Today, DDA Roger Rees was in Courtroom 5 and he walked in with a cart on which had boxes and binders labeled Cervantes. The case is for Socorro Cervantes. He was responding to defense counsel's motion to compel discovery. Cervantes' appearance in court had been excused by Visiting Judge Dennis Buckley.
Mr. Rees said that he had reviewed Ms. O' Connell's motion and that he was trying to locate some items she requested which had been difficult, "given the volume of discovery" and because "the attorney, previously handling the case has left our office." The last coverage of this case was in the
Times-Standard and DDA Christa McKimmey is listed in that article as the prosecutor. Mr. Rees said he went through all the discovery and some of the discovery like a receipt books were difficult to copy and he thought some of that discovery had been provided to defense. He said the retirement of a DOJ agent also made it hard to locate some of the discovery being requested.
He also referred to a couple of emails between (now retired) DOJ Agent Jeff Lierly and (then DDA) Wes Keat as "attorney-client" privilege. He said one of the items being requested was "a simple cover sheet, and while they do not have the original, they could recreate the cover sheet.
Cervantes was initially represented by private attorney Patrik Griego. Now she has representation from the Public Defender's office.
Ms. O'Connell said she had only received two items out of 30 items requested. Today, Ms. O'Connell said "that this has been going on since December 19, 2014." yesterday, she had referred to the motion to compel discovery filed by her office in February 2015. "This case is from 2013. The allegation is from 2008 and the People haven't been diligent."
According to the TS 2013 article, a criminal grand jury indicted Cervantes for the alleged embezzlement.
Judge Buckley went through a few items. Another claim by defense was that they could not play a disk due and Mr. Rees said, "that the Public Defender has access to the same IT department that the District Attorney has" so they could get assistance in viewing the disk. Judge Buckley also seemed sympathetic and believed Mr. Rees about the challenges in copying "fragile receipt books" which would have to have each page torn off to be scanned. Mr. Rees said that copies of the receipts book had been provided to defense and when he found out that not all receipts had been scanned when he went through each item, he offered for Ms.O'Connell to come and review them in his office.
"I invited Counsel to review the cart of evidence and Counsel declined." He repeated the offer, again in Court and Ms. O'Connell declined saying, "Not today"
Ms. O'Connell said that she had provided an excel sheet of missing discovery and "she should not have to go through the cart."
Then she requested Judge Buckley order sanctions if the District Attorney does not comply. Judge Buckley declined that request saying the law is not clear and "sanctions are limited. I don't think anyone has the authority to fine the District Attorney."
Ms. O'Connell said that she would request that certain evidence be "excluded" and Mr. Rees said, "we'd object."
Judge Buckley said that matter could be addressed by the Judge assigned to trial.
The next court date is May 28 at 2 p.m. People have until the end of the business day on April 17 to ressond to Ms. O'Connell's motion in writing and provide written answers to why they cannot provide certain discovery like the "fragile receipt books hard to copy" said Judge Buckley.
So next time you hear "issues with discovery", sometimes the details come out in court, sometimes they don't. There are two sides and two arguments.
Yesterday's coverage:
This afternoon, trial setting and a motion to compel discovery was scheduled in Courtroom 5 for the former assistant court manager, Socorro Cervantes, who is charged with allegedly embezzling $100,000 from the local Court's operation department.
Today, Visiting Judge Dennis Buckley subbed for Judge Hinrichs. DDA Meagan O'Connell is now representing Cervantes. And DDA Roger Rees is taking over prosecution of the case. Cervantes spent her time in court and outside court, before her case was called, socializing with friends, saying hi to attorneys and some court staff laughing as if she was out at a social gathering. The District Attorney staff was professional and did not engage in any interaction.
DDA Brie Bennett who was in Courtroom 5 requested that the court date be continued because Mr. Rees was "out unexpectedly" today. Ms. O'Connell mentioned that there were still "several items of discovery missing" and that the People had not responded to her motion to compel discovery which had been filed on February 20. She also requested that her client be excused from appearing tomorrow. Ms. O'Connell and Cervantes had an ex-parte conference with the Judge.
The saga continues tomorrow at 2 p.m. in Courtroom 5. At the same time, the Jason Warren case is scheduled in another courtroom.
There has been no follow-up on this case in the media since 2013. No follow-up after my last post and no other media present today.
Jan 27, 2015 post:
Trial setting for former assistant court manager charged with allegedly embezzling approximately $100,000 from local court's operation department
A trial setting was scheduled this afternoon at 2 p.m. in Courtroom 5 for Socorro Maria Cervantes, former assistant court manager, who is charged with allegedly embezzling almost $100,000 from the Humboldt County Superior Court's operations department.
The Public Defender's office is representing Cervantes. Today, the attorney representing her was not in court but Ms. Jennifer Dixon, on behalf of her colleague told Visiting Judge Arvid Johnson that they had a petition to compel discovery. DDA Zach Curtis said "my office received a motion today, we are requesting time to respond." Judge Johnson said that the People's response needed to be filed by March 20. The next court date is March 17 at 2 p.m. in Courtroom 5.
Link to Times-Standard 2013 article:
http://www.times-standard.com/general-news/20131007/fortuna-woman-pleads-not-guilty-in-100k-court-embezzlement-case
