OFF THE WIRE
BY: Howard Mintz
mercurynews.com
For Clay Rojas, it has been a long, hard fall from being a Santa Clara police officer and former Marine sergeant who served in Iraq to a disgraced ex-cop tied to a Hells Angel with a rap sheet.
Starting Tuesday, the 37-year-old Rojas will begin the process of finding out whether that fall will ultimately land him in a federal prison cell.
Jury selection is set to begin in federal court in San Jose for Rojas' trial on charges he illegally supplied confidential law enforcement information to a member of the Hells Angels to pay off a debt. Lawyers are expected to then move into opening statements in U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh's courtroom, where the trial is scheduled to unfold over the next two weeks.
A federal grand jury last year indicted Rojas on charges that he furnished confidential law enforcement records, such as criminal histories and DMV records, to William "Billy" Bettencourt, a suspected member of the Hells Angels' Santa Cruz chapter who also faces related criminal charges in state and federal court. Bettencourt, with past convictions for witness intimidation and other violent crimes, could wind up in prison for life under the Three Strikes Law if he is convicted in the state case.
