More documents coming in former Stockton mayor’s embezzlement case

A prosecutor leading the embezzlement case against former Stockton Mayor Anthony Silva said Monday that his office is providing defense attorneys with two discs containing digital evidence obtained during the investigation.

But the defense wants more and will ask for it when Silva next appears in court on Sept. 5.

The former mayor’s latest hearing on Monday was brief. San Joaquin County Deputy District Attorney Robert Himelblau told Superior Court Judge Charlotte Orcutt that prosecutors are handing over 7.5 gigabytes of information obtained during searches of Silva’s home and the Stockton Kids Club on Olympic Circle, as well as “personal items” taken from Silva at the airport when he returned from a trip.

Prosecutors also are preparing to return computers that were seized during the investigation, Himelblau said.

Silva attorney N. Allen Sawyer, however, said after court that the defense also wants transcripts of witness interviews conducted by law enforcement. Those transcripts may contain details that were never presented to members of the criminal grand jury that indicted Silva in the first place, Sawyer said.

It’s good that prosecutors are handing over their findings from the searches, the defense attorney said.

“We wanted that stuff,” Sawyer said outside court. “But the bottom line is he (Himelblau) has interviewed a bunch of folks and he’s required by law to give us those statements.”

Himelblau said after court that prosecutors already turned over more than 6,000 pages of evidence in addition to the 7.5 gigabytes of files provided on Monday.

“If (Sawyer) thinks he needs anything else I’m more than happy to turn over everything,” Himelblau said. “We want to make sure the defense has everything. We don’t want the case to be continued in the middle of trial. We want it to be clean.”

One key part of the prosecution’s case that defense attorneys have deliberately avoided obtaining is the transcript of the grand jury proceedings.

In April, Silva’s attorneys attempted to persuade a different judge to seal the transcript for good. Having lost that battle, the attorneys are relying upon a section of law that prevents the transcript from becoming public until 10 days after it has been delivered to the defense.

The transcript has been available for months. But the defense has purposefully not taken the document in order to prevent it from becoming public for now.

“It’s not that we’re afraid of anything in there,” Sawyer said outside court. “We just don’t believe it will be accurate or will have been presented correctly. We’d like an opportunity to shield potential jurors.”

But Judge Orcutt seemed surprised by Sawyer’s interpretation of when “delivery” of the transcript occurs under the law.

“The law says it shall be delivered. So I don’t even know why we’re having this discussion. It should have been delivered already,” the judge told Sawyer during Monday’s hearing.

Sawyer asked for a chance on Sept. 5 to make his case formally to the judge that the transcript should not yet be publicly available.

A third issue to be discussed on that date is the defense’s desire for Silva to be able to communicate with Kids Club representatives. Silva has been ordered to stay away from them, but Sawyer said club officials aren’t requesting such protection.

Silva, who is free on bail, said nothing at Monday’s hearing other than to apologize for being tardy. He is accused of embezzling funds when he served as CEO of the Kids Club, formerly the Stockton Boys & Girls Club.