A judge called the District Attorney’s case against Amanda
Hernandez, an aide for Los Valientes attorney Mike Pekin who the
prosecutor charged for practicing law without a license,
”
extremely weak
”
and
”
an attempt to stifle
”
a lawsuit against former Supervisor Richard Scagliotti.
Hollister – A judge called the District Attorney’s case against Amanda Hernandez, an aide for Los Valientes attorney Mike Pekin who the prosecutor charged for practicing law without a license, “extremely weak” and “an attempt to stifle” a lawsuit against former Supervisor Richard Scagliotti.
An out-of-town Judge Kenneth Andreen ruled last week that Pekin will get the chance to delve into District Attorney John Sarsfield’s motives for charging Hernandez based on Pekin’s claim that Sarsfield is discriminatorily prosecuting the woman in an attempt to impede Pekin’s lawsuit against Scagliotti.
As a result, Pekin will ask for the District Attorney’s records concerning his motives in charging Hernandez and may try to subpoena the prosecutor to testify in court, he said.
Sarsfield declined to comment about the judge’s decision, however, he has scoffed at the notion that he’s prosecuting Hernandez for any other reason than because he believes she committed a crime.
“This doesn’t say that Sarsfield is prosecuting an innocent person because he has an ax to grind against Pekin,” Pekin said, referring to the court transcript stating Andreen’s decision. “Sarsfield is prosecuting an innocent person because he’s trying to stifle the Monteon case, and the target of the Monteon case is Scagliotti.”
The misdemeanor practicing law without a license charge against Hernandez stemmed from her involvement in a portion of Pekin’s lawsuit against Scagliotti. Hernandez conducted an interview and prepared a declaration for a planning department employee that Pekin used in a failed attempt to obtain a restraining order against former Planning Department Director Rob Mendiola. Hernandez does not have a legal license, and Sarsfield is arguing that her involvement in the matter is illegal.
However, Hernandez’s involvement came more than a year after Pekin and the anonymous group Los Valientes first filed a civil suit against Scagliotti. The Los Valientes group later dropped out of the suit and Hollister resident Juan Monteon jumped on board, alleging Scagliotti used his position on the board to profit financially and violated the Brown Act open meeting law, along with the four other supervisors, while drafting the growth control initiative Measure G. The Monteon lawsuit came out of the original lawsuit filed by the anonymous group Los Valientes.
Scagliotti believes Pekin’s allegations that Sarsfield is going out of his way to help him is “just more nonsense Pekin comes up with.” He believes the legal back-and-forth between Pekin and Sarsfield doesn’t stem from the case he’s embroiled in, but goes back to allegations Pekin made about Sarsfield allegedly having an affair with his office manager.
“He (Pekin) keeps trying to float this back to Monteon. It’s a civil case, why would the DA interfere in a civil case?” Scagliotti said. “This is all a smoke screen on Pekin’s part. It just doesn’t make any sense.”
While Sarsfield has denied making legal maneuvers on behalf of Scagliotti, Pekin is adamant that the road leads back to the former supervisor and the governmental corruption case against him.
Pekin and his son, Patrick Pekin, who both are defending Hernandez, cited a 30-year-old California Supreme Court case involving Cesar Chavez and law enforcement authorities in Kern County, who engaged in discriminatory enforcement against United Farm Workers and their supporters.
The case law allows the defendant to demand additional documents, called discovery, from the plaintiff – in this case the District Attorney’s Office – to bolster their case alleging discriminatory prosecution.
Pekin will go before Andreen on Sept. 9 with a list of his discovery demands, and at that time Andreen will decide what Sarsfield will be required to turn over to Pekin. Patrick Pekin also said they may ask Andreen to allow them to subpoena Sarsfield and question him on the stand as to his reasons for charging Hernandez.
“This is a major step in comparing John Sarsfield to every other district attorney for the last 30 years,” Pekin said. “No other district attorney from 1975 to the present has done such a thing. Now that the case is in the posture it is, Mr. Sarsfield will lose every time he goes to court. Judges don’t help people who are discriminatorily prosecuting others.”
Sarsfield and Pekin have been going head to head in the court system for more than a year. Sarsfield initiated a criminal grand jury investigation into Pekin last December – which led to Pekin being indicted with five felony charges that a judge later dismissed – and filed a civil lawsuit against Pekin, his son, Patrick Pekin and Hernandez. The civil suit, which hasn’t been resolved, asks that 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
em*******@fr***********.com
