Stalker Defense Lawyer Fined for Not Checking In

One of three lawyers for Night Stalker defendant Richard Ramirez was found in contempt of court Friday and fined $100 for violating an order by a Los Angeles Superior Court judge to check in daily with the court by telephone.

Judge Michael A. Tynan levied the fine against Arturo Hernandez after he admitted the charge rather than face a full contempt hearing and the possibility of more serious penalties.

For more than three years now, the accused serial killer has been represented by Arturo Hernandez and Daniel V. Hernandez. The two San Jose attorneys are not related.

But since jury selection began more than a year ago, Arturo Hernandez has rarely appeared in court. His absence did not seem to unduly concern Judge Tynan until late February, well after the trial had gotten under way.

At that point, Daniel Hernandez called in sick and asked for several weeks off to recuperate from exhaustion and stress, which he said was caused by the six months of jury selection and the trial.

Tynan then appointed Los Angeles attorney Ray G. Clark as Ramirez’s third lawyer and ordered Arturo Hernandez to begin checking in daily with the court by telephone.

Sometime in the last few weeks, Arturo Hernandez stopped doing so, he said Friday, because of the death of his brother, his own marriage and a honeymoon in Europe.

“I did call in for several weeks,” Hernandez said, adding that he stopped because he felt the calls “seemed a bother, and cumbersome to the court.”

Then he apologized to Tynan and chose to admit to the charge of failing to check in, rather than seek a full hearing.

“I was wrong. I should have kept on calling,” Hernandez said.

Tynan then decided not to hold him further in contempt for abandoning his client. Hernandez, 35, is to pay the fine within two weeks.