case,” Monsisvais said. “This was a case that spanned several weeks, sometimes months. We tried to condense it.”

Indeed, most of the testimony revolved around paperwork and hiring practices.

“I know you all were waiting for the smoking gun,” Leeds said. “There is no smoking gun because there’s no crime and there’s no evidence of any crime. You heard from people who have axes to grind, people who have been fired, people who didn’t get jobs.”