Name-Calling Attorney Gets His Date in Court

Sporting a blond-streaked ponytail and an earring, a defense attorney who called a prosecutor and a bailiff “asses” went on trial Thursday for allegedly challenging the bailiff to a fight.

At issue is whether the defendant, Century City lawyer Daniel Hustwit willfully and unlawfully challenged bailiff Michael Ascolese to fight during a March 14 confrontation in a Van Nuys courtroom.

Hustwit acknowledges that at one point he looked at Ascolese and said, “If you want a piece of me, take off your gun and badge and let’s go outside.”

But he contends he made the statement only after Ascolese approached him in what Hustwit said he perceived as an “unspoken” challenge to fight.

During opening statements Thursday, Deputy City Atty. Daniel A. Kleban disagreed.

“It is those very words--a direct challenge uttered by Mr. Hustwit--that are the basis for the complaint,” Kleban said.

Moments later Hustwit’s attorney, Charles Kelly Kilgore, who witnessed the March episode, said his client was merely responding to Ascolese when he uttered the phrase.

“Was there a threat by Mr. Hustwit or a response to intimidation?,” Kilgore said. “That’s really the crux of the case.”

In an unusual twist, the seven woman, five man jury picked to hear the case includes a deputy district attorney who handles arraignments and preliminary hearings at the Culver City Municipal Courthouse.

During jury selection Wednesday the prosecutor acknowledged that he had handled numerous “challenge to fight” cases, but that all of them had been settled before trial.

The unusual location of the alleged violation, a courtroom, piqued the curiosity of members of the local legal community, more than a dozen of whom showed up Thursday to observe.

The case stems from a March confrontation following the sentencing in Van Nuys Superior Court of a man Hustwit represented in a perjury case. Hustwit said he had made a deal with prosecutors who agreed to drop two counts in return for his client’s guilty plea to one count of perjury.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Pargament, who was prosecuting the case, asked a judge to sentence Hustwit’s client to 25 years to life for the offense, noting that it was a three-strikes case. Hustwit, however, had submitted a memo arguing that the enhanced-punishment law was not applicable.

At that point, Pargament accused Hustwit of acting under false pretenses, arguing that the two counts that had been dropped would have been applicable under three strikes.

The judge sided with Hustwit and imposed a three-year sentence.

It was at that point, Kilgore told jurors, that Hustwit remarked sarcastically that he was sorry that Pargament hadn’t gotten his “pound of flesh.”

Hustwit then approached Pargament and Ascolese and said “You’re an ass. And you’re an ass.”

Ascolese responded by asking, “I’m an ass?” To which Hustwit responded, “I’m simply calling an ass an ass,” according to Kilgore.

Kilgore said that Ascolese then asked Hustwit, “Are you challenging me to a fight?” Hustwit then suggested that Ascolese take off his gun and badge and that the two men go outside, Kilgore said.

In a previous interview, Hustwit said that prior to making the statement, Ascolese had “got right in my face and stared at me in the way a man looks at another man he’s about to fight.” Ascolese testified Thursday that he admonished Hustwit, saying “That’s not appropriate language for the courtroom, counselor.”

To that, Ascolese testified, Hustwit replied: “You want to take me outside?”

Ascolese, who described Hustwit as “loud” and “agitated’,’ said he followed Hustwit out into the hallway where Hustwit began talking to members of his client’s family. Ascolese said Hustwit spoke in a loud voice and testified that he warned Hustwit that he was creating a disturbance.

Ascolese testified that he detained Hustwit until a sergeant arrived.

Hustwit was originally charged with using offensive words in a public place that are inherently likely to provoke an immediate violent reaction.

But on Thursday the complaint was amended at the request of the city attorney’s office to charge Hustwit with willfully and unlawfully challenging Ascolese to fight.

If convicted of the charge, Hustwit could be sentenced to up to 90 days in jail and fined $400. The trial is expected to conclude next week.