NEWHALL : Judge Offers to Drop Driver’s $99,999 Bail

A Newhall judge who set bail at $99,999 for a Northern California man who failed nine times to appear in court on a traffic violation said Wednesday that he will scrap the high bail if the motorist agrees to pay a minimal fine.

Municipal Judge Alan S. Rosenfield said he will allow Michael Joseph Pommerening, 34, of Eureka, to pay $138.60 for failing to appear on a 5-year-old charge of driving without a license because Pommerening wrote him requesting leniency. Pommerening has until April 30 to pay the fine, which is 70% of the original bail of $198.

In a letter dated Feb. 16, Pommerening wrote that he is not the man Los Angeles County deputies stopped in Newhall on Oct. 25, 1987, for having an unsecured dog in the bed of a pickup truck and ticketed for driving without a license.