Montgomery’s Lawyer Says Rights Were Violated : Courts: Officials jeopardized the possibility of a fair trial by making grand jury documents public, says defender in conflict-of-interest case.

Crying foul, an attorney representing former Moorpark City Councilman Scott Montgomery said court officials jeopardized his client’s right to a fair trial by turning over important Ventura County grand jury transcripts to the media.

Reporters obtained the transcripts late last week, but attorney Dan Schmidt said he was denied access to the more-than-300-page document until Monday morning, when Montgomery appeared at the Ventura County court records room to make the request.

Montgomery recently pleaded guilty to felony and misdemeanor charges of conflict of interest for accepting a $3,500 loan from a high-ranking trash company executive who did business in Moorpark.

On Thursday, Municipal Judge Thomas Hutchins will consider a motion made by Montgomery to revoke his plea. If that motion is granted, Montgomery may then be indicted and face a jury trial.

“Grand jury transcripts are secret documents,” Schmidt said. “The court is supposed to wait for 10 days while the defendant is given an opportunity to review the transcripts. I have grave concerns about Scott’s right to a fair trial when copies of this are handed over to the media before even he has a right to review them.”

But the court reporter in the case said the documents were released because there was no indictment and Montgomery had already pleaded guilty to the conflict-of-interest charges. Court reporter David O’Grady said he consulted with prosecutors before making the documents public.

Schmidt apparently could not get access to the documents because another attorney, George Eskin, is now listed as Montgomery’s attorney of record.

Because he may be called as a witness in the case, Schmidt will not represent Montgomery during the motion to withdraw the guilty plea.

Instead, Eskin will handle the motion, which hangs on the contention that prosecutors from the district attorney’s office subjected the councilman to threats and pressured him into pleading guilty.

The motion also states that Deputy Dist. Atty. Mark Aveis drove a wedge between Montgomery and his attorney, Schmidt, undermining the councilman’s right to the effective assistance of counsel.

Schmidt has made declarations in support of both claims and could be called as a witness in the case.

Schmidt said he will remain Montgomery’s personal attorney, representing him if he is permitted to withdraw his plea and stand trial on formal charges.

“If there’s going to be a trial, I will represent him,” Schmidt said, adding that because he was denied access to the grand jury transcripts, he has been hamstrung in trying to set up an effective defense for his client.

“I hope it was just confusion,” Schmidt said. “But this is just another example of how unfairly my client has been treated. It’s just terrible.”