COUNTYWIDE : Judge Expected to Rule in Mannes Case

A Ventura County judge is expected to rule Thursday whether to dismiss murder charges against Diane Mannes, a drunk driver who killed three young men on the Conejo Grade in 1989.

Deputy Public Defender Neil B. Quinn has argued that the charge must be dismissed because the district attorney’s office failed to get a court stay extended while it appeals another aspect of the complex case U. S. Supreme Court.

In a highly publicized case, Mannes, 38, was convicted in November, 1989, of drunk driving and causing great bodily injury to two other youths, and she was sentenced to four years in prison. But the Ventura County Superior Court jury deadlocked on whether she was guilty of second-degree murder. The trial judge, Robert J. Soares, dismissed the murder charge, saying he did not think that the evidence supported it.

Defense attorneys argued that Soares’ ruling constituted an acquittal, and that view has been upheld in both the U. S. District Court and the U. S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. The district attorney’s office has asked the U. S. Supreme Court to overturn the federal court ruling and give prosecutors the right to retry Mannes for murder.

A federal judge issued a stay preventing a retrial while the 9th Circuit was considering the case. But after that court issued its ruling in June, the stay expired and prosecutors failed to get it extended, Quinn argued in papers filed in Superior Court earlier this month. As a result, Quinn said, prosecutors had 60 days under state law to bring Mannes to trial for the deaths, and that period has expired.

In response, Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael D. Schwartz has argued that the stay remains in effect until the Supreme Court resolves the case. Even if the stay did expire, Schwartz said, the Superior Court is not obligated to dismiss the case.

Superior Court Judge Allan L. Steele held a hearing on the issue last week and said he would issue his ruling Thursday.