ALL BETS OFF
The district attorney’s office will not try the Carson 8, the eight pinochle players who were busted by sheriff’s deputies for anteing $1 a game.
“No reasonable jury would convict on those facts,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Kirk Newkirk said Thursday.
The eight were arrested last week when Los Angeles sheriff’s deputies showed up at the Colony Cove Mobile Estates in Carson after receiving a complaint from a resident at the park. The pinochle game has been going on for about 20 years in the mobile home park’s clubhouse, said one player.
“We don’t play for the money,” said card player Frank Mulrooney, 54, one of the eight. “A lot of people have no place to go.”
Mulrooney said he has been playing pinochle at the mobile home clubhouse for about 12 years.
State law does not list pinochle as one of the card games that is illegal to play for money. But it is unclear whether the Carson 8 can go back to wagering during their games. The players are meeting with Carson Mayor Michael Mitoma on Monday to straighten things out.
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