Monday, April 4, 2011 | 11:47 a.m.
Sen. John Ensign with his wife, Darlene, and Cynthia and Doug Hampton.
WASHINGTON -- A one-time aide to Sen. John Ensign is pleading innocent to violating conflict of interest laws.
Douglas Hampton and his wife, Cynthia, worked together for Ensign but left three years ago during an affair between Cynthia Hampton and the Republican lawmaker.
Hampton became a lobbyist and is charged with violating a yearlong ban on former staffers lobbying the Senate.
The judge found Hampton is now indigent and last week appointed public defender A.J. Kramer to his case.
Kramer said prosecutors have turned over hundreds of thousands of pages of evidence that he needs to review, so U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell set another hearing for July 1. She released Hampton pending trial, but restricted his travel to his home state of California, Nevada and the Washington area.
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