Judge Dogs Man for Ignoring ’87 Ticket

Judge Alan S. Rosenfield has a $99,999 bone to pick with a man whose dog the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department says rode illegally in the back of a pickup truck five years ago. That’s what it would cost Michael Joseph Pommerening, 34, of Eureka to bail himself out of jail--if the judge can get anyone to arrest Pommerening for failing nine times to appear before Rosenfield in Newhall Municipal Court.

Pommerening, who could not be reached for comment, has been stopped at least more four times for speeding and driving without insurance in Humboldt County since he ignored a ticket he was given in Newhall in 1987, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office says.

But Humboldt County authorities did not hold Pommerening on the warrant Rosenfield issued because of a Superior Court order prohibiting jail overcrowding there.

To get the attention of Humboldt County, Rosenfield set Pommerening’s bail in January at $99,999, the maximum allowable for traffic violations under state law. The judge had hoped--wrongly, it turned out--that the high bail would inspire Humboldt County to arrest Pommerening.

Rosenfield, presiding judge of the Newhall court, doggedly maintains that traffic scofflaws ought to be brought to justice, not permitted to go free because of a lack of jail space.

“The justice system can’t operate in an environment where people are allowed to ignore a promise to appear in court,” said Rosenfield, 40, who was appointed to the bench by then Gov. George Deukmejian two years ago. “As a matter of principle, the courts can’t ignore something like this.”

Bail was originally set at $198 on Oct. 25, 1987, when Pommerening was pulled over by a sheriff’s deputy for having an unsecured dog in his truck bed, and given a ticket for driving without a license, said Eileen Carlisle, deputy clerk of the Newhall Municipal Court. The bail increased with each missed appearance to $10,000 last fall before the judge reached for the maximum figure in January.

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

Pommerening “was phased out in a triage at the intake level”--turned loose shortly after his arrest--said Capt. Henry Doane, in charge of the Humboldt County Jail for the Sheriff’s Department there. “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.”

Doane said he is under orders from Humboldt Superior Court not to allow the jail population to exceed 195. Last year, most sentenced prisoners were released after completing 80% of their sentences, Doane said.

Rosenfield is still 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 when Ferroggiaro returns from a business trip.

Meanwhile, Pommerening could face up to four years in jail on failure to appear charges for “thumbing his nose” at Newhall authorities, Stone said.

“It’s no longer a matter of the underlying traffic violation,” Rosenfield said. “The point is, if you can’t keep your promise to appear, don’t sign the ticket.”