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Hall to request recusal - Judge Hall |
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Written by Administrator
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Tuesday, 13 July 2004 |
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Hall to request recusal
By Quintin Cushner/Staff Writer
Superior Court Judge Diana Ruth Hall, facing criminal charges for alleged campaign-finance violations, will ask that her case be prosecuted by the state attorney general rather than the Santa Barbara County District Attorney, her lawyer said at Monday's arraignment hearing.
Hall, 54, declined to have the formal charges filed against her read aloud on Monday, and did not enter a plea. A not-guilty plea was automatically entered on her behalf.
A Sept. 13 trial start date was set at the hearing.
Hall faces eight misdemeanor charges stemming from allegations that she attempted to disguise a $20,000 loan received from her then-domestic partner, Deidra Dykeman, during Hall's successful 2002 re-election campaign.
The judge allegedly deposited $20,000 from Dykeman into her personal account, then included the money as part of a $25,000 transfer into her campaign fund. Hall allegedly then claimed on campaign financial statements that she contributed the transferred money herself.
The defense motion to recuse the district attorney's office from the case will be heard on Aug. 30.
Hall's attorney, Michael Scott, said after the hearing that there were numerous issues he planned to raise in his recusal motion, including alleged conflicts of interests and past events that might motivate the district attorney's office to behave vindictively toward Hall. The motion will be filed with the court by week's end.
Scott alleges a previous criminal case against Hall by the district attorney's office, which resulted in a mixed jury verdict, has negatively altered the prosecution's view of the jurist in this case. He added that the two cases share the same lead prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Kimberly Smith.
The defense attorney further claims that details about the alleged campaign finance violations surfaced during the judge's previous trial, but were not filed until after what he considers a less-than-successful prosecution in that case.
Assistant District Attorney Christie Stanley denies that the outcome from Hall's past case played any role in the filing of the new charges, and said she doesn't see how having Smith prosecute both cases constitutes a conflict.
Smith was chosen for the case, Stanley said, in part because she'd never worked with Hall or argued cases in front of the jurist.
Scott said Hall's role as a witness in the pending federal court civil case filed by Lompoc attorney Gary Dunlap against the district attorney's office could also constitute a conflict.
The attorney general's office already reviewed that issue, among others, before the latest charges were filed against Hall, and found no disabling conflict in the case, according to Stanley.
Retired Orange County Superior Court Judge John J. Ryan, who has been assigned the Hall case, must decide if any conflict exists that could prevent Hall from receiving a fair trial.
Hall faces a possible sentence of six months in jail and a fine of $60,000 for each of the eight misdemeanor charge against her. If convicted, she would not be permitted to run for public office for four years.
She cannot be removed from her position on the bench unless she's convicted of a felony, or if the state's Commission on Judicial Performance opts to remove her. Thus far, no disciplinary action has been taken by the commission.
Hall currently hears civil cases in Superior Court in Santa Maria.
A similar recusal motion filed in the first criminal case against Hall was rejected by a different Superior Court judge.
If Hall's case reaches trial, it will likely last four days, Ryan said.
At Monday's arraignment, Scott speculated it may take several of those days to seat a jury because Hall's legal issues have been covered so extensively in the local and statewide press.
"There has been a lot of publicity during the last year about Judge Hall and the district attorney's office," he said.
The previous case against Hall was based on her alleged actions on the night of Dec. 21, 2002, when, after a fight with Dykeman, the judge was arrested while driving intoxicated near her Santa Ynez Valley home.
Hall was convicted on Aug. 28, 2003, of two misdemeanor counts of drunken driving stemming from the incident. She was acquitted of misdemeanor charges of domestic battery and exhibiting a firearm and a felony charge of forcibly dissuading Dykeman from reporting the alleged crimes.
A mistrial was declared on a felony charge that Hall further tried to prevent Dykeman from calling authorities by destroying a telephone, after jurors announced they were deadlocked 11-1 in favor of conviction. That charge was eventually dropped.
For the drunken-driving conviction, Hall was sentenced to alcohol counseling and three years' probation.
* Staff writer Quintin Cushner can be reached at 739-2217 or by e-mail at
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July 13, 2004
:nav Source: http://www.santamariatimes.com/articles/2004/07/13/news/local/news02.txt
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