Montgomery Case Shifts to a 4th Attorney

In another twist of what a Superior Court judge has called the “tortured history” of the case of former Moorpark City Councilman Scott Montgomery, an attorney from the public defenders’s office declared a conflict Friday and turned the case over to another lawyer.

This will be the fourth attorney to represent Montgomery since he pleaded guilty to felony and misdemeanor conflict of interest charges in October for accepting a $3,500 loan from an executive of a trash company that was negotiating a waste-hauling contract with Moorpark.

Deputy Public Defender Bryant Villagran, who was representing Montgomery, would not comment on why he made the decision at a hearing Friday to turn the case over to another lawyer.

Villagran’s boss, Kenneth Clayman, the Ventura County public defender, said after the hearing that Villagran would have violated the attorney-client privilege of confidentiality if he revealed the nature of the conflict.

Although Clayman said the public defender’s office makes every effort to hold onto its cases, conflicts are not unusual. A conflict can be declared for any number of reasons, including having more than one defendant accused of the same crime, or disagreements between a lawyer and his client, he said. “We only declare a conflict when we’re ethically required to do so.”

Montgomery’s sentencing will be delayed at least three weeks to give the new attorney, James Farley, an opportunity to review the large case file.

Farley was assigned from a list of defense lawyers working with the group Conflict Defense Associates, a private association that has a county contract to represent defendants who cannot afford an attorney, and have a legal conflict that prevents them from using a public defender.

The delay raised the ire of Deputy Dist. Atty. Mark Aveis, who argued that Montgomery should be sentenced as soon as possible, saying the case had already taken an “unreasonable amount of time.”

Superior Court Judge Charles Campbell Jr. agreed, saying, “The case pretty much has a tortured history,” but went ahead and granted Montgomery’s new attorney three weeks to prepare for the next hearing.

But Campbell added that Farley should be fully prepared to set a sentencing date by the April 5 hearing.

Montgomery faces as many as 3 1/2 years in prison and a maximum $10,000 in fines.

After pleading guilty to the conflict of interest charges in October, Montgomery attempted to withdraw his plea.

Two attorneys--Daniel Schmidt and then George Eskin-- filed successive motions to withdraw the plea, stating that Montgomery was bullied into admitting to a crime he did not commit.

In January, the Municipal Court judge who originally heard Montgomery’s plea ruled that Montgomery could not take it back because the former councilman was properly informed of his rights and was not coerced by prosecutors before pleading guilty to the charges.

Since then Montgomery, through his various attorneys, including Deputy Public Defender Villagran, has been reviewing the evidence that make up the basis of the charge.

The hope, his attorneys have said, is that there is not enough evidence to support the charges and the judge will throw out the case before sentencing.

Montgomery could also try to appeal after a sentence is rendered.