California Supreme Court Overturns Ruling That Threw Out Ex-Beverly Hills School District Superintendent's Conviction

BEVERLY HILLS, CA — The California Supreme Court on Thursday overturned an appellate court ruling that threw out the conviction of a former Beverly Hills Unified School District superintendent on two counts of misappropriating public funds in connection with the payment of a $20,000 stipend and an increased car allowance to a department head

The state's highest court — which granted a petition by the California Attorney General's Office seeking its review of the case — reversed a December 2013 ruling by a three-justice panel from California's 2nd District Court of Appeal that had ordered a Los Angeles Superior Court judge to dismiss the charges against Jeffrey Hubbard.

In a 25-page ruling, the state supreme court ruled that the California statute under which Hubbard was charged "does not punish innocent mistakes by those in positions of public trust."

"Rather, it punishes those like Hubbard who, aware of the wrongfulness of their conduct or criminally negligent of that fact, nonetheless misappropriate the public funds they have a fiduciary responsibility to safeguard," Associate Justice Mariano-Florentino Cuellar wrote on behalf of the panel.

"In light of Hubbard's explicit contractual responsibilities to oversee the 'budget and business affairs' of the district, testimony that superintendents like Hubbard owe a duty to safeguard school district funds, and Hubbard's responsibility to ensure such public funds were spent in accordance with the law, we hold the evidence was sufficient," Cuellar wrote, with the other six justices concurring. "Accordingly, we reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeal and remand the case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion."

SEE ALSO:

• State Appellate Court Reverses Jeffrey Hubbard's Conviction
• Former BHUSD Superintendent Gets 60 Days in Jail
• Records Show Early Release for Jeffrey Hubbard 
  
• Update: School Board Fires Superintendent Jeffrey Hubbard
  
• Teachers Vote 'No Confidence' in Superintendent 

Attorneys could not be reached for immediate comment on the California Supreme Court's ruling.

In December 2013, a three-justice panel from California's 2nd District Court of Appeal reversed Hubbard's conviction, finding that he could not be held criminally liable.

That appellate court panel ordered a Los Angeles Superior Court judge to dismiss the charges against Hubbard and to vacate all of the penalties that had been ordered against him, agreeing with the defense's contention that he was not a person "charged with the receipt, safekeeping, transfer, or disbursement of public moneys" within the meaning of the state's law on misappropriation of public funds.

Hubbard — the district's superintendent from July 2003 to June 2006 — had been sentenced in February 2012 to 60 days in jail, to complete 280 hours of community service and three years on probation and ordered to pay $23,500 in restitution to the school district and a $6,000 fine.

The charges involved funds that were paid to Karen A. Christiansen — then employed by the district as a director of planning and facilities — for a car allowance that was increased from $150 monthly to $500 in 2005, along with a $20,000 stipend in 2006, according to the appellate court panel's ruling.

The appellate court panel's ruling came seven months after an appellate court panel reversed Christiansen's conviction on four separate conflict-of- interest charges, ruling that she was working in 2007 and 2008 as a consultant for the district and was no longer an employee under a June 2006 contract. That panel found that she was "not a member, officer or employee of the relevant public body" and that a section of the state's Government Code on conflict of interest "does not apply to her."

In August 2013, the California Supreme Court refused to review the appellate court panel's decision in Christiansen's case.

Christiansen had been sentenced in January 2012 to four years and four months in state prison by Judge Stephen A. Marcus, but was allowed to remain free on bail while her appeal was pending. The appellate court's May 2013 order also vacated Christiansen's sentence and a restitution order of approximately $3.5 million, and the trial court dismissed the charges against her and granted her request to be declared factually innocent, according to a separate ruling in September 2014 in which her fingerprint impressions were ordered to be destroyed.

— City News Service