Countywide : No Fine for Frivolous Charges, Court Rules

The district attorney’s office cannot be forced to pay sanctions for a criminal prosecution that ultimately proves frivolous, an appellate court ruled Monday.

The 4th District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana threw out a lower court ruling that had ordered the district attorney’s office to pay $3,000 to defendant Richard M. Cook.

Cook was acquitted on a charge of possession of cocaine with intent to sell, and the Superior Court had ruled that the prosecutors had had no basis for bringing the charge in the first place.

The appellate court, in its decision, agreed that the drug charge “was indeed unimpressive.”

Nonetheless, the court struck down the $3,000 fine, finding that state legislation authorizing sanctions for claims lacking merit had been aimed only at clearing the already clogged civil courts and was not intended for criminal matters.