Defense attorney Steve Sutro says that Superior Court Judge Cynthia Lee threw out three allegations that Chinchilla violated city ordinances.
Chinchilla, a 49-year-old lawyer and real estate broker, was accused last fall of violating both city and state conflict-o- interest laws and accepting a total of $182,500 from developers for three proposed projects during his six years as a planning commissioner.
The city's chief prosecutor Terence Hallinan said at the time that Chinchilla had told his clients that it would be okay for him to accept the money and that he had cleared the practice with the City Attorney, but no record of such an opinion existed at that office.
The prosecutor added, however, that there is also no evidence Chinchilla voted to approve any of the projects in question, although it appears he once participated in a postponement of one decision.
David Bogott, of Hallinan's staff, says that the judge's decision still leaves the case on the trial calendar but will necessitate some review by his office. "We have to evaluate what we'll do,'' he adds, declining to provide further details.
The case is due back in court on March 19, Bogott says. Mayor Willie Brown appointed Chinchilla to the Planning Commission in 1996, twice serving as president of the influential body. His tenure ended in June, when a different mechanism for appointing commissioners went into effect.
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