Motion to Drop Case Rejected by Judge

A Ventura County judge rejected a motion to drop charges against a burglary suspect because two members of the district attorney’s office allegedly eavesdropped on a conversation between the suspect and his attorney.

Superior Court Judge Charles W. Campbell Jr. denied the motion by Deputy Public Defender Mary Fielder during a hearing Friday, saying he did not believe the eavesdropping justified dropping the case against 30-year-old Robert Lee Morrow.

The judge also ruled in a separate hearing that the district attorney’s office should not be barred from prosecuting Morrow on the criminal charge.

Fielder had argued that the eavesdropping incident violated Morrow’s right to privacy and that the district attorney’s office should not be allowed to prosecute the case because of a conflict of interest.

The incident, she said, had probably “raised the animosity level and attitudes against Mr. Morrow by all attorneys in that office.”

Morrow, accused of breaking into a Port Hueneme motel last September, is scheduled to go on trial Monday.

In addition to dismissing the two defense motions, Campbell on Friday also found that Investigator Katherine Smith did engage in “purposeful eavesdropping” at the direction of Deputy Dist. Atty. Stacy Ratner. And that Smith told Ratner statements she overheard regarding a witness in the case and Morrow’s decision to go forward with a trial.

For the second day in a row, Ratner was called as a witness and refused to answer questions under her Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate herself. Ratner and Smith were charged with felony easvesdropping May 20, but the charges were dropped Wednesday by Superior Court Judge Lawrence Storch because the pair did not use an electronic listening device.

Fielder said she plans to appeal Campbell’s decision not to dismiss the criminal case against Morrow. “I would expect it would happen in the next few days,” she said. “I think our appellate court will be happy to have this case.”