A judge granted the District Attorney’s office request to
dismiss a criminal charge against attorney Michael Pekin’s aide for
practicing law without a license Thursday, stating the case lacked
sufficient evidence for prosecution.
Hollister – A judge granted the District Attorney’s office request to dismiss a criminal charge against attorney Michael Pekin’s aide for practicing law without a license Thursday, stating the case lacked sufficient evidence for prosecution.
Judge Harry Tobias granted Deputy District Attorney Denny Wei’s motion to dismiss the case based on the fact that two visiting judges declared the case weak and lacked enough evidence to proceed with a full trial. However, in an unusual twist, Hernandez’s attorney argued against the dismissal because it did not include the District Attorney’s concession that she was innocent of the charge.
Wei said the District Attorney’s office is unwilling to provide Hernandez with a statement declaring her innocence because they don’t believe she is. But her attorney, Patrick Pekin, claims that without a statement of her innocence, she can’t officially become a lawyer.
“We’ve fought like hell to prove Ms. Hernandez broke no law and is completely innocent,” Pekin said. “We’ve had two judges state Ms. Hernandez’s case is extremely weak. The DA trying to blow this thing off with a simple dismissal – that just doesn’t fly.”
The misdemeanor practicing law without a license charge against Hernandez stemmed from her involvement in a portion of Michael Pekin’s lawsuit against former Supervisor Richard Scagliotti. Hernandez conducted an interview and prepared a declaration for a planning department employee that Michael Pekin used in a failed attempt to obtain a restraining order against former Planning Department Director Rob Mendiola.
When he charged her, District Attorney John Sarsfield claimed because she does not have a law license, her involvement was illegal. Wei declined comment about the District Attorney’s Office decision to drop the case, and deferred all comments to Sarsfield. Sarsfield did not return phone calls Thursday.
Pekin is adamant Sarsfield charged Hernandez simply to stifle his lawsuit against Scagliotti, however Sarsfield has scoffed at the notion that he charged her for any other reason than that he believes she committed a crime.
Although Hernandez wasn’t declared innocent of the crime she was charged with, she said the day’s ruling lifted a huge weight off her shoulders. Since being charged, she said there were times when she thought she may need to change careers because she would never be able to obtain her law license.
“It’s nice to not be labeled a criminal anymore,” Hernandez said, who added that she is confident Pekin will be able to convince a judge to present her with a certificate of innocence.
“All the case law we’ve researched says that preparing a declaration is not a practice of law,” she said. “The law is entirely on our side.”
Although Pekin originally argued against the motion to dismiss the case, he eventually agreed with Tobias’ ruling after the judge stated the dismissal was based on insufficient evidence. Pekin said he will use that to his advantage when he files a motion to have a judge declare Hernandez innocent and present her with a certificate. Pekin will file that motion with the court in 10 days, he said.
“The reason it’s important is because Amanda’s applying for the bar,” Pekin said. “A simple dismissal in the interest of justice is not good enough.”
The District Attorney’s decision to dismiss the case came just a couple weeks after an out-of-town judge declared the case against Hernandez “extremely weak” and “an attempt to stifle” a lawsuit against Scagliotti.
At that time, the judge granted Pekin’s request to delve into Sarsfield’s motives for charging Hernandez based on Pekin’s claim that Sarsfield is discriminatorily prosecuting the woman in an attempt to impede Michael Pekin’s lawsuit against Scagliotti.
Michael Pekin and the anonymous group Los Valientes filed a suit against Scagliotti nearly two years ago claiming Scagliotti used his position on the board to profit financially and violated the Brown Act open meeting law, alone with the four other supervisors, while drafting the growth control initiative Measure G. Los Valientes later dropped out of the suit and county resident Juan Monteon jumped on board.
Hernandez and her attorney were scheduled to present visiting Judge Kenneth Andreen with their list of demands for documents the District Attorney is not normally required to hand over to the defense in about two weeks. Pekin also said he may attempt to subpoena Sarsfield as to his motives in charging Hernandez.
Now that the case has been dismissed they will not get that chance, however, Pekin said they will still make a motion for those documents because Sarsfield also has a civil case pending against the trio.
The civil suit asks that Michael Pekin and his associates get a judge’s permission before filing any more lawsuits against the county and that they pay a fine as much as $500,000 and attorney’s fees.
Erin Musgrave covers public safety for the Free Lance. Reach her at 637-5566, ext. 336 or [email protected]
