BEEP BEEP: A CHP officer was testifying...
BEEP BEEP: A CHP officer was testifying in a cocaine case in Newhall Municipal Court when the prosecutor noticed a brown-paper evidence bag moving on the counsel table. The supernatural at work? No, just accused drug dealer Adrian Renteria’s vibrating beeper. The judge called a recess and the cop sprang from the stand to take down the number. . . . Not only may the caller be in trouble, but this “doesn’t help [Renteria’s] case,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Robert Stuart.
BAD DAY: Some days it just doesn’t pay for a defense attorney to come to court. First, your accused drug dealer client’s beeper goes off, handing possibly incriminating evidence to the prosecution. Then the judge uses the occasion to jokingly blame it all on you. “This is what happens when you get into a lengthy cross-examination,” Judge Alan Rosenfeld said.
SCORE: Marcus Harvey (above) is a running back. Valley College is a passing team. Put them together and you have a winning combo. Harvey and the Valley College Monarchs play Long Beach tonight to see who’s No. 1 (C12).
BONUS BABIES: Judging by a just-published special edition of the D.A.’s office newsletter, The Informant, rank-and-file prosecutors are still fuming over bonuses paid to O. J. Simpson trial deputies. The nasty letters printed are just the tip of the iceberg, says Van Nuys Deputy Dist. Atty. Herb Lapin, head of the deputies’ association and newsletter publisher. The crux of the complaints: “Why are these people so special?” and “Why did you lie about the bonuses?”
TOO LATE: Rep. Howard L. Berman, a reluctant convert to U.S. involvement in Bosnia, told Republican lawmakers this week that it’s too late to scuttle the peacekeeping plan. Speaking at a congressional hearing, the Valley Democrat said naysayers passed on the chance to nix funds for the effort. With the mission imminent, he said, now is not the time to squawk.
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