SAN JOSE — In another blow to the case built on a landmark Santa Clara County concealed-gun permit corruption indictment, California prosecutors dropped charges Monday against a political fundraiser who had been accused of bribery and participation in a criminal conspiracy.
A prosecutor for the state Attorney General’s office told a Superior Court judge Monday morning he didn’t believe there was enough evidence to successfully prosecute Christopher Schumb, who was accused of helping broker a pay-to-play scheme that curried donations from people hoping to be issued concealed-carry permits from the sheriff’s office.
Schumb’s attorney reiterated the same sentiment he has voiced since his client was indicted last summer.
“It is the right result,” attorney Joe Wall said in a statement Monday to this news organization. “Chris is innocent and the case never should have been filed against him in the first place.”
Even so, the county district attorney’s office suggested the case against Schumb might not be finished.
“We are ready to try the remaining defendants. Once that trial concludes, the AG has the right to refile charges against Mr. Schumb,” the office said in a statement.
In response to a request for comment, the office of state Attorney General Rob Bonta would only affirm the dismissal decision.
The AG’s decision to dismiss comes months after the DA’s office was disqualified from prosecuting Schumb after the Sixth District Court of Appeal affirmed a conflict of interest based on Schumb’s past friendship with and fundraising for Rosen. Schumb’s case was severed from co-defendants James Jensen — a sheriff’s captain — attorney Harpaul Nahal and local gunmaker Michael Nichols.
All four were indicted last summer on allegations they arranged the issuing of concealed-carry weapons permits in exchange for $90,000 in donations from an executive security manager to an independent expenditure committee, which was co-managed by Schumb and supported Sheriff Laurie Smith’s 2018 re-election.
Schumb is the second defendant in a wide-ranging corruption probe involving the gun permits by the DA to get his case dismissed. In a related but separate indictment, an Apple security executive compelled a judge to toss his charges after he was indicted along with the undersheriff on similar allegations.
In the Schumb case, three implicated but unindicted security figures pleaded to lesser charges, cooperating with investigators and identifying Schumb as the recipient of the $45,000 donation that showed up in campaign-finance records and was a major catalyst for the prosecution.
Monday’s outcome and the other successful legal challenge mounted by Thomas Moyer, Apple’s global security director, both indicate there is some traction for defendant arguments that correlations between alleged political favors and the securing of concealed-gun permits is not tantamount to bribery.But there still is strong incriminating evidence, including some surreptitiously recorded conversations involving the remaining defendants, that could surface at trial and provide fodder for new charges as the DA’s office alluded Monday.
To date, Smith has not been charged, even though she is the sole signing authority for the gun permits. She invoked her Fifth Amendment rights in refusing to testify to a criminal grand jury, and was accused in later grand jury testimony of skirting gift-reporting laws in her use of a hockey luxury suite that belonged to a donor and gun-permit recipient.
Check back later for updates to this story.
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August 31, 2021 at 02:04AM
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California Attorney General drops bribery charges against fundraiser in Santa Clara County concealed-gun permit scandal - Pacifica Tribune
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