Judge Bans Boys Club Killer’s Co-Counsel

In a highly unusual move, the judge in the Billionaire Boys Club murder case has removed associate defense counsel Richard Chier from the case just as it enters its final phase.

“I don’t see how, as a practical matter, I can proceed without his assistance,” lead defense attorney Arthur Barens said Thursday. He has represented Joe Hunt since his arrest more than two years ago. “Mr. Hunt is entitled to counsel of his choice by law. I don’t think the judge has the authority to remove counsel on a capital case on the basis that he doesn’t like the lawyer,” he said.

Santa Monica Superior Court Judge Laurence Rittenband, who has clashed repeatedly with Chier, refused to specify why he will not allow Chier, for whom he had approved payment of $35 an hour, to continue, saying only that there were “very good reasons why I terminated him. I don’t want to go into them publicly because they reflect on his competence.”

He said he told Barens on Wednesday to get another co-counsel, because under California law a defendant in a death penalty case is entitled to have two attorneys represent him.

The judge, who evicted Chier from the courtroom several times during the 2 1/2-month trial and forbade him to speak in the presence of the jury, said he never intended Chier to remain on the case once a verdict was reached. The lawyer was allowed only to argue motions and whisper suggestions to Barens.

Hunt was convicted of first-degree murder and robbery Wednesday in the 1984 slaying of Beverly Hills con man Ron Levin. The defense had asked for two weeks to prepare arguments for the penalty phase, scheduled to begin May 11. Hunt could receive a sentence of either life without parole or death in the gas chamber.

Chier earlier asked an appeals court to disqualify Rittenband as prejudiced, but the request was denied.