In the ongoing saga of lawyer Michael Pekin versus the San
Benito County District Attorney’s Office, District Attorney John
Sarsfield announced he is pressing criminal charges against Pekin’s
legal aide for practicing law without a license.
Hollister – In the ongoing saga of lawyer Michael Pekin versus the San Benito County District Attorney’s Office, District Attorney John Sarsfield announced he is pressing criminal charges against Pekin’s legal aide for practicing law without a license.
The charge against 27-year-old Amanda Hernandez could send her to jail for up to a year or stick her with a $1,000 fine if convicted, and it could also derail her dreams of becoming a lawyer even if the charge is dismissed, she said.
Hernandez believes Sarsfield is charging her because he has a personal vendetta against Pekin and anyone associated with him. But Sarsfield, who commissioned the opinion of Sherman Oaks-based legal malpractice attorney Phillip Feldman before charging Hernandez, insists he’s abiding by the letter of the law.
“Just the allegation of this charge is probably going to be enough to make it so I’m not going to be able to practice law,” Hernandez said. “However, if it turns out that I am proved innocent of this, it may be too little too late. It’s horrible. I’m young enough to start another profession, but I’ve spent the last five years of my life doing this. Student loans and time and energy spent practicing law – one man’s pissed off and he’s going to make it so I can’t.”
Hernandez has a law degree and passed the California State Bar, but has yet to receive her license, she said.
The charge arose out of Hernandez’s conduct in Pekin’s ongoing civil case against San Benito County and former Supervisor Richard Scagliotti alleging corruption and involving the anonymous group Los Valientes, according to the district attorney’s office. Hernandez became entangled in the matter when she conducted an interview and prepared a declaration for planning department employee Ken Speciale, which Pekin used in an attempt to obtain a restraining order against Planning Director Rob Mendiola, which a judge denied. In the unsigned declaration, which contained some errors when it was presented to a judge, Speciale stated he had evidence that could implicate Mendiola in the corruption charge against Scagliotti. Hernandez says it clearly stated the declaration contained some errors, which Speciale later corrected before he signed the declaration.
Sarsfield based the charge on Feldman’s opinion that in her declaration, Hernandez argued facts and law to a judge and intentionally submitted a document that portrayed her as being a licensed attorney, according to Feldman’s written opinion. While Feldman stated it is common for people who aren’t lawyers to prepare statements for their superiors, Feldman deemed Hernandez’s declaration was an “argument to the court mixed with requests for judicial action or intervention.”
“The conduct of Amanda in arguing facts and law to a judge, as she did in her declaration, asking for remedies for a client, representing the interests of a client all constituted the practice of law,” Feldman stated in the declaration.
He concluded that in allowing Hernandez to violate the law, both Pekin and his son, Patrick, who is also his attorney, are also subject to criminal prosecution.
“By permitting Amanda to act as ‘spokesperson’ for their client, without the right to do so, both attorneys have played havoc with the system of civil justice,” Feldman concluded in his statement.
But Pekin believes the charge is without merit and “the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen,” because Hernandez made it clear in the declaration that she is not a licensed attorney.
In the declaration, Hernandez states she is “awaiting permission to ‘swear in’ and am working on this case with the Law Office of Michael Pekin,” according to the declaration.
Hernandez’s charge is the most recent salvo in Sarsfield’s battle against Pekin and his law firm. Pekin appeared before San Benito County Superior Court Judge Harry Tobias for the first time as a criminal defendant Wednesday, where his attorneys, his son Patrick Pekin and Arthur Cantu, set a timeline for Pekin’s case involving the criminal grand jury’s felony indictment of him.
Pekin is being charged with five felony charges including obstructing justice, eliciting perjury and filing frivolous lawsuits. If he is convicted, he could face up to three years in prison and could lose his ability to practice law. Along with his criminal charges, Pekin is also being investigated by the California State Bar into allegations that he illegally intervened in the Measure G lawsuit brought by San Juan Bautista resident Rebecca McGovern in late 2003, and that he knowingly filed a false declaration when he submitted Speciale’s unsigned statement when he tried to get a restraining order against Mendiola.
Pekin told Tobias that as part of the defense’s case, he’s attempting to get a copy of the full investigative report into Sarsfield’s office which was commissioned by the county following two Victim Witness Department employee’s sexual harassment complaint against Sarsfield.
Pekin said he plans to use the information in that report in an attempt to recuse the district attorney’s office from prosecuting him.
“I want the court to see what’s in the transcript and decide whether or not this is a fair DA,” Pekin said. However, Pekin may have to subpoena the county in order to receive a copy of the report, which is also before Tobias in a separate matter brought by lawyer Bill Marder, who represented the women who filed the sexual harassment suit against Sarsfield. Tobias is expected to issue a ruling soon on whether or not the report is a public document or a confidential personnel matter.
“You’re trying to decide whether it’s confidential,” Pekin told Tobias. “But it’s not privileged. My standing is far more powerful as a criminal defendant. It has to be privileged, or else I can get it.”
Pekin and his attorneys have to have motions filed, which could include a motion to dismiss the indictment, by June 7, which is when Tobias could also set a trial date. Hernandez will appear in court on the misdemeanor charge on May 24 at 8:30am.
Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or [email protected]
