A preliminary hearing in the case against the former San Mateo County Community College chancellor has been continued to April 17, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office.
The embattled former chancellor, Ron Galatolo, is facing over 20 felony counts and 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.
Galatolo’s defense attorney Chuck Smith said the preliminary hearing will be an opportunity to challenge the charges.
“Number one, he didn’t commit any crime and, number two, whatever they have charged happened so long ago that the statute of limitations has long since expired,” Smith said.
At a preliminary hearing, the DA’s Office is required to meet a lower burden of proof for the charges to continue a case to trial — meaning that dismissal at preliminary hearing is often harder to achieve. But Smith is confident in his client’s case, he said.
The case was originally continued because the defense requested more time to prepare, District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said.
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO
personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who
make comments. Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd,
racist or sexually-oriented language. Don't threaten. Threats of harming another
person will not be tolerated. Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone
or anything. Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on
each comment to let us know of abusive posts. PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK. Anyone violating these rules will be issued a
warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be
revoked.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.