CHP Took Deputy D.A. Home, Not to Jail

A top California Highway Patrol official acknowledged Wednesday that the deputy district attorney assigned to prosecute the CHP officer charged with murdering Cara Knott was given special treatment last month when he was taken home after being arrested on suspicion of drunk driving.

Ben Killingsworth, chief of the CHP Border Division in San Diego, said his officer did not follow standard procedure when he decided against taking prosecutor Joseph Van Orshoven to jail. But Killingsworth defended the officer’s actions.

“From time to time, we do that when we think it’s the best thing to do,” Killingsworth said. “While this is not the normal procedure, it is not that far from normal procedures. . . . I think the fact we gathered the evidence, we filed the charges . . . really, I don’t see the problem.”

Van Orshoven, who is prosecuting CHP Officer Craig Peyer in connection with the Dec. 27 strangulation of Knott, was arrested Dec. 13. Breathalyzer tests revealed that the prosecutor had a blood alcohol percentage of 0.18, nearly twice the 0.10 level that is considered legally drunk.

The handling of Van Orshoven’s arrest troubled Norma Phillips, the national president of Mothers Against Drunk Drivers. Extending such “professional courtesy” to a fellow member of the law enforcement fraternity, Phillips said, encourages the motorist to continue drinking and driving. She said a brief trip to jail is often an effective deterrent for drunk drivers.

“I think it is unfortunate that we let anyone off on a break,” said Phillips, who lives in Escondido. “It doesn’t matter if you are a police officer, a judge or a D.A., you can kill just like Mr. America. We don’t want there to be any excuses or any favors given. We’re talking about a serious crime that kills every 23 minutes in the nation.

“It seems like if a person has money or some clout in the community, they have appeared in time to get some preferential treatment.”

Dist. Atty. Edwin Miller said he never considered taking Van Orshoven off the murder case once he learned last week that a CHP officer was suspected of killing Knott. The officer who arrested Van Orshoven was not Peyer, CHP officials said.

“There’s just no connection between the charges against Joe Van Orshoven and his handling this other case,” Miller said. “The case is against an individual, not against the CHP. So I just simply don’t have any problem with it at all.”

Van Orshoven, 55, a prosecutor for 24 years, said he does not see even “an appearance” of a conflict of interest in the case.

“The young people I had contact with on the Highway Patrol that night did everything right as far as I could tell,” Van Orshoven said. “They were perfectly courteous, professional, followed the procedures and everything and in no way offended me.

“I would hate to think that I was so small a person as to not be able to divorce that situation from a situation such as this. It’s miles, miles away.”

He added: “Mr. Peyer will get the same attention that any other accused person would get from me under the circumstances.”

But Van Orshoven said there might be a conflict if he were defending Peyer because the officer belongs to the police organization that arrested him.

Peyer’s defense attorney, Robert Grimes, said the prosecutor’s arrest has no significance in the case. Peyer pleaded innocent Wednesday.

But a member of the Criminal Defense Bar Assn. of San Diego called it “garbage” that the district attorney’s office did not even consider removing Van Orshoven from the case.

“If they were smart, they would never let it go this far,” said the lawyer, who asked not to be identified. “They will back themselves up against the wall and refuse to acknowledge there is even an appearance of impropriety because that would suggest that taking (Van Orshoven) home is improper.”

Kent Milton, a CHP spokesman in Sacramento, said officers are instructed to treat law enforcement members who are suspected of drunk driving “just like you would any citizen.” He said the general policy is to take blood alcohol tests and book the suspect in jail.

A CHP officer who gives a driver a break could face discipline, Milton said.

“It was very much more common a long time ago,” Milton said of the practice of doling out favors to fellow law enforcement members. “I think law enforcement agencies have severely tightened up in that area.”

Van Orshoven was arrested early Dec. 13--five days after his boss, Miller, denied a report in The Times that his prosecutors routinely receive favors when they are stopped for traffic violations. At the time, Miller said, his prosecutors would probably get harsher treatment if they told an officer they worked for the district attorney.

On Wednesday, Miller said he had not given any thought to the possibility that Van Orshoven was granted special treatment after he identified himself as a deputy district attorney.

“I can’t speak for the individual situations of each attorney in the office,” Miller said. “If they encounter a problem, they have to handle it on their own.”

Miller said he did not believe that Van Orshoven was given any special breaks.

“Joe was charged, and other people who were picked under similar circumstances are almost invariably charged just like anybody else is,” Miller said. “I don’t view that as special treatment. Special treatment would be if they weren’t charged.”

Van Orshoven said he identified himself as a prosecutor after the CHP officer asked about his occupation. He said he did not ask the officer to take him home.

“They offered to do that, and I was happy to accept,” Van Orshoven said. “I did not make that request, but I was delighted that it worked out that way.”

Before being driven home in handcuffs, Van Orshoven said, he was given a blood alcohol test at the County Jail at Las Colinas.

Van Orshoven said he had several drinks of whiskey at his father’s house when his wife grew concerned because she could not reach her 18-year-old diabetic daughter at home. His wife later asked Van Orshoven to return home instead of spending the night at his father’s.

“When I got in the car, I felt fine,” Van Orshoven said. “Obviously, I wasn’t fine almost 20 miles later. That was a dumb thing to do. I feel very, very bad about it.”

Van Orshoven appeared in Municipal Court last Thursday to ask for a postponement of his arraignment until Feb. 18. Later that day, he answered reporters’ questions at a press conference held to announce Peyer’s arrest.

Van Orshoven, who said he volunteered to take the Peyer case, added that his arrest was never discussed with Miller.

“I knew it might become very embarrassing to me,” Van Orshoven said. “If I was willing to undertake the task, he was willing to give me the job.

“I’m not hired to turn down assignments. I’m not hired to avoid for personal reasons the possibility that persons want to make a mountain out of a molehill.”