LAWYERS CHALLENGE DUI CASES; DEFENSE ATTORNEYS SEEK REMOVAL OF VENTURA COUNTY DA'S OFFICE : CHRONOLOGY.Byline: Jesse Hiestand Daily News Staff Writer Defense attorneys moved Thursday to bar the Ventura County District Attorney's Office from prosecuting hundreds of drunk-driving cases that they say rely on faulty or unlicensed alcohol tests conducted by the county crime lab. With lawyers crowded around the defense table and overflowing into the jury box, defense attorney Robert Huber For the U.S. Representative from Michigan, see Robert J. Huber. Robert Huber is a German biochemist and Nobel laureate. He was born 20 February 1937 in Munich where his father, Sebastian, was a bank cashier. told a judge that prosecutors and the County Counsel's Office should be recused from the cases. He claimed their close relationship with the Ventura County Sheriff's Department The Ventura County Sheriff's Department (VCSD) provides law enforcement for the unincorporated areas of Ventura County, California, USA, as well as several cities within the county. The cities that VCSD serves are Camarillo, Fillmore, Moorpark, Ojai, and Thousand Oaks. lab presents a conflict of interest that could prevent DUI defendants from getting a fair trial. ``Given that the district attorney is trying to sanitize To remove sensitive data from an information system, a database or an extract from a database. See sensitive. the actions of the sheriff's (crime lab), asking the district attorney to handle this matter is like asking the fox to guard the hen house,'' Huber said. Superior Court Judge Steven Z. Perren scheduled arguments for July 11, when he will determine whether to turn the misdemeanor drunk-driving cases over to the state Attorney General's Office. They include pending cases, as well as those that have already been adjudicated through plea bargains and jury trials. So far, 20 defense attorneys have banded together on this issue - most of whom are challenging fewer than a half-dozen cases. However, the Public Defender's Office has sent letters to 192 current and former DUI clients, asking if they want to contest their case. Perren gave attorneys until noon Tuesday to present him with a list of the cases to be challenged. The crime lab's problems date to March 19, when the state ordered the crime lab to stop testing blood, urine and breath samples for alcohol. The lab's forensic supervisor had retired unexpectedly four months earlier, and a criminalist crim·i·nal·ist n. A specialist in the collection and examination of the physical evidence of crime. crim , Vincent Vitale, had subsequently failed a routine proficiency test proficiency test n → prueba de capacitación . Despite the order, Ventura County sent its blood and urine samples to the state lab, but continued analyzing breath samples. Prosecutors filed cases based on the breath results, saying they were unaware of the state's ban - a statement since contested by sheriff's officials. However, prosecutors now maintain that the state's license was never actually suspended, so the test results are valid. Even as defense attorney were challenging cases based on breath analyses, a sheriff's investigation found that Vitale had overstated o·ver·state tr.v. o·ver·stat·ed, o·ver·stat·ing, o·ver·states To state in exaggerated terms. See Synonyms at exaggerate. o the alcohol levels in 34 blood tests. Vitale was placed on paid administrative leave, effective Wednesday, officials said. Thursday's hearing was attended by three prosecutors, who made no statement as defense attorneys accused their office of withholding evidence and of failing in their ethical obligation to investigate the loss of the lab's license. ``We're having tremendous trouble trying to obtain discovery from the crime lab or District Attorney's Office,'' said Deputy Public Defender public defender, governmental official who represents indigent persons accused of crime. U.S. Supreme Court decisions expanding the right to counsel to pretrial proceedings and holding that a person cannot be sentenced to even one day in jail unless a lawyer was Brian Vogel, a designated leader for the defense attorneys. Prosecutors also had no comment about the defense attorneys' efforts to disqualify To deprive of eligibility or render unfit; to disable or incapacitate. To be disqualified is to be stripped of legal capacity. A wife would be disqualified as a juror in her husband's trial for murder due to the nature of their relationship. their office from prosecuting the DUI cases. ``We don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. if we're in this case or not,'' Deputy District Attorney Pete Kossoris said. District Attorney Michael Bradbury and Sheriff Larry Carpenter did not return phone calls. Norm Fort, who retired Nov. 19 as the lab's forensic lab supervisor, was in court as a subpoenaed witness. He did not