Mayor hopeful jailed
If Renteria serves full time, he'll be in jail till after election
Centro Civico Mexicano director John Renteria, a perennial candidate for public office who has never won an election, was booked into the Salt Lake County Metro Jail on Friday on a violation of his probation from a previous traffic conviction.
Renteria pleaded guilty in November 2005 to one count of attempted failure to stop at an officer's command, a class A misdemeanor; one count of incorrectly positioned plates, a class B misdemeanor; and one count of failure to obey a traffic-control device, a class C misdemeanor.
He was sentenced to a year in jail, but the judge suspended that jail time and put Renteria on probation.
Renteria's attorney, Patrick Corum, said Renteria admitted to 3rd District Judge Sheila McCleve on Friday that he twice drove despite his license having been revoked and that he has drunk alcohol, both in violation of his probation.
But legally, Renteria can still run. State law prohibits a convicted felon from running for municipal office. All of Renteria's convictions are for misdemeanors. The failure-to-stop charge had initially been filed as a third-degree felony but was reduced as part of a plea agreement.
But even as Renteria is allowed to run for mayor, were he to win, his term of office would start before his jail sentence is set to end. It is unclear what would happen if a newly elected mayor were incarcerated.
Corum said McCleve has historically not allowed early release with ankle monitoring devices. Renteria could have his sentence reduced for good behavior, but he would still serve about nine months.
But Corum said he hopes Renteria can go before the judge again to plead his case in the near future.
"I'm very optimistic that we'll be able to get him out," Corum said.
He did not know how Renteria's arrest would affect his run for mayor.
"I've never talked to him about his candidacy," Corum said. As of Monday afternoon, Renteria still had a campaign committee registered with the city.
Renteria's campaign had failed to pick up steam even before he was sent to jail. In a Dan Jones & Associates poll of Salt Lake City residents conducted in early April, Renteria had the support of less than 1 percent of respondents.
And in the most recent round of campaigns' financial disclosures filed with the Salt Lake City recorder earlier this month, Renteria did not report having received any campaign donations.
Renteria is not the only mayoral candidate with a history of legal troubles. Last week, Robert K. Muscheck filed the initial paperwork for a possible candidacy. He refused to talk to the Deseret Morning News until he has decided whether he will officially file to run.
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