Bail Reaches $99,999 as Driver Keeps Outrunning Judge

Judge Alan S. Rosenfield has a $99,999 bone to pick with a man whose dog, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, rode illegally in the back of a pickup truck.

Michael Joseph Pommerening, 34, of Eureka was stopped in Newhall on Oct. 25, 1987, for having an unsecured dog in his truck bed and was cited for driving without a license. Since then he has missed nine court appearances in Newhall Municipal Court, prompting Rosenfield to hike the bail to the maximum allowed for traffic violations.

To the judge’s chagrin, Pommerening has since been stopped at least four times for speeding and driving without insurance in Humboldt County. But authorities failed to hold him in custody because of a Superior Court order prohibiting jail overcrowding.

Rosenfield, presiding judge of the Newhall court, maintains that traffic scofflaws ought to be brought to justice instead of being permitted to go free because of a lack of jail space for even hardened criminals.

“The justice system can’t operate in an environment where people are allowed to ignore a promise to appear in court,” Rosenfield said.

Bail was originally set at $198, but increased with each missed appearance.

Los Angeles Deputy Dist. Atty. Brad Stone said Thursday that Humboldt County sheriff’s deputies stopped Pommerening in February for a traffic violation only a few weeks after Rosenfield set the unusually high bail but let him go.

“I understand the judge’s frustration and I don’t blame him but I have to run this facility in accordance with the law or become a guest in my own jail,” said Capt. Henry Doane. Doane said he is under orders from Humboldt Superior Court not to allow the jail population to exceed 195. Rosenfield is determined to make Pommerening answer for failing to appear and plans to discuss the matter with Humboldt Superior Court Judge William F. Ferroggiaro next week. Meanwhile, Pommerening, who could not be reached for comment, could face up to four years in jail for “thumbing his nose” at Newhall authorities, Stone said.