Judge needs more time to wade through paperwork in lawyers' case

Evidence against two Yuba-Sutter attorneys charged with felony obstruction of justice and trying to bribe a minor victim of sexual assault is "speculative, incompetent and inadmissible," their lawyers wrote in a motion taken up Monday in Yuba County Superior Court.

The motion to dismiss the case is among more than 1,000 new pages filed in the state attorney general's criminal case against lawyers Jesse Santana and David Vasquez.

Saying he hasn't yet read the motion or a 193-page response filed by the state attorneys, visiting Judge John Darlington continued the case until Jan. 29.

Santana's attorneys, Roberto Marquez and Craig Leri, wrote in the motion that Judge Julia Scrogin, who presided over the grand jury that indicted Santana and Vasquez, should have disqualified herself.

As a Sutter County deputy district attorney, Scrogin once opposed defense attorney Santana in the trial of Daniel Murillo, charged with the execution-style murder of a drug dealer. A jury acquitted Murillo.

Santana and Vasquez allegedly conspired to pay a 17-year-old Yuba City girl $100,000 if she would not talk to police or testify in court against her former employer, Joseph Griesa. Prosecutors recovered copies of a "release" drafted by the attorneys and signed by the girl.

A jury convicted Griesa of misdemeanor charges involving the girl but failed to convict him of felonies. He is facing a retrial on the felony charges.

In his response to the motion for dismissal, Supervising Deputy Attorney General Michael A. Canzoneri cited grand jury testimony indicating the release drafted by Santana and Vasquez did not mention the girl was a minor or that a court would have to approve a civil settlement involving sexual assault.

"When she signed the document, she understood she was to get $100,000 in exchange for her not talking to the police, not cooperating with the police, and not testifying in court," Canzoneri wrote.

The girl did not receive the money and backed out of the agreement. Prosecutors later filed charges against Griesa.

Sherrie McLetchie, a legal adviser to the California State Bar Association, was an expert witness in the grand jury proceedings. Canzoneri quoted her in his response:

"Any attempt to settle a minor's claim outside the judicial process would have no effect; it would not be binding, and competent practitioners know this," McLetchie testified.

Another expert witness, former prosecutor Michael Jones, testified that the state Code of Civil Procedures prohibits confidential settlements when a factual foundation exists for felony prosecution. The code also prohibits confidentiality clauses like the one in the release signed by the girl, he said.

"Defendants' protestations notwithstanding, what this 'release' attempted to do clearly offended the very core principles of justice and betrayed its orderly administration," Jones testified.

Defense attorneys contend that prosecutors offered to drop charges against Griesa in exchange for his testimony against Santana and Vasquez, who often win cases filed by the Yuba County District Attorney's Office.

The defense attorneys also claim felony charges against Santana were meant to keep him from being appointed a Sutter County judge by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.