Hillary requires an open-toed Hsu for her claws. Her dirty donor was so confused that he inadvertently boarded the train--he had no intention of avoiding the court hearing(lawyers can be so inventive):
>Hsu Didn't Intend To Skip Court, Spokesman Says
Sept 19, 2007
(AP) DENVER, Colo. Disgraced Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu was "sick and confused" and may have mistakenly boarded a train that took him out of San Mateo County, where he had a court date, his spokesman said Tuesday.
Hsu was arrested in Grand Junction, Colo., on Sept. 6 after he failed to show up at his bail hearing in Redwood City, for a 1991 grand theft conviction.
His spokesman, Jason Booth, said Hsu intended to appear for his Sept. 5 court date in California and may have thought he was boarding a Bay Area Rapid Transit train when he instead caught an Amtrak train heading out of the state.
"That's what appears to be how it happened," said Booth, who was in Colorado on Tuesday on the eve of a court hearing at which Hsu was expected to waive extradition, officially ending his 15-year run from California authorities. "He was disoriented at the time. ... We believe he suffered a psychological, mental or physical breakdown. How that was caused I don't know. I'm not a doctor."
California Attorney General's Office spokesman Gareth Lacy declined to comment on Booth's statement late Tuesday.
Hsu boarded the Amtrak train about an hour and a half after arriving in California by charter plane on Sept. 5. He was found with a ticket for Denver when he apparently fell ill in western Colorado and had to be hospitalized.
Tapes of Grand Junction police radio traffic indicate that an officer recognized Hsu's name from television news reports.
Hsu was a leading money "bundler" for Clinton, earning the title of HillRaiser for his efforts. Her campaign is returning $850,000 in contributions linked to Hsu.
Hsu remained in custody Tuesday on $5 million bail, Booth said.
If he waives extradition Wednesday as expected, California officials have 10 days to pick him up, Mesa County sheriff's spokeswoman Heather Benjamin said, adding that Hsu was in administrative segregation because of his high profile status.
Mesa County District Attorney Pete Hautzinger had requested that Hsu's bail in Colorado be set at $50 million, saying he had been informed that Hsu was "probably involved" in a scheme involving $33 million and about 50 investors in Orange County, Calif. He gave no details.
Hautzinger also cited an investigation in New York into whether Hsu was involved in the alleged misappropriation of millions of dollars from an investment fund.
The judge declined Hautzinger's request and instead set Hsu's bail at $5 million.
At his scheduled Sept. 5 court hearing, Hsu had been expected to turn over his passport and ask a San Mateo County judge to cut in half the $2 million bail he posted when he turned himself in last month after spending 15 years on the lam from the theft conviction.
When Hsu missed the bail reduction hearing, a judge issued a new arrest warrant for him.
"Based on my communications with him is that he had all intentions of being in court and now he wants to go in and deal with this," Booth said.< |
