Stoen denies vendetta
Andrew Bird
The Times-Standard
Saturday, January 22, 2005 - 6:12:42 AM PST
EUREKA -- Assistant District Attorney Tim Stoen said Friday that an attempt to remove him from the Debi August accusation case is a "ploy" to delay a trial scheduled for next month.
However, August's attorney, Bill Bragg, countered that if the trial is pushed back, Stoen is to blame for "dragging his feet."
This exchange of affronts Friday is a flare up of a very public feud between two of the county's most powerful attorneys -- one a government prosecutor, the other an influential private defense lawyer.
At times this drama has taken center stage to the case itself in the nine-month saga since the county grand jury filed an accusation case seeking to remove August from the Fortuna City Council.
"This is a defense ploy to try to delay the trial. This is upsetting to me. It's a shame," Stoen said Friday, in reaction to a motion Bragg filed Thursday, seeking to remove him from the case he has handled since the grand jury brought evidence against August to the district attorney's office early last year.
Bragg argues in his motion that the Humboldt County District Attorney's office should be recused from prosecuting the case.
The reason, according to Bragg: Stoen has a vendetta against his client because August supported the recall against Stoen's boss, District Attorney Paul Gallegos.
August also criticized Stoen and Gallegos publicly for filing a fraud lawsuit against Pacific Lumber Co., Bragg added.
Stoen again Friday vehemently denied having any vendetta against August.
"If there is a bias, there is a bias against me," Stoen said, referencing earlier animosity with Bragg over legal wrangling in the case last year.
"My feeling is they don't want to face the case on its merits," Stoen said.
However, Bragg said that once Stoen got ahold of the case in early 2004, he steered the grand jury to file a five-count accusation against August in May.
"It wasn't the grand jury ... Mr. Stoen took that and ran with it," Bragg said Friday.
"Debi didn't do anything that would justify removing her from office," Bragg added.
Bragg said he wants the California Attorney General's office to take over the case.
He also said if his motion is granted, he believes the Attorney General's office will drop the case.
Humboldt County Superior Court Judge John Feeney will hear arguments on the motion at a hearing scheduled for 4 p.m. on Feb. 1.
Bragg's motion threatens to postpone a trial that is scheduled for Feb. 22.
Stoen said Bragg's strategy is to delay the trial so that the case against August becomes moot.
The accusation seeks to remove her from office for her current term only, which expires in about a year.
The accusation does not seek to prevent her from running for public office in the future.
Stoen said the timing of Bragg's motion -- three weeks before the trial date -- supports his argument.
"None of this is new and it could have been done last summer," Stoen said.
However, if the trial is delayed, Stoen is to blame, Bragg countered.
Bragg said he has been trying for months to get secret grand jury material from the fall of 2003, when the grand jury began investigating August, before the District Attorney's Office became involved.
But Stoen has failed to make it available, Bragg said.
"He is the one who has dragged his feet," Bragg said. "The bottom line is the trial date is uncertain because of his delays."
Bragg also said he is "angry at Stoen" because he believes the assistant district attorney is trying to subvert the voting process by targeting his client for removal from office.
"Just as I was angry at Pacific Lumber Co. for manufacturing a recall against his boss, I am angry at Tim Stoen," Bragg said.
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