P.I.s accused in Costa Mesa spying case try again to get some charges thrown out
Two private investigators facing felony allegations of spying on two Costa Mesa councilmen in the run-up to the 2012 election are again trying to have some of the charges thrown out.
A motion filed this month in Orange County Superior Court asks a judge to reexamine whether there’s enough evidence to support charging former Riverside policemen Chris Lanzillo and Scott Impola with criminal conspiracy and false imprisonment in connection with a fake drunk driving report about a local politician.
Much of the motion — filed March 4 but not made public until this week — focuses on the false-imprisonment charge.
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The charge stems from the night of Aug. 22, 2012, when Lanzillo is alleged to have plotted with Impola to call in a fake DUI on City Council member Jim Righeimer.
According to the Orange County district attorney’s office, Impola was watching Councilman Gary Monahan — a Righeimer ally — at a restaurant Monahan owns when Righeimer and council member Steve Mensinger arrived.
Prosecutors believe Impola contacted Lanzillo, and when Righeimer drove off from the restaurant’s parking lot, Lanzillo began tailing him. Prosecutors allege that Lanzillo then called 911, falsely reported that Righeimer’s car was swerving wildly and followed him all the way home, waiting for police to arrive.
Prosecutors argue that Lanzillo caused false imprisonment because the call prompted an officer to respond and detain Righeimer for a sobriety test. The officer ultimately cleared Righeimer of any impairment and left.
Last August, lawyers for Lanzillo and Impola persuaded a judge to throw out the false-imprisonment charges by arguing that Righeimer consented to the sobriety test and was therefore never detained in a meaningful way.
Judge Denise de Bellefeuille said at the time that the officer’s interaction with Righeimer was “fleeting,” lasting less than a minute.
However, in December, another judge reinstated the charges at the request of prosecutors.
Judge Cheri Pham concluded that any reasonable person in Righeimer’s situation would have understood that — whether he consented or not — he wasn’t free to leave until the officer was finished.
Lanzillo and Impola’s new motion means a third judge will have to weigh in on the issue before the case can head to trial. A hearing on the motion is scheduled for next month.
Prosecutors suspect Lanzillo and Impola were working for a now-defunct law firm named Lackie, Dammeier, McGill & Ethir when Righeimer and his allies were targeted.
The firm, known for aggressively representing law enforcement clients, was on retainer for the Costa Mesa Police Assn., which was locked in a bitter political fight with Righeimer and his allies on the council. The police association denies any prior knowledge of the DUI incident or any unlawful activity. It quickly fired the firm after the incident became public.
Association members have received immunity from prosecutors as part of a deal to cooperate with the investigation.
In all, Lanzillo and Impola face four felony counts each: the false imprisonment count, one count of conspiracy on allegations of coordinating the 911 call about Righeimer and two counts of criminal conspiracy on allegations of tracking Mensinger and an unrelated lawyer by GPS.
Each could face up to four years and four months behind bars if convicted.
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Jeremiah Dobruck, jeremiah.dobruck2@latimes.com
Twitter: @jeremiahdobruck
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