Judge refuses to toss out felony extortion case against Fresno’s city council president

A Fresno Superior Court judge ruled Thursday that a felony attempted extortion case against Fresno City Council President Nelson Esparza could move forward, denying a motion made by Esparza’s attorneys to drop the case.

Esparza will be back in court Tuesday for a preliminary hearing.

Prosecutors in July charged Esparza with one felony count of attempted extortion and one misdemeanor count of attempting to violate the city charter. The complaint alleges Esparza threatened the employment of former Fresno City Attorney Doug Sloan, who later left his post for a similar job in Santa Monica.

Esparza’s attorneys tried to get the case thrown out, arguing that the conversation the allegations stand on was confidential under attorney-client privilege.

Judge Brian Alvarez denied the motion.

Alvarez said attorney-client privilege was waived when Esparza disclosed the conversation, in detail, in a defamation lawsuit that later was dropped but remains public information. Alvarez called the case complicated, convoluted, and even novel.

During the hearing, Sloan took the stand and testified along with a district attorney investigator. It was the first time Sloan’s been heard or seen publicly since the accusations. Sloan also will be back in court Tuesday.

In his testimony, Sloan recounted the short conversation that took place back in April. When asked by prosecutor Victor Lai, who leads the Fresno District Attorney’s public integrity unit, if Sloan considered the conversation protected by attorney-client privilege, Sloan said no for two reasons.

“One, it was a threat, and two, it did not involve legal advice,” Sloan said.

Despite the outcome of the hearing, Esparza seemed unfazed.

“We remain unconcerned and undeterred about the status of the case. We’ve said from the beginning that we look forward to the process and the proceedings and moving forward. We’ll look forward to exonerating the case on the basis of the facts.”

Esparza’s family, friends, staffers and political allies showed up to support him in court, for which he later thanked them.

“I think most of the community sees the case certainly for what it is, and it looks like going forward, we’ll have the opportunity to watch that unfold,” he said.

Last month, Esparza entered a not guilty plea.

Esparza has maintained his innocence and vowed to remain in office and complete his duties as council president.

Esparza’s colleague, Councilmember Garry Bredefeld, first made the allegation publicly in May. Esparza sued Bredefeld for defamation but later dropped the case. Fresno County District Attorney investigators primarily collected testimony from Sloan and three people who corroborated his story as evidence to charge Esparza with felony extortion.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit, Sloan told investigators Esparza threatened to fire him if he did work for councilmembers outside the council majority. The conversation between Sloan and Esparza occurred in late April, one day after a closed session meeting in which Sloan’s job performance was reviewed.

Councilmembers Miguel Arias, Nelson Esparza, Tyler Maxwell and Esmeralda Soria, all Democrats, often form the majority vote on action items and are broadly considered the council majority. Councilmembers Garry Bredefeld is the lone Republican on the council, and Councilmembers Luis Chavez and Mike Karbassi, also Democrats, sometimes cast the swing votes.