San Benito County’s criminal grand jury will consider felony
indictments against two former business owners suspected of
illegally storing hazardous waste and dumping it in the Hollister
sewer system.
Hollister – San Benito County’s criminal grand jury will consider felony indictments against two former business owners suspected of illegally storing hazardous waste and dumping it in the Hollister sewer system.
The defendants are spouses Greg and Diana Short, who owned Central Valley Circuits near the airport for four years before closing shop in late 2001, along with Lance Strauss, who took over the company’s assets when the Shorts left. The Shorts ran the small business that made printed circuit boards used in the computer industry.
After pressing charges in March against the owners, the district attorney’s office now wants the 18-member grand jury to decide if the case should reach a jury trial. The hearing is set for Sept. 28. A grand jury’s decision acts in place of a preliminary hearing, where a judge rules if there’s enough evidence to move forward.
The district attorney’s office in March initially charged them with felony counts on suspicion of illegally storing hazardous waste in 55-gallon drums and then discharging the materials into the sewer system. Those materials included toxic levels of acids, silver and copper, among other dangerous chemicals used in the production of circuit boards.
A preliminary court hearing is set for Oct. 15 but could be canceled if the grand jury rules against pressing charges.
Prosecutors are now turning to the grand jury, said District Attorney John Sarsfield, because “it speeds up the process, and we want to keep this case moving.”
The Shorts claim they were locked out of their business by the landlord, preventing them from properly disposing the drums of hazardous waste, according to their attorney, Tom Worthington.
Worthington also says the district attorney’s office violated the Shorts’ right to due process.
The district attorney’s office won a civil case against Central Valley Circuits, for the same allegations, about 11 months before the Shorts were hit with the criminal complaint. In the civil case, a judge lowered prosecutors’ recommended fine of $100,000 to $2,000.
Worthington claims prosecutors knew about the criminal allegations well before filing the complaint – and didn’t act promptly as required by law.
“The DA is required to move forward on all cases of which he’s aware at one time,” Worthington said.
Regardless, Worthington said prosecutors have no evidence against the Shorts. He called the grand jury hearing “an end run around the defendants’ constitutional right to a fair hearing.”
“We would be able to put up an affirmative defense if we were able to hear their evidence, and we won’t be able to do that at a grand jury,” Worthington said.
Grand jury hearings have different rules than jury trials. Defense attorneys don’t take part in the proceedings. Instead, special prosecutor Roy Hubert, an environmental lawyer, will take witness testimony and present closing arguments before jurors deliberate and come back with or without indictments.
The district attorney’s office has a list of 28 potential witnesses for the hearings, Hubert said. Though he’s unsure if all the witnesses will be available. Hubert declined to say where the hearings will be held.
Kollin Kosmicki covers politics for the Free Lance. Reach him at 637-5566, ext. 331, or kk*******@fr***********.com.
