Lawyer a No-Show; Night Stalker Jury Sent Home for Day

Final arguments in the Night Stalker trial were canceled for the day Thursday afternoon when Richard Ramirez’s chief defense lawyer, Daniel V. Hernandez, failed to return from lunch.

Late Thursday, Hernandez’s co-counsel, attorney Ray G. Clark, said he had located Hernandez and that the failure to return was the result of a miscommunication between the two lawyers.

Hernandez’s absence caused a 90-minute delay in the arguments, forcing Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Michael A. Tynan to send jurors home. “Frankly we don’t know where he is,” the judge told the jury. “We hope to locate him by tomorrow morning. I don’t know what the problem is.”

Threat From Judge

At one point, Tynan threatened to issue a “body attachment” on the San Jose-based attorney if he did not show up in court by 10 a.m. today. The legal attachment is similar to an arrest warrant.

Clark said that Hernandez had set out in the afternoon to pursue another matter related to the serial murder case. “It’s a case of two guys working together and got their wires crossed,” Clark said.

Earlier in the afternoon, Clark told reporters after court adjourned that he and Hernandez parted company at noon on a downtown street corner. Hernandez told him: “I have something to do and I’ll see you at 1:30.”

Further elaboration of Hernandez’s absence is likely to come in court this morning in proceedings before Tynan. The trial itself will not resume until Monday because Fridays have been a traditional day off for the jurors and lawyers in the case.

Not the First Time

Thursday was not the first time Hernandez has failed to show up in court.

In a 1985 case, Hernandez, 44, was fined $1,500 by a Municipal Court judge in Gilroy for missing a court date. Later, Hernandez explained that a doctor had advised him to stay away from court for two weeks because of stress.

In another case, a Santa Clara County Superior Court judge fined Hernandez $1,000 for not appearing on the second day of a murder trial. Again, Hernandez cited stress as his excuse, according to the prosecutor in that case, Santa Clara County Deputy Dist. Atty. Rod Braughton.

And in the middle of the Night Stalker trial, which began Jan. 30, Hernandez sought a hiatus of several weeks, citing stress. Tynan refused to grant a delay.