After stumbling through a preliminary hearing without an
attorney, a man accused of manipulating local courts to turn a
profit heeded the advice of judges and lawyers and secured his own
counsel.
After stumbling through a preliminary hearing without an attorney, a man accused of manipulating local courts to turn a profit heeded the advice of judges and lawyers and secured his own counsel.
Vincent Cardinalli Sr., 66; his son, Paul Greer, 32; his daughter, Rosemary Ball, 34; and her husband, Michael Ball, 39, face 158 counts of conspiracy, forgery, perjury, attempted grand theft and other felony charges stemming from a tow-and-sue scheme the family used to parlay their towing and collections businesses into a gold mine, according to court documents. Cardinalli was convicted of two counts of felony arson in 1979 and if convicted of felony charges, could spend the rest of his life in prison because of California’s Three Strikes rule.
During the family’s six week preliminary hearing that took place over the summer, Superior Court Judge Gilbert Brown urged Cardinalli multiple times to get an attorney.
Tammy Miller-Holmgren, an attorney assigned to be Cardinalli’s lawyer through the county’s Independent Defender’s Office, is currently in the process of receiving the evidence in the case, she said. She said she had no idea how long it would take her to sift through the boxes of evidence generated by the family’s business dealings.
“Starting from scratch as she is, it’s going to take weeks, maybe months,” said Greer’s attorney, Eben Kurtzman. “I would be surprised if she could get through it all this month.”
Kurtzman could often be seen lugging suitcases of paperwork up the courthouse stairs the mornings before the preliminary hearing, and the volume of evidence has been so great that attorneys have used carts to bring it all into the courtroom at previous hearings.
Given the amount of evidence and number of witnesses, attorneys estimated that the trial could last several months.
“I think it was a good move on his part,” Kurtzman said of Cardinalli’s decision. “It’s almost always better to have an attorney than to represent yourself.”
Miller-Holmgren would not say what caused Cardinalli’s change of heart.
The family allegedly brought an avalanche of lawsuits against unwitting motorists for towing, storage and lien sale fees on vehicles the motorists never owned, or sold years before the cars were towed, according to court documents. When defendants tried to fight back, father and son often zeroed in on technicalities and advanced frivolous arguments, witnesses testified at the preliminary hearing. In addition, the defendants often never knew they were being sued, because the person who was supposed to deliver the notifications did not deliver them, though he lied and said he did, according to court documents.
Police arrested Cardinalli and Greer over two years ago. Cardinalli is currently in custody at the Main Jail in San Jose. His relatives are not in police custody.
The family will head back to court 9 a.m. Jan. 8 in Department 32 at the Hall of Justice in San Jose for a trial setting hearing.
Kurtzman said he will be ready to move forward with the trial at that date and Miller-Holmgren will announce whether she is ready to do the same.
“She’s got to have the opportunity to get up to speed on this case,” Kurtzman said. “But the judge is being very aggressive in a positive sense in trying to get this case moving forward.”
