Driver Who Eluded Court for 5 Years Gets 45 Days in Jail

A Humboldt County man learned the hard way Thursday the importance of keeping his word. Michael Joseph Pommerening, 34, of Eureka had promised nine times to appear in Newhall Municipal Court on a 5-year-old charge of driving without a license. He never did, even after a frustrated Newhall judge set his bail at $99,999--the maximum allowed for a traffic violation--then lowered it to $136.60 under a statewide amnesty program.

Pommerening finally made his long-awaited debut in the Newhall court Thursday after being arrested by a California Highway Patrol officer and taken by bus to Newhall last week.

Judge Keith Byram dismissed the original traffic violation against Pommerening, who contended in a letter filed with the court that he wasn’t the one stopped by sheriff’s deputies in Newhall in 1987. It really was his brother, Shawn Pommerening, who used his name and “has pretty much the same physical description as me except for the missing arm,” Pommerening wrote.

But Pommerening, who lost his left arm in an industrial accident, received 45 days in jail for failing to appear in court even though he signed warrants demanding his appearance. He grinned throughout Thursday’s proceeding, even as he was led off to jail.

Local magistrates took great satisfaction in Pommerening’s comeuppance, which they said will cost taxpayers $36.05 a day in jail costs--or a maximum of $1,622.25 unless he is released early for good behavior and for working. The magistrates said the expense was worth it.

“You just can’t run a criminal justice system unless you enforce the rules,” said Presiding Judge Alan S. Rosenfield, the magistrate who set the high bail in March.

But Rosenfield said he remains perturbed by the failure of authorities in Humboldt County to hold Pommerening in custody after stopping him several times for speeding and driving without insurance. Pommerening was not held because of a Superior Court order prohibiting jail overcrowding there.

At Rosenfield’s request, a CHP officer stationed in Humboldt County arrested Pommerening last Friday and then took him to a Sonoma County jail, where he was briefly kept before being transported to Newhall.

“It was one of those things where you either look the other way,” Rosenfield said, “or make an effort to enforce your process.”