Three of Griesa's Yuba convictions overturned in appeals court
Three of nine convictions against Joe Griesa have been reversed on appeal, and the former Marysville towing company manager says he won't stop fighting until his criminal record is erased.
"I have said all along I am completely innocent of these charges," Griesa said. "I never should've been convicted of anything."
A second appeal is already in the works.
Griesa, 47, also hopes to take his case all the way to the state Supreme Court.
The 3rd District Court of Appeal on June 21 tossed out two counts of contributing to the delinquency of minors and a felony count of withholding payroll taxes.
The appellate court said prosecutors failed to produce evidence at trial that Griesa induced two teenagers to violate curfew laws in 2007 and dismissed the charges.
The opinion also said the Yuba County jury did not receive proper instructions in 2009 regarding one of the four felony counts of failing to properly report payroll taxes and threw that charge out as well. Prosecutors have a month to refile the tax charge.
The court affirmed the remaining charges: three more felony tax convictions, two misdemeanor counts of unlawfully detaining minors and a misdemeanor charge of annoying or molesting an underage female employee.
Griesa was required to register as a sex offender for sending sexual text messages to the ex-employee.
"I'm going to attack the felonies first, then the (misdemeanors)," Griesa said.
The remaining tax convictions are based on failing to properly report payroll information in 2006 and 2007.
Griesa claims his former company paid more than $49,000 in payroll taxes during that time, but said the company was short about $67 each year for a total outstanding bill of about $170, including penalties and assessments.
"For that, I received four felony convictions," Griesa said. "I was held liable for a clerical error — it's ridiculous."
Griesa claims there was more evidence of his innocence that was not presented to the appeals court, but said he does not know why.
"I have my stamped copy, so we need to find out how and why the evidence never made it to the court," Griesa said.
He also believes his text-messaging conviction will be overturned.
Griesa tried to have the misdemeanor charge overturned based on a technical argument regarding a statute of limitations, but the appeals court rejected the argument.
He plans to fight the charge with "new evidence" that has never been heard in any courtroom.
Griesa claims the girl told him she was 18 and said he has a text message to prove it. He claims all of his "solicitous texts" came after he believed the girl was a legal adult.
Those claims were not presented at his original trial, which, according to Griesa, is one of the reasons he is suing his former trial attorneys.
Griesa has sued six of the eight attorneys he has hired since 2008.
"All of these attorneys have not done what they were paid to do to represent me or did things they weren't supposed to do," Griesa said.
In the last four years, various prosecutors and attorneys have called Griesa "a manipulative liar" and "a despicable human being" who was fortunate he was not convicted on the more serious sex crime charges. Original claims included allegations he drugged and raped his then 17-year-old victim and slugged her when she refused to perform oral sex, among others.
At his sentencing hearing in 2010, the tearful victim said her experiences with Griesa changed her life forever.
Over his "strenuous objections," Griesa said his insurance company settled with the victim last year, paying her $160,000.
Griesa continues to deny all sex crimes and claims his accusers fabricated the allegations to extort "a big pay day."
