VAN NUYS : Ex-Child Actor Faces 2 Trials

A Van Nuys Superior Court judge on Wednesday granted a defense motion for separate trials on two drug-related charges against former child actor Adam Rich.

Judge Kathryne Ann Stoltz said Rich, 23, will first be tried on charges that he burglarized a West Hills pharmacy in April, 1991, and then on charges that he stole a syringe filled with a painkiller from a Marina del Rey hospital last October. The first trial is scheduled to begin Monday.

Rich’s attorney, Floyd J. Siegal, said he requested separate trials because his client may testify in his own defense in one case and not the other. Siegal said that under a combined trial, Rich’s testimony could prejudice the other case and violate his constitutional right against self-incrimination.

Stoltz is the third judge assigned to the case. Deputy Dist. Atty. Teri M. Hutchinson asked last week that a new judge preside over the trial after the second judge, who had been assigned the case, indicated that he would consider granting separate trials.

Under state law, attorneys on both sides of a case have the right to arbitrarily disqualify one judge each. In January, Siegal disqualified the original judge assigned to the case because he believed that the judge had abused his discretion in raising Rich’s bail from $20,000 to $100,000.

Rich played the youngest son on the former television series “Eight Is Enough.”