Tuffree Murder Retrial to Begin Dec. 9; Judge Will Stay on Case

The retrial of accused murderer Daniel Allan Tuffree is scheduled to begin Dec. 9, and attorneys said Wednesday the case could stretch into early next summer.

Tuffree, 49, a former Chatsworth High School teacher, is charged with first-degree murder for shooting a Simi Valley police officer to death last year.

Earlier this month, Superior Court Judge Allan L. Steele was forced to declare a mistrial after a jury deadlocked on the murder charge, which carries a possible death sentence.

The jury convicted Tuffree of armed assault and attempted murder for shooting at another officer during a gunfight with police at his home Aug. 4, 1995. Tuffree has waived his sentencing on those lesser charges until the murder case is retried.

Steele said he would be unavailable to preside over the case during several weeks next spring, which Tuffree agreed to accept.

Jury selection for the second trial is expected to begin Dec. 9, or shortly thereafter, and continue into the new year, attorneys said.

Over the objections of prosecutors, Steele had sent the case out of his courtroom for reassignment to another judge after the conclusion of the six-week trial.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys said it was unusual for Steele to send the case back to the presiding criminal court judge for reassignment--a move that would have forced one of Steele’s colleagues to take over the high-profile trial. Deputy Dist. Atty. Pete Kossoris argued that it would take a new judge longer to get up to speed on the case.

But on Tuesday, Judge Charles W. Campbell Jr. made it equally clear that Tuffree’s second trial will stay with Steele, who is the judge most familiar with the high-profile murder case.

Lawyers involved said little about why the case had returned to Steele.

“That is between Steele and Campbell,” Deputy Public Defender Howard Asher said. “Campbell just makes assignments, I don’t ask why.”

Whatever the reasons, both lawyers said that with Steele presiding over the second trial, the case will move faster than if it had been assigned to another judge.

“I would not expect that the pretrial motions by Judge Steele will be litigated again,” Asher said, which means there will be time saved. “The retrial will go faster for that reason only.”

Superior Court Judge Melinda A. Johnson said it was not unusual that the case had found its way back to Steele, given the new restructuring of the court calendar.

Under that new system, which started during the Tuffree trial, cases are put on a master calendar and assigned to individual judges, Johnson explained.

Campbell’s decision was not a repudiation of Steele, she said, adding that there has not been discord among the judges over the situation.

“I don’t think so at all,” she said. “I don’t remember hearing any conversation, I think it was just going through the normal procedure. . . . We all work a little parallel, but I didn’t pick up any of that.”

Public Defender Kenneth I. Clayman said the decision was logical given the number of potential capital cases looming for trial.

In addition to Tuffree, Diana J. Haun, Alan Brett Holland and Michael Raymond Johnson are facing murder charges that make them eligible for the death penalty.

“I think you have got a situation where you have many cases kicking around and courtrooms have to be found,” Clayman said. “I don’t know exactly why it went back to Judge Steele but I don’t see anything particularly unusual about it.”