Case Against Judge Turned Over to State

The Orange County district attorney’s office has reluctantly agreed to step aside in the prosecution of former West Municipal Judge Joanne Harrold.

County prosecutors apparently don’t want to risk the chance that the Harrold case would interfere with their case against Thomas F. Maniscalco.

Maniscalco is accused of masterminding a triple murder in Westminster. Harrold is his trial attorney, and the district attorney’s office had been prosecuting them both.

Harrold is charged with lying about being an Orange County resident when she successfully ran to retain her judgeship in 1984, a violation of election laws. The charge is a misdemeanor.

Harrold lost her seat on the bench when a Superior Court judge ruled that she had lied about her residency. Harrold in recent months has accused the district attorney’s office of vengeance against her in following that civil court ruling with a grand jury indictment against her.

Assistant Dist. Atty. Maury Evans said Wednesday that there is no truth to her accusations. He declined to discuss the issue further.

The district attorney’s office has turned the Harrold case over to the state attorney general’s office. Sources close to the case say Evans and his staff decided to drop out after discussions with the attorney general’s office over the problems involving the Maniscalco case.

At one point six months ago, it appeared that Harrold and Maniscalco might go to trial at the same time.

Maniscalco several times has waived his right to another attorney, even though he knew Harrold was under indictment. But some officials in the case were concerned that Maniscalco, who is a lawyer himself, might try to force the district attorney’s office off his own case by declaring that it had a conflict.

Harrold is scheduled for trial Sept. 14. Maniscalco does not have a trial date, but pretrial motions in his case are set for next week.

Harrold’s attorney, James A. Stotler, could not be reached for comment.