San Mateo County Sheriff Corpus's legal team asks supervisors to suspend hearings on termination

SAN MATEO, Calif. (KGO) -- San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus and her legal team made one last push for the county supervisors to put their efforts to fire her on hold, until a Civil Grand Jury can hear the case. The I-Team's Dan Noyes spoke with the sheriff at her appearance before the Board of Supervisors.

Dan Noyes: "How are you feeling about this? Are you strong? Are you hanging in there?"
Sheriff Christina Corpus: "I'm strong, yup, yup. I get stronger every day. This is not only about me, this is about what's right, what's just."

The supervisors' hearings before a retired judge are set to start Monday. This was the first appearance for Tom Perez since he joined the Corpus legal team. And he called on the supervisors to put their hearings on hold now. Perez is a former high-level official in the Obama and Biden administrations, a civil rights prosecutor at the Department of Justice, but Tuesday, he had one request for the San Mateo County Supervisors on behalf of Sheriff Christina Corpus, saying, "And the request is that a civil grand jury proceeding which would give the community a voice in this matter to proceed first."

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Perez argued that a jury of her peers should handle the case, and that two of the supervisors had already made up their minds and announced the sheriff should be fired. Perez said Sheriff Corpus was a target virtually from the day she started in the department. "She walks in and her first day on the job or one of her first days, 'How you doing?' She's asked by somebody. 'You look like you should be barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen.' That's one of her colleagues."

When Corpus became sheriff, Perez told the supervisors she had to change that culture and bring reform in many areas, including deputy overtime. The pushback led to an investigation by retired Judge Ladoris Cordell. Perez read from Cordell's conclusions about the sheriff and her chief of staff. "'In fact, the evidence establishes that they had an intimate relationship.' That is patently false, and this will be an exhibit in the defamation case, I guarantee you because that is provably wrong. We have to prove a negative and we will because the facts are the facts."

The I-Team has confirmed the Civil Grand Jury requested an unredacted copy of the Cordell report, but the DA's office told them they couldn't have it - that it is inadmissible in court because it's hearsay. That's the report that started the entire controversy.

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"I think the county is going to regret some of the things that are going to be coming out," Sheriff Corpus said. "The truth will be told and I think that the county will be embarrassed as to what their actions have been towards me."

Late Tuesday, Board President David Canepa told the I-Team, the supervisors may decide to pause their process to allow the grand jury to handle the matter, but not at this point.

"To me, I don't think that's the prudent way to go about it," Canepa said. "I think we have these procedures in place. I do think there will be a time and place where the board takes its final action where that can be considered."

The Corpus team had a meeting Tuesday afternoon with the county counsel and the district attorney. No word on what happened, but it seems this case is heating up as the supervisors are scheduled to start their hearings to fire the sheriff on Monday.