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The California Attorney General's Office will prosecute Santa Barbara County Superior Court Judge Diana Hall for alleged violations of campaign finance laws, the state announced Wednesday.
The decision to take the case comes 30 days after the Santa Barbara County District Attorney's Office was recused when a judge found a conflict of interest, said Nathan Barankin, communications director for the attorney general's office. Wednesday marked the deadline, he added, for the state agency to decide whether to take action against Hall.
Superior Court Judge Diana Hall testifies while on trial for drunken driving and misdemeanor battery, among other charges, in this 2003 file photo.//Staff file
Barankin said Hall's case would likely resume in Santa Maria's Superior Court within several weeks.
At that time, a judge likely will consider several defense motions. Hall's lawyer, Michael Scott, has requested that the charges be dismissed, and, if they are not, that the case be moved to Santa Barbara because of media interest in Hall.
Scott declined comment Wednesday, saying he had not yet received the Attorney General's notice. Hall did not return calls seeking comment.
[b]Her defense attorney previously said that Hall is being singled out for prosecution, contending that no other candidate in the county, to his knowledge, was ever criminally prosecuted for violating the Political Reform Act of 1974. [/b]
Bob Smith, the county's elections division manager, said he could think of no similar case in the county since he arrived in 1993.
The 54-year-old jurist, who hears civil cases at Superior Court in Santa Maria, faces eight misdemeanor charges stemming from the alleged violations of the Political Reform Act.
The alleged violations came to light when Hall testified during a previous criminal case that she had disguised a campaign loan from her then-domestic partner, Deidra Dykeman, to keep their relationship secret.
Hall 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. The judge allegedly claimed on campaign financial statements that she contributed the transferred money herself.
Hall faces a possible sentence of six months in jail and a fine of $60,000 for each of the eight misdemeanor charges against her. If convicted, she would not be permitted to run for public office for four years.
Visiting Superior Court Judge John J. Ryan, who has been assigned the Hall case, can now set a new hearing date in the case, which was put on hold until the attorney general's office made its decision.
Ryan previously granted a defense motion to recuse the district attorney's office because Hall is a likely witness in a federal lawsuit filed by Lompoc attorney Gary Dunlap against the county prosecutors. Such an arrangement could present a conflict of interest, he said.
[b]The defense also claimed that prosecutors deliberately withheld knowledge of the alleged campaign finance violation during a previous criminal case against Hall on domestic violence and drunken-driving charges. [/b]
Assistant District Attorney Christie Stanley deferred any comment to the attorney general's office.
"From now on, they're the prosecuting agency," she said.
The previous case against Hall was based on her alleged actions on 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 Aug. 28, 2003, of two misdemeanor counts of drunken driving. 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.
After jurors announced they were deadlocked 11-1 in favor of conviction, a mistrial was declared on another felony charge that Hall further tried to prevent Dykeman from calling authorities by destroying a telephone. 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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Sept. 30, 2004
Source: http://www.santamariatimes.com/articles/2004/09/30/news/local/news02.txt
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