testify but said outside of court that he suspects the Sheriff's Department will try to pin blame for the crime lab's problems on him, although his retirement precedes the testing difficulties. Fort said he has seen an internal sheriff's memo drafted by his successor which is critical of his operation. ``The way I translate the multiple-page memo is as a witch hunt,'' Fort said. ``I think they're trying to focus attention away from the problems at the crime lab and onto Norm Fort.'' Fort's attorney, Peter Goldenring, said Fort had received ``certain threats, direct and indirect'' apparently intended to keep him from testifying about the lab's alcohol testing procedures during his tenure there. Nov. 19: Norm Fort retires as forensic alcohol supervisor with Ventura County Sheriff's Department crime lab after 31 years as a criminalist. County asks that its license to test DUI samples be extended 90 days while Fort's successor completes certified training. Dec. 19: State grants county a 90-day extension after criminalist Halle Weingarten is named as temporary forensic alcohol supervisor. March 19: California Department of Health Services Department of Health Services may refer to:
April 8: Prosecutor John Cardoza, who supervises misdemeanor DUI cases, meets with sheriff's officials. Cardoza later says lab officials told him license suspension applied only to blood and urine analyses. Sheriff's office. April 17: District attorney's investigator Danny Miller meets with sheriff's officials. In a memo written four days later, he says that the crime lab has determined that Vitale overstated alcohol levels in almost three-dozen blood samples. Sheriff's Cmdr. William Wade
May 9: State sends letter to crime lab informing officials that continuing breath testing could jeopardize reapproval of lab's license. May 13: State installs and staffs breath machine at Ventura County Jail. May 23: State renews crime lab's license after criminalist Dea Boehme qualifies as forensic alcohol supervisor. May 28: Ventura Superior Court Judge Steven Perren opens hearings on challenges to drunk-driving cases stemming from crime lab's loss of license. Wednesday: Criminalist Vitale is placed on paid administrative leave. Thursday: Defense attorneys ask Perren to recuse To disqualify or remove oneself as a judge over a particular proceeding because of one's conflict of interest. Recusal, or the judge's act of disqualifying himself or herself from presiding over a proceeding, is based on the Maxim District Attorney's Office from DUI cases being challenged. Judge sets another hearing for July 11. CAPTION(S): box, 3 Photos PHOTO (1 -- color in Verb 1. color in - add color to; "The child colored the drawings"; "Fall colored the trees"; "colorize black and white film" color, colorise, colorize, colour in, colourise, colourize, colour Conejo and Simi edition) Superior Court Judge Steven Z. Perren checks his calendar Thursday at the Ventura County Courthouse The Ventura County Courthouse, located in Ventura, California, was designed in 1910 by one of the early pioneers of architecture in Southern California: Albert C. Martin, Sr. . Michael Owen
(2 -- color in Conejo and Simi edition) Defense lawyers sit in a courtroom's jury box during challenges Thursday to DUI cases at the Ventura County Courthouse. (3 -- color in Conejo and Simi edition) Public Defender Brian Vogel, who has been selected to speak for the defense attorneys, speaks with two lawyers. Michael Owen Baker/Daily News BOX: Chronology (see text) 
L. Rat (Member): Vitale wouldn't lie for DAs office and was eventually cleared in Federal Court 2/27/2008 5:20 PM
William Wade "the supervisor of the crime lab, now on stress-related disability leave" was there as a direct result of the federal investigation & trial that followed where criminalist Vitale was cleared of any & all wrong-doing, and successfully sued the county in federal court. The witch-hunt was started when the then ballistics expert, Vitale, was asked by the County of Ventura DA's office to puposefully inaccurately report results under oath on a case, for which he refused.<br><br>The details of the federal proceedings where Vitale was cleared and awarded unspecified damages (estimated in the millions of dollars, as the press was reportedly deliberately used by the DA's office to damage his reputation as well as his career) were under a gag-order, although this part of the report is available. The lab supervisor, William Wade, was likely not on "stress-related disability leave", but likely was ordered to step down during the federal investigation and may have played a part in destroying Vitale's career because he refused to lie about evidence.<br><br>Apparently Wade was quietly dismissed from his postion as lab supervisor as a result of the investigation. |
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