VENTURA : Judge Upholds Arrest of Witness in Trial

A judge has ruled that a Ventura County deputy district attorney violated no law by arranging to have a witness arrested on misdemeanor traffic warrants in April as she waited in a courthouse hallway to testify in her husband’s drug trial.

But Superior Court Judge Charles W. Campbell Jr. on Tuesday said Deputy Dist. Atty. Terence Kilbride’s actions were inappropriate. Campbell also suggested that Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury instruct his deputy prosecutors not to interfere with witnesses.

On April 6, Kilbride directed a Sheriff’s Department law clerk to check whether there were outstanding arrest warrants for Kara Crecelius of Ojai, who had come to the Hall of Justice to testify in the drug-possession trial of her husband, John Crecelius.

The check turned up two warrants against the woman for failure to pay traffic tickets. Kilbride called the Sheriff’s Department twice, saying the woman was at the courthouse waiting to testify. On the second call, he noted that “no one has picked her up,” a clerk has testified.

Moments later, the woman was arrested. Campbell eventually ordered her released to testify, but Deputy Public Defender Todd R. Howeth argued that she had been intimidated by Kilbride. He also accused Kilbride of prosecutorial misconduct and asked that John Crecelius, whom a jury found guilty of two drug counts, receive a new trial.

Campbell denied the motion for a new trial and sentenced John Crecelius to five years in prison Wednesday.

Kilbride said he felt exonerated and added that he was only doing what he thought was proper under the law.

Kilbride’s boss, Deputy Dist. Atty. Ron Janes, said, “There was an honest effort by Mr. Kilbride to do something that the law requires.”

Senior prosecutors could not be reached to determine if they plan to follow the judge’s advice on instructing other deputy prosecutors not to interfere with witnesses.