Valley House Where Former Councilman Claimed to Live Appeared Vacant, Prosecutor says

A prosecutor told jurors today that the Panorama City house that former Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon and his wife claimed as their "domicile" appeared to neighbors, utility employees and mail carriers to be vacant, while a defense attorney argued that the prosecution had not even come close to proving the charges against the two.

Alarcon, 60, is charged with 16 felony counts, including seven counts of fraudulent voting, six counts of perjury by declaration and three counts of perjury in an application for a drivers license. The prosecution contends the crimes occurred between November 2006 and May 2009.

His wife, Flora Montes de Oca Alarcon, 49, is charged with six felony counts: three counts each of perjury by declaration and fraudulent voting in elections in 2007, 2008 and 2009.

In her closing argument, Deputy District Attorney Michele Gilmer told the Los Angeles Superior Court jury that the evidence indicates that the couple lied about being domiciled at the Panorama City home.

Prosecution witnesses, including neighbors, described the home as appearing to be vacant, the prosecutor said.

Alarcon unsuccessfully approached now-former City Councilwoman Wendy Greuel in an effort to have the boundaries of his district changed so that Flora Alarcon's home in Sun Valley, located in the council district Greuel represented, would be included in his district, the prosecutor said, noting that it showed that he had "full knowledge of the law" that he had to live in the district he represented.

"The evidence in this case is overwhelming that they were not" at the Panorama City house, the prosecutor said.

One mail carrier described the house as appearing empty, while another did not think anybody lived there, Gilmer told jurors.

The prosecutor cited records showing that no gas was used at the property between April 2007 and February 2009, indicating that there was no heat in the house and no way to take hot showers. A search warrant served at the house in January of 2010 turned up a container of orange juice from March 2009 and eggs that were at least a year old, along with milk that was about 12 days old, Gilmer told jurors.

Flora Alarcon's attorney, Mark Overland, countered that the prosecution was "not even close to proving the charges," telling jurors that he wished they had three choices -- guilty, not guilty or innocent. He said he believed the case showed the two were "actually innocent."

"These are word crimes. These are crimes about using the wrong words," Overland told jurors of the issue about residence and domicile, arguing that the couple always intended to return to the Panorama City home despite not being there every day.

Overland said the case was about "many things," including a remodeling at the Panorama City home that the prosecution thinks took too long.

Richard Alarcon's attorney, Richard Lasting, questioned the testimony from neighbors, saying that one couple didn't even notice changes to the exterior of the property and that some believed the home was vacant when more electricity was being used at the property in 2006 and 2007 than at the larger home in Sun Valley that Flora Alarcon owned.

Lasting noted that bank records were addressed to his client at the Panorama City home between 2007 and 2009, calling question to testimony that junk mail and fliers were the mainstay of the mail delivered at that property.

He said it would be up to jurors to determine whether the Alarcons "when they were out (of the property) because of renovations had the intent to return."

Lasting is expected to wrap up his closing argument on Thursday, with jurors expected to receive the case after hearing the prosecution's rebuttal argument.

The longtime legislator, who has also served in the state Senate and Assembly, has contested the charges, insisting that he began living at the Panorama City home in November 2006.

Shortly after the search warrant was served, Alarcon told reporters that an intruder had caused significant damage to the Panorama City home during a break-in in October of 2009 and that he had returned to the house several times to try to repair the damage. He said then that he and his wife were temporarily staying at another house in the 2nd. District.

In July of 2010, just before the grand jury indicted Alarcon and his wife, he said: "Because my wife owns two homes and we have stayed in both of them during the last four years, I can understand the confusion, but my permanent home has always been on Nordhoff Street (in Panorama City), regardless of where I may stay."

In May of 2012, Superior Court Judge Kathleen Kennedy dismissed the indictment against the couple. Hours later, Los Angeles County prosecutors re- filed charges, on which the two were ordered to stand trial in October 2012.

State Sen. Roderick Wright was convicted Jan. 28 of similar charges, with prosecutors in that case contending that he lived outside the district he was elected to represent. Wright was suspended on March 28 by the state Senate and is awaiting sentencing.

--City News Service