Driver Refuses to Enter Plea in 60-Mile Chase

A 41-year-old Ventura man accused of leading authorities on a 60-mile, high-speed chase through Ventura County refused to talk to his lawyers and enter a plea Wednesday, so a judge ordered Mark Humphreys back to court next week.

Looking disheveled and dazed, Humphreys at first refused to leave the jail to attend his arraignment. Ventura County sheriff’s deputies told Municipal Court Judge Thomas Hutchins that Humphreys was incoherent and disoriented and unable to attend the court proceedings.

But Hutchins noted that if Humphreys did not appear in court Wednesday, he would have to be freed under state law.

Twenty minutes later, Humphreys appeared in Hutchins’ courtroom, but refused to utter a single word. Instead, he stood with his arms folded defiantly and even refused to speak with his court-appointed attorney, Steve Lipson.

“Since I can’t communicate with my client, I’m uncomfortable in entering a plea for him,” Lipson told Hutchins in asking for the delay in the arraignment. Hutchins set a new arraignment for Nov. 30.

Humphreys refused to pull over for a sheriff’s deputy Monday afternoon while driving erratically at 80 m.p.h. on California 33, authorities said.

Authorities chased Humphreys through Ventura and onto the Ventura Freeway before police stopped his vehicle in Hollywood, officials said.

Humphreys is charged with one felony count of evading a police officer. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of three years in prison.