Geragos’ Big Trials Make for Jilted Judge

Irritated by delays in a 5-year-old embezzlement case, an Orange County Superior Court judge ordered lead defense attorney Mark Geragos -- a celebrity lawyer who also represents Michael Jackson and accused killer Scott Peterson -- to appear in court today, appointment book in hand, to prove he still has time to handle the case.

While colleagues and other observers marvel at Geragos’ roster of high-profile clients, Judge Frank F. Fasel questioned Tuesday whether the lawyer has overextended himself.

The start of the Orange County case, in which a trash executive is accused of embezzling $4 million from the city of Orange, has been delayed several times in the last year at the defense’s request. Fasel expressed frustration that the case appears to be overshadowed by the looming Peterson murder trial.

“I don’t see why this case should take a back seat to the other trial,” the judge said Tuesday, addressing a member of Geragos’ law firm who has been appearing on his behalf.

Geragos said in a phone interview Tuesday that the notoriety of his other clients is drawing attention to an otherwise routine scheduling hearing. “Lawyers juggle cases all the time,” he said. “It’s not unusual.”

The Los Angeles-based lawyer has represented Jeffrey Hambarian -- whose family’s business had been Orange’s longtime trash hauler -- for four years, long before Peterson was charged with killing his wife and unborn child. Geragos is in trial in Pasadena defending a man accused of fatally shooting his former wife. The Peterson case has been postponed until the Pasadena trial concludes.

Although it’s not unusual for judges to ask lawyers to bring their calendars with them to synchronize scheduling, legal expert Laurie Levenson said they rarely go so far as to demand proof that a lawyer has enough time to represent his client.

“Judges in the lesser-known cases don’t like feeling they’re being treated like a second-[class] court,” said Levenson, a former federal prosecutor who teaches criminal evidence at Loyola Law School. “They’re beginning to wonder why Geragos is taking on so much.”

In addition to Peterson and Jackson, actors Winona Ryder and Robert Downey Jr., rap star Nate Dogg and Whitewater land deal figure Susan MacDougal have been represented by Geragos. Recently, he was hired by a Chinese spiritual leader fighting charges that he beat his maid.

It is unlikely, however, that Fasel would take the extreme step of removing Geragos from the Orange County fraud case because it would make any verdict vulnerable to appeal, criminal attorneys said.

Geragos plans to ask Fasel to postpone the trash hauler’s case until Peterson’s trial is finished because the accused killer is in custody and could receive the death penalty. Hambarian has been free on bail since soon after his arrest five years ago.

“After the Peterson case is over, this one won’t be a problem,” Pat Harris, an attorney in Geragos’ firm who has represented Hambarian in recent court appearances, told Fasel on Tuesday morning.

Ed Wallin, a retired Orange County and Appeals Court judge, agreed that defendants in custody are entitled to priority when it comes to deciding trial dates. “It doesn’t really leave a judge with much choice,” Wallin said.

Still, Fasel’s frustration with Geragos appeared to grow Tuesday after looking at a copy of Geragos’ calendar supplied by Harris.

“I agree with the prosecutor that this is insufficient,” Fasel said tartly, saying he couldn’t gauge the lawyer’s availability from the information on the schedule.

Rolling his eyes, he added, “It sounds like I’m going to be seeing you folks tomorrow.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. Ronald Cafferty, lead prosecutor on the Hambarian case, has said he will oppose any more postponements in the trial, expected to last from three to five months.

Other prosecutors said high-profile attorneys often use a crowded case schedule as a tactical court maneuver to weaken witnesses’ memories and break victims’ resolve.

“Delays only help the defense,” said Jill Schall, assistant chief of the San Diego district attorney’s office’s Superior Court division.

Years ago, while prosecuting a minister accused of child molestation, Schall said she grew increasingly frustrated seeing the defense lawyer request delays in court then watching the same attorney on television night after night providing commentary on a high-profile murder case. The minister eventually pleaded guilty to lesser charges.

“The family was so tired of those delays that they just wanted to see the case over and done with,” Schall said. “It’s hard, because you want to see defendants get a fair trial, but then these overbooked defense lawyers come along and muddy up the system.”

In the Hambarian case, three potential witnesses have died and memories of others have faded since the suspect’s arrest, said Orange City Atty. David DeBerry.

The more time that passes, he said, the less likely it is that citizens overcharged to pay for Hambarian’s alleged crimes will see the benefit of any restitution.

“It’s certainly a sore spot that this case has gone on for so long,” DeBerry said Tuesday. “I think our case has gotten short shrift for some time because of Geragos’ representations that he has more important things to do.”

Other criminal defense lawyers said such delay tactics can tarnish the profession’s reputation.

“Any criminal defense attorney worth his or her salt will decline a client whose case would jeopardize those already in progress,” said veteran lawyer Paul Meyer, who defended Merrill Lynch in the Orange County bankruptcy case.

Still, he said, most attorneys are adept at managing several time-consuming cases and their clients understand the need for patience.

“When you hire someone with a certain reputation, you realize that other people want them too, and you compromise,” Meyer said.

Geragos’ reputation for defending the famous has made him one of the nation’s best-known attorneys, along with Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. and Leslie Abramson, Levenson said.

“It’s his time in the sun,” she said. “That makes it really hard to say no to anyone. You never know if you’ll have this kind of run again.”