A bid by defense attorneys who cited a recent courthouse scrum between an attorney and an investigator in an effort to have charges dismissed or prosecutors booted from the case against a man accused of taking part in a bar brawl was rejected Friday by an Orange County Superior Court judge.
Judge Patrick Donahue said attorneys from the Alternate Defender’s Office had failed to show Adrian Arellano Arroyo would not receive a fair trial because of the March 9 fight in the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana between defense attorney James Crawford and Orange County District Attorney investigator Dillon Alley.
Defense attorneys argued that some witnesses to the brawl outside Kolla’s Night Club in Lake Forest at about 2 a.m. on Aug. 2, 2014, who could provide exculpatory evidence for the defendant were “intimidated” by last week’s courthouse fracas and no longer wanted to testify. But Donahue said two of those witnesses have been granted limited immunity and appear willing to testify now.
Donahue cited an appellate court ruling regarding the fatal jailhouse beating of a man who was arrested on suspicion of possession of child pornography. In that case, some sheriff’s deputies were faulted for negligence and essentially letting some jailhouse shot callers become aware of the victim’s charges, prompting a beat down of someone they wrongly characterized as a child molester.
“There is absolutely nothing to prevent a fair trial based on” the fight, Donahue said. “The incident involving Mr. Crawford in the hallway has nothing to do with Mr. Arroyo.”
Donahue approved a defense request to preserve all surveillance video of the courthouse battle. Apparently there are three cameras in the hallway, and defense attorneys say they’ve only received footage from the worst angle.
Donahue will also look over police reports and other evidence from the case to see if it becomes relevant to Arroyo’s trial down the line.
Crawford, who recently won a new trial for a client in a murder case over allegations that prosecutors failed to turn over evidence about an informant, got into a fight with Alley on March 9. Crawford has claimed Alley beat him up, but some witnesses contend Crawford slapped Alley first.
A translator assisting Alley in the case filed an affidavit that presents a detailed account of the conflict. The translator said the conflict began in the hallways of the courthouse when Alley was talking to a witness and her husband.
Crawford approached the group and asked for the name of the witness, prompting Alley to ask the attorney to identify himself, the translator said.
Crawford replied, “What difference does it make? I was appointed by the judge to represent her,” according to the court interpreter.
Alley replied that he wanted to know because the witness had been harassed by someone in the defendant’s family. The two went down the hall to talk some more “for a few minutes,” but when they returned to the witness Crawford angrily insulted Alley with expletives, according to the translator.
Moments later, Alley allegedly flicked a binder clip at Crawford, which bounced off the lower part of his jacket, according to the translator. Crawford then allegedly picked up the clip and hurled it back at Alley, prompting the fistfight, according to the translator. The interpreter also said at some point as police tried to break it up, Alley declared that “he hit me first” and attempted to back away, but the defense attorney kept lunging at him and yanking his tie.
Crawford had been appointed to represent witness Berenice Gonzalez, who was going to testify for prosecutors under immunity in Arroyo’s case.
Arroyo’s attorney, Jeremy Dolnick, wrote in court papers that while Crawford was counseling his client, Alley “confronted and obstructed” the defense attorney.
“That confrontation resulted in Crawford being physically attacked by Alley in the public hallway, in front of defense witnesses Osiris Adame Rivera and Silvia Rivera, defendant Arroyo and defense investigator Abby Guardado,” Dolnick said.
Dolnick also alleges that Alley instructed another prosecution witness, Reyna Santana, to “not cooperate with anyone unless they present a badge. Alley also instructed her not to comply with defense subpoenas.”
Donahue ordered Santana Friday to return to court next week to testify in the trial.
— City News Service