Sen. Hill’s Co-Defendant Is Final Witness

SACRAMENTO — Testimony in the political corruption trial of state Sen. Frank Hill concluded Thursday with the Whittier Republican’s co-defendant, Terry E. Frost, being grilled by federal prosecutors.

Frost, a former Senate Democratic aide, acknowledged that he had “my foot in my mouth a lot” when bantering about campaign fund raising to an FBI informant who was secretly tape-recording the discussions.

“There are a lot of people who make misstatements,” but they don’t necessarily reflect criminal intent, testified Frost, who is charged with a single count of conspiracy to commit extortion.

Frost, 44, was the final witness. Final arguments are scheduled for June 13.

Prosecutors allege that Frost led the undercover informant to his friend, Karin Watson, an Assembly Republican consultant. Watson, in turn, unwittingly guided the FBI to Hill, then a rising star in the Assembly, and allegedly helped arrange a $2,500 honorarium for him.

Hill faces charges of extortion, conspiracy and money laundering stemming from his receipt of the honorarium from an undercover FBI agent posing as a Georgia businessman seeking legislation to help him locate a shrimp processing center in West Sacramento.

Frost testified that Watson never told him that Hill or anyone else “was going to receive any money” related to the bill proposed as part of the undercover sting.

But Frost acknowledged that he told Watson that the bogus shrimp entrepreneur would have a $10,000 budget for campaign contributions to dole out to Republican lawmakers.

Frost, who recently left a job as a lobbyist, also conceded that he asked the undercover informant how much he was willing to contribute as a way “to open some doors” in the Capitol. He insisted that he wanted to provide the businessman with legal access to lawmakers, not break the law.