The son of a former “Real Housewives of Orange County” cast member dropped his motion Friday to have his bailed lowered or lifted, based on allegations that sheriff’s deputies failed to protect him at the county jail, because authorities have arranged to house him in Santa Ana’s lockup until his trial next year on attempted murder charges.
Joshua Waring had been seeking to be released on his own recognizance or to have his bail lowered to an amount his family could afford. Orange County Superior Court Judge Jonathan Fish signed off on the transfer of Waring from Orange County Jail to Santa Ana’s jail, where federal inmates often stay before court hearings in nearby federal court.
The major concern Waring had about a move was being able to act as his own attorney in a separate case. Waring will have access to a phone and a law library, according to defense attorney Joel Garson.
Waring is next due in court Feb. 4 for a pretrial hearing. His trial has been set for March 10.
“Josh feels relieved to not have to look over his shoulder 24/7 that an inmate or a guard is going to attack him,” Garson said after the hearing. “He has suffered 3 1/2 years in the county jail and he’s exposed a lot of corruption, and he’s glad to get a fresh start now.”
Waring’s motion to reduce bail “is kind of moot now,” but the evidence can still be used as part of a federal lawsuit he is participating in with other county jail inmates that allege a variety of issues related to jail conditions, his attorney said.
A blade-wielding inmate attacked Waring Oct. 9 at the Intake-Release Center in Santa Ana, and he was in a jail wing June 24 of last year when a deputy opened fire with a pepper-ball launcher after inmates went to sleep, according to Garson.
Orange County prosecutors previously reviewed evidence in the pepper-ball incident and declined to file charges, but they have reopened their investigation.
The two deputies involved in the pepper-ball incident were placed on administrative leave, according to sheriff’s spokeswoman Carrie Braun, but she said she could not comment further because of state laws regarding law enforcement officers’ rights.
Garson suspects Waring was targeted for attacks because he raised issues of outrageous governmental misconduct regarding the improper recording of phone calls from inmates to their attorneys.
Fellow inmate Jose Dejesus Guzman allegedly attacked Waring as he returned to his cell after making a phone call on his legal case. Guzman had been ordered to get back in his cell, as were others in that wing, but apparently hid behind the stairs, Garson said.
Waring needed 20 staples, as well as stitches and butterfly bandages on his face, to treat his wounds, his attorney said.
No charges have been filed against Guzman thus far, according to a D.A.’s spokeswoman.
Waring outlined another recent attack in the federal class-action lawsuit in which he is a plaintiff. Waring said he was thrown in “the hole” for trying to fix a television in the dayroom. He spent 10 days in solitary confinement and was then taken to another part of the jail where, he said, gang members “green-lighted” him for an attack.
When Waring raised concerns about his safety and asked to see a psychiatrist, he said he was told that was only possible if he felt suicidal. Waring alleged deputies later “threw me naked … into a tiny all-cement cell filthy with feces” and a broken toilet.
Waring alleged he was denied medication for seizures while in the cell and suffered a seizure while confined there. Fish recently ordered doctors to examine Waring.
Waring is charged with three counts of attempted murder for allegedly shooting then-35-year-old Daniel Lopez outside a home in Costa Mesa on June 20, 2016. Two other people escaped injury in the drive-by attack.