Today, a hearing was in local attorney Michael Acosta's case before Justice Stuart Pollak. Several revelations were made in court today and claims by Deputy District Ian Harris, Acosta's second court appointed attorney Ms. Rebecca Linkous and Acosta. No other media was in court.
Acosta said it was hard for him to make money because the DA had disqualified himself on several cases. Mr. Harris claimed former HCSO Deputy Matt Tomlin was being investigated and Ms. Linkous was unsure if she was representing Acosta.Mr. Harris claimed Acosta had records that were sealed; Mr. Acosta claimed they were not properly sealed. These pages 104-107 were missing from the preliminary hearing transcript and Justice Pollak requested they be provided to him before the next hearing. These pages refer to an in camera hearing in the 995 motion and involve former HCSO Deputy Matt Tomlin.
I reported on Monday about Acosta's 995 motion to dismiss all charges and included excerpts from that motion. One of the allegations in the 995 motion is outrageous government conduct. I was also correct that Acosta is now representing himself. I wrote that in two posts in May and even told Ms. Linkous prior to the hearing.
Today, both Mr. Harris and Ms. Linkous expressed confusion about who is representing and claimed they just learned this morning about the Faretta motion.
Maybe like several attorneys and others in the court system and law enforcement, they should read my blog daily or atleast check it once in a while especially about a high profile case or listen to what I tell them when I am being helpful. There is a reason I spend a lot of time checking, triple checking court records, minutes for a reason and I do know the local court system. I do it for people whose lives and livelihoods are impacted by the local courts.
Both Mr.Harris and Ms. Linkous should have been notified but with the shortage of court staff and the impossible schedule created by years of court administration management, court minutes, notices and errors aren't anything new.
Humboldt Superior Court Operations Manager Kelly Nyberg put on record when Acosta's Faretta motion was filed and granted. This was more than two weeks ago. On record, Ms. Linkous was removed as counsel.
In addition to that motion, Acosta has also filed a request for Judicial Notice, motion to compel discovery and funding applications for a Narcotics Investigations expert and DNA Forensic Analysis expert. After the hearing, I spoke with Acosta. The Narcotics expert he is hiring is Michael Levine, a retired 25-year DEA veteran. A google search confirmed what Mr. Acosta told me that Levine has been interviewed about police misconduct on "60 Minutes." This is a link to Levine's resume.
https://www.law.com/expert-witness/expertsbio/michael-levine-policetrialexpertcom/
As I reported on Monday, the motion to compel discovery was rejected due to incorrect date and time.
Justice Pollak granted Acosta's request for a Narcotics expert. I did a separate post on what Mr.Harris said about Matt Tomlin. Justice Pollak asked Mr. Harris to confer with Acosta to see if they could stipulate that a bag found during the bust was not Acosta's before he rules on granting funding about the DNA expert.
https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2023/05/missing-pages-conflicting-claims-tomlin.html?m=1
I have a copy the motions but after today's hearing got continued, I am going to hold off on more details about the 995 motion.
The hearing and ruling on the 995 motion was continued to June 23 to allow Mr. Harris to respond and to see if his co-defendant, Sarah Caroll wants to join the motion. That opportunity had already been given and this suggestion to allow input again was from Mr. Harris.
Previous posts:
https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2023/05/acosta-wants-all-charges-dismissed.html?m=1
https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2023/05/michael-acosta-is-back-to-representing.html?m=1
https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2023/04/humboldt-superior-court-rejects-michael.html?m=1
https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2023/03/will-court-grant-michael-acosta.html?m=1
https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2023/02/trial-confirmed-plea-yet-another-change.html?m=1
https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2022/07/deal-or-no-deal.html?m=1
https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2022/06/we-hadnt-received-offer-in-two-years.html?m=1
https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2022/06/trial-dates-confirmed-or-last-minute.html?m=1
(way too many previous posts in this 2020 case to link them all)
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