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Judge dismisses voter fraud case against CSD director

October 27, 2016
Lisa Marrone

Lisa Marrone

A San Luis Obispo County judge threw out a voter fraud case involving a California Valley CSD director who was accused of living in Paso Robles.

Judge Craig Van Rooyen said he understood why the SLO County District Attorney’s Office investigated the case and brought it forward, but he did not believe CSD director Lisa Marrone had any intent to lie about where she lived. The district attorney’s office disagrees Van Rooyen’s ruling and is considering refiling the case.

Last month, prosecutors filed felony election fraud charges against Marrone and Misty Lambert, also a California Valley CSD director. Prosecutors alleged Marrone and Lambert lied under penalty of perjury about where they live. The case against Lambert is ongoing with a preliminary hearing scheduled for Nov. 8.

Marrone spends significant amounts of her time in Paso Robles, but claims she lives in a home in the California Valley. She has three properties in the California Valley and one in Paso Robles.

Assistant District Attorney Lee Cunningham, who is handling the case, said he still believes Marrone lives in Paso Robles.

“The judge and I disagree. We do haven an opportunity to refile,” Cunningham said.

Barry Kinman, Marrone’s attorney, said the district attorney’s office has been persecuting his client and attempting to prevent her from voting and holding public office. Kinman said prosecutors did not even establish probable cause, and they were acting on complaints from questionable CSD directors.

“The two complainants are CSD board members who grow pot and have been on the losing side of every vote for the last year, including being censured for Brown Act violations,” Kinman wrote in a statement.

The criminal complaints against Marrone and Lambert included charges of voter registration fraud, filing a false declaration of candidacy document, perjury by declaration and two counts each of offering a false instrument for recording. Prosecutors also charged Marrone with a felony count of fraudulently voting on June 7.

Both Kinman said Marrone was booked in jail and had to post $30,000 bail.


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I initially supported the DA filing of this case. I bet it has a connection to the pot farms and available water.


But if the DA’s office filed it once and lost, what? Is there New evidence?


We’ve got Adam Hill dragging down the reputation of the entire County and local government…Lee, leave the low hanging fruit alone.


You took your shot. There is plenty of corrupted “Adam Hill” like fruit to go after.


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Those ladies ABSOLUTELY KNEW they were lying. At the CVCSD monthly meetings, many members of the community declared their outrage at their endless list of lies, their ongoing malfeasance, and their latest schemes. John Wilson and David Webb & many others have spoken out at EVERY public monthly meeting. More importantly, the other board members spoke out too.


There is simply NO WAY Lisa Marrone or Misty Lambert did not know what they were doing was wrong. Unless they are “special”.


But this is the same country where I have been told it doesn’t matter……S.L.O.Co. and its ekected officials and public employees are HYPOCRITES when it comes to law and Cal Valley.


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Atta boy Lee. Way to keep your head down. Sure. You got nothing bigger to work on.


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When they say the system is rigged… I got to say, it looks like a pretty weak case for the prosecutor. Even if she had a home in BOTH paso and CA valley, she still has quite a stake in the area, so should not have issues running for election to the CSD. Put it out there during the election and let the voters decide if a “part-time” resident is just not going to cut it for them.


If it looks like a witch-hunt, smells like a witch-hunt and walks like a witch-hunt…


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Re-file and throw her sorry behind in jail please.


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