A jury trial date has been set more than eight months from now in the case against embattled former San Mateo County Community College District chancellor Ron Galatolo, who is facing 23 felony counts.
Galatolo is accused of directing district construction project contracts to people from whom he received valuable gifts and shared financial interests, allegedly misreporting tax information and allegedly trying to get the district to pay for his lawyer’s fees, according to the DA’s office. He maintains he has done nothing wrong.
Pretrial will begin July 29 and jury trial Aug. 22 per defense request, San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said, noting that the defense lawyer, Chuck Smith, would be in other trials up until that date.
A grand jury recently indicted Galatolo, pushing the case forward after the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office faced various delays from the defense, District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said previously.
Smith had denied that the defense was the reason the preliminary hearing in the case had been delayed.
“This case was delayed for about a year because the DA was litigating another issue with another witness, and so we kept having to wait,” Smith said. “This idea that they went to a grand jury for the defense not moving the case along is false.”
Galatolo, for his part, has maintained he is eager to get in front of a jury and prove his innocence.
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