(December 12)  The California Supreme Court this week denied a petition by defense attorney Stephen Larson to review Superior Court Judge Michael Smith’s rulings against dismissing criminal charges facing  defendant Jeff Burum in the Colonies Lawsuit Settlement Public Corruption Prosecution  on grounds of improper grand jury instruction and the withholding of exculpatory evidence.
Larson  petitioned the Supreme Court on behalf of Burum  after the 4th District Court of Appeals in Riverside rejected two writs Larson filed in October. Last summer,  Smith dismissed a central conspiracy charge against Burum and former county supervisor Paul Biane, former assistant assessor and sheriff’s deputies union president Jim Erwin, and former Second District supervisorial district chief of staff Mark Kirk, who are also charged in the case, on statute of limitations grounds. .Smith allowed charges pertaining to the misappropriation of public funds and the provision of bribes to public officials to proceed in the case, which Larson had appealed.