Prosecutors Amend Complaint Against SOS

It was back to square one Wednesday for Los Angeles County prosecutors, who filed an amended complaint in Newhall charging Space Ordnance Systems and three of its executives with 87 misdemeanor violations of state and county hazardous-waste laws.

Newhall Municipal Judge H. Keith Byram scheduled a June 5 arraignment for the defense contractor and company officials Joseph Cabaret, Michael Murphy and James Smith.

A defense attorney said the defendants may argue that the complaint still is defective, a contention that could delay the case for several more months.

“I’m not sure that this is going to fly,” Michael R. Magasin, Smith’s lawyer, said after a brief hearing Wednesday morning.

Nearly Identical Complaint

Except for additional details concerning the alleged violations, the amended complaint is nearly identical to the one filed Aug. 29 by then-Dist. Atty. Robert Philibosian. The 87 counts carry maximum penalties of up to 80 years in jail for each of the men and fines of up to $3.6 million.

Defense lawyers argued last fall that the complaint was too vague for them to prepare an adequate defense. Byram rejected that argument, but delayed arraignment pending an appeal of his decision.

In March, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge James Reese overruled Byram, agreeing with defense lawyers that the complaint should be more specific.

Reese said the complaint did not identify specific wastes the defendants were said to have illegally disposed of, stored and transported. Reese also said each count should identify where the purported violation took place.

Vague Descriptions

Magasin said in an interview that the amended complaint still is vague as to the hazardous materials that allegedly were mishandled. For example, he said, the hazardous wastes now are described as solvents or explosives, but fail to name specific substances.

The complaint stems from raids in March, 1984, by state and county officials on Space Ordnance’s Mint Canyon plant at Agua Dulce and Sand Canyon plant near Canyon Country.

The officials said they turned up evidence that Space Ordnance, or SOS, had stored explosive wastes without required permits and had disposed of chemically tainted waste water by spraying it through sprinklers, dumping it on the ground and into creek beds, and depositing it in deep sumps.