Defense Lawyer in Drunk Flying Case Accused of Being Drunk in Court

A Burbank attorney representing a man charged with drunk flying was himself admonished Wednesday by a Ventura County judge for coming to court intoxicated, and an hour later was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving.

The attorney, Elmer O. Docken, 64, arrived in the courtroom of Municipal Court Judge Lee E. Cooper Jr. more than two hours late for the trial of a client charged with flying a private plane from Pacoima to Oxnard while under the influence of alcohol.

After conferring with the judge in his chambers shortly after 11 a.m., Docken was ordered to take a breath test, which showed he had a blood-alcohol level of .289, Cooper said. A level of .10 is the legal measure of intoxication.

“If I find you in this condition again, I will find you in contempt and remand you to the custody of the sheriff to serve five days in jail,” Cooper said in court.

Docken, who slurred some of his words and wore a wrinkled suit, told the judge he was prepared to begin the trial. But Cooper retorted, “I am not of the opinion that you are in any condition to represent a client.”

Cooper rescheduled the trial of Docken’s client, Ronald Gene Lichnovsky, for May 6. Lichnovsky, 44, of North Hollywood is charged with misdemeanor violations of operating an aircraft under the influence of alcohol and reckless flying, violations of the state public utilities code.

Report to State Bar

The judge told Docken that a report of the incident would be sent to the State Bar. Cooper said Docken also had appeared to be drunk during a previous hearing in the case before Ventura County Muncipal Court Judge John R. Smiley.

Cooper then warned the attorney not to drive while intoxicated. But soon afterward, Docken began to drive his car out of the parking lot of the Ventura courthouse and was arrested by Ventura County sheriff’s deputies on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol, Deputy Dist. Atty. Donald Coleman said.

When asked outside of court whether he had been drinking that morning, Docken said, “I drink all the time.”

Docken was being held in Ventura County Jail late Wednesday in lieu of $860 bail.

A State Bar spokeswoman said that two complaints against Docken were filed Dec. 31 and are now under investigation. The nature of the complaints are confidential, the spokeswoman said.

Lichnovsky is alleged to have narrowly missed colliding with another plane about 8 a.m. on Jan. 24 after taking off from Whiteman Airport in Pacoima. Witnesses said he flew his single-engine Piper Tri-Pacer airplane into the path of an oncoming plane, forcing the other pilot to dive 400 feet to avoid a collision, Oxnard police Sgt. Fred Barry said.

Airport control towers in the region were notified to watch for Lichnovsky’s plane, and he was arrested moments after landing at Ventura County Airport in Oxnard.

“Officers arrived in time to watch the pilot make a safe landing,” Berry said. They administered sobriety tests at the scene and found Lichnovsky’s blood-alcohol level to be .18, more than four times the .04 legal limit set for pilots by the Federal Aviation Administration, prosecutors said.