Judge Drops Case Against Court Referee

A San Diego Superior Court judge Thursday dismissed charges against a former traffic referee named in a far-reaching indictment alleging that he counseled drug dealers in an effort to determine if a drug courier had become a police informant.

Donald Wayne Russell, who until June 15 was a traffic referee in the South Bay Judicial District, was one of 11 people indicted last month on charges of running a nationwide methamphetamine ring that was broken by the use of state-authorized wiretaps.

Ever since his arrest, Russell, who is a practicing attorney, has maintained that his association with the alleged ringleaders of the El Cajon-based drug ring was a standard relationship between a defense attorney and his former clients.

“Judge (Frederic L.) Link said he did not find any evidence that (Russell) was involved in any of the conspiracy,” said defense attorney Thomas Warwick.

After leaving the Municipal Court in Chula Vista, Russell was to have taken a job as a commissioner in Riverside County’s Three Lakes Judicial District, but officials there rescinded the job offer after he was indicted.