California state prosecutors have offered to drop felony charges against former chairwoman Patricia Dunn and four others accused in the HP spying scandal if they plead guilty to lesser misdemeanour charges.

Stephen Naratil, the lawyer for private investigator Bryan Wagner, told Associated Press that Deputy Attorney General Robert Morgester made him the offer. He said the same deal was on the table to Dunn, former HP ethics chief Kevin Hunsaker, and Wagner's fellow gumshoes Ronald DeLia and Matthew DePante.

The Attorney General's office is staying schtum on the bargain. Hunsaker's lawyer Thomas Nolan denied his client would be cutting a deal. He said: "We're not involved in the plea negotiations because Kevin didn't do anything wrong and didn't do anything illegal."

The five face felony charges of identity theft, conspiracy, fraud and illegal use of computer data for their part in the reporter pretexting saga which emerged last year (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/08/hp_reporter_tap/).

Dunn and Hunsaker's lawyers are due back in court on 28 February to set dates for preliminary hearings. More here (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/01/18/state/n150358S84.DTL&hw=hp&sn=001&sc=1000) from the San Francisco Chronicle.

Last week, the first federal charges (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/11/hp_privateeye_charged/) in the case were made against Bryan Wagner. ®

Related stories

UK private eyes invite public into forum (16 August 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/16/uk_pi_forum/
Computer saves shredded Stasi files (10 May 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/10/stasi_shreds/
HP faces lawsuit by three News.com reporters (7 May 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/05/07/cnet_reporters_to_sue_hp/
PI firm nicked for pretexting (24 April 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/24/dwp_pretexting/
UK banks leaving customer info on the pavement (14 March 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/03/14/clean_banking/
Bank boss joins HP board (20 November 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/11/20/hp_board_gains_one/
Dunn enters plea in HP spy case (16 November 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/11/16/dunn_pleads/
Is Hurd's worsening memory a cause for concern? (2 November 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/11/02/hurd_notso_totalrecall/
Hurd: HP can do better (24 October 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/24/hurd_hewlett_packard_oracle/
Dunn editorial officially ends the 'HP Way' (11 October 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/11/hp_dunn_dysfunction/
Fired women of HP heap scorn on the dirty old men (9 October 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/09/hp_women/
HP's Dunn takes defence to Washington (28 September 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/28/dunn_goes_to_washington/
HP's Hurd vows to be held accountable for all that goes right (23 September 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/23/hp_hurd_accountable/
Snoop-happy HP promotes privacy award (22 September 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/22/hp_privacy_award_irony/
HP's snowballing shame (20 September 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/20/hp_investigation_roundup/
Promoting Hurd is not a fitting punishment for HP (13 September 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/13/hp_hurd_pretexting/
HP 'leaker' shows himself the door (12 September 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/12/hp_keyworth_out/
HP phone log black op tapped nine reporters (8 September 2006)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/08/hp_reporter_tap/