COUNTYWIDE : Court Refuses to Pay Private Lawyer Fees

A Pasadena funeral home operator facing the death penalty in the oleander-poisoning murder of a rival mortician lost a bid Friday to force the state to pay for the defense attorney of his choice.

Ventura County Superior Court Judge Lawrence Storch ruled that the court would not appoint and pay David Wayne Sconce’s private attorney, Roger Diamond, to defend him on a first-degree murder charge.

Instead, Storch appointed Deputy Public Defender Susan Olson to defend Sconce, 33, who is charged in the 1985 poisoning death of Timothy R. Waters, 24. Sconce is already serving a five-year sentence on several convictions relating to the illegal operation of his family’s mortuary in Hesperia.

Diamond argued that he would be ready to begin the murder trial immediately, but that the public defender’s office would need months of preparation. Such a delay would deny Sconce’s right to a speedy trial, Diamond told the court.

But Ventura County Counsel Noel A. Klebaum argued that the court would set a costly precedent if it hired a private attorney to defend Sconce. “It’s obvious to me that, so long as the public defender is ready, willing and able to serve, the public defender is available,” Klebaum told Storch.

Storch denied Diamond’s motion to be appointed as Sconce’s public defender, appointed Olson and sent the case back to Ventura County Municipal Court for arraignment.

There, Olson and Los Angeles County Deputy Dist. Atty. Harvey Giss agreed to postpone Sconce’s arraignment until April 16.

Olson said afterward that she would need at least three months to prepare for Sconce’s preliminary hearing, and that he probably will waive his right to have the hearing within 10 days of his arraignment.