Indictment against lawyers valid, judge rules

Scores of sign-toting supporters turned out Monday to support him, but attorney Jesse Santana lost a round in his battle with the Yuba County District Attorney's Office.

Visiting Judge John Darlington ruled in Yuba County Superior Court that prosecutors were within their rights to amend an indictment charging Santana and co-defendant David Vasquez with obstruction of justice.

The two attorneys are charged with trying to bribe a young woman to keep her from testifying against former Marysville towing company manager Joseph Griesa, who is charged with sexually assaulting her.

Santana had claimed prosecutors violated his Fifth Amendment rights by amending an indictment that came from a grand jury. But Darlington ruled that only defendants charged under federal law are entitled to be indicted by a grand jury.

"Defendants charged in state courts with felonies under state law are not," Darlington wrote in a Sept. 14 ruling. On Monday, he refused Santana's request to reconsider.

Darlington ruled the amended indictment is valid because it does not contain new facts or new charges. It only "narrows" the reasons why the attorneys are charged with obstruction of justice, he wrote.

The indictment includes 17 acts that support felony charges, according to prosecutors.

"Clearly, the original overt acts adequately support the legal theory that those offending acts or conduct of the defendants interfered with, delayed, or obstructed a police officer in the discharge of his duties," the judge wrote.

The state Attorney General's Office has since taken over prosecution from the District Attorney's Office.

Santana and Vasquez are scheduled to enter pleas to the felony charges in December.

Outside the courthouse, Santana supporters held signs claiming "prosecutorial misconduct" and attacking District Attorney Pat McGrath.

Supporters included the program director of a Chico Hispanic radio station, who said the case against Santana is the result of political corruption and is meant to prevent Sutter County from getting its first Hispanic judge.

Santana applied for a vacant seat on the bench but a Sutter County deputy district attorney was appointed instead by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Contact Appeal-Democrat reporter Rob Young at 749-4710 or at ryoung@appealdemocrat.com.