UPDATE: Alarcon's Felony Charges Dismissed; D.A. Refiles

Hours after a Superior Court judge dismissed a criminal case against Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon, prosecutors filed identical perjury and voter fraud charges alleging that he lived outside the district he represents and lied about his address.

"Judge Kathleen Kennedy's decision today to dismiss the Alarcon case is inexplicable," District Attorney Steve Cooley said in a statement. "We will vigorously prosecute this case."

Alarcon, 58, is charged with 18 counts -- two felony counts of filing a false declaration of candidacy in December 2006 and November 2008; seven felony counts of fraudulent voting in elections in 2007, 2008 and 2009; and nine counts of perjury, including three for allegedly filing false driver's license applications.

The charges mirror those that had been leveled against him in a July 2010 grand jury indictment.

The judge earlier today also threw out charges against the councilman's wife, but she was also charged again in the newly filed case.

Flora Montes de Oca Alarcon, 46, is charged with three counts of perjury for allegedly claiming she lived at a Panorama City home within Alarcon's 7th District on a provisional voting ballot, in registering to vote and on a drivers license application, along with three counts of fraudulent voting involving elections in 2008 and 2009.

Prosecutors alleged that Alarcon and his wife lied about where they were living so he could represent the 7th District. They contended he lived in Sun Valley, not Panorama City as he claimed.

Alarcon has long contested the charges, insisting that he began living at the Panorama City home in November 2006, and he had been living there with his wife and two daughters.

The couple now lives in Mission Hills.

"My wife and I are obviously very pleased with the judge's ruling today," Alarcon said shortly after the judge's ruling. "We have maintained our innocence throughout this process and have always believed that when all of the evidence is considered, we would be found innocent."

The judge said during a hearing last month she was concerned that prosecutors had not properly considered evidence that favored the Alarcons' position when presenting the case to the grand jury. Then she formally dismissed the case this morning.

Cooley disputed the judge's legal reasoning.

"The grand jury transcripts clearly show that our prosecutors did indeed present evidence submitted by the councilman and his wife," Cooley said. "The grand jury chose not to consider it, as is their right."

There was no immediate comment from Alarcon on the case being refiled.