Bomb Case Creating Judicial Questions

In an unusual legal twist, Ventura County Superior Court judges are weighing whether one of their own should continue presiding over the fraud case of a Sherman Oaks consultant accused of plotting to blow up the county courthouse and kill Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury.

Superior Court Judge Vincent J. O’Neill Jr. refused to even hear Frank Boyd Cockrell II’s request Wednesday to reduce bail in a pending securities fraud case.

“The Ventura Superior Court [judges have] to take under consideration whether the law requires us to step out of the case since the building we work in was involved” in the alleged bomb plot, O’Neill explained.

“The question is whether it’s appropriate for me to hear any matter in this case,” the judge added.

Cockrell--who had whispered intently to his lawyer several times during the brief hearing Wednesday--was returned to his Ventura County Jail cell to be held without the chance to post bail.

He is to return to court Friday for a closed-door pretrial conference in the fraud case, and Wednesday for a ruling by the Superior Court judges on whether O’Neill can preside over Cockrell’s fraud case.

If Ventura County judges back out of the case, they have several options.

The jurists could bring in an out-of-county judge, but they might also have to import court staff members because Ventura County’s court employees could be considered legally tainted by the alleged bomb plot, said Richard Loy, a veteran attorney.

The judges could also have the entire fraud case transferred for trial to another court in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara or San Luis Obispo counties, Loy said.

“That’s a complete change of venue, and normally that’s done when you think the jury is going to be too prejudiced,” Loy said. “If it’s the judges who are going to be prejudiced, and the court personnel, then they’d have to bring in a new judge and court staff.”

The judges might also simply give the case over to Judges Joe D. Hadden or William L. Peck, who are assigned to the Simi Valley Courthouse, Loy said.

“But they’re still dealing with staff that would have been alleged targets,” he said. “In my opinion, it would be cleaner to send the whole thing out of county.”

Cockrell’s bail was switched from $100,000 to a no-bail status last week after the alleged bomb plot surfaced.

Los Angeles prosecutors charged Cockrell on Tuesday with four counts of attempted murder and four counts of solicitation to commit murder in that case.

Thus, even if he is freed on bail in Ventura County, Cockrell would be transferred to Los Angeles County and held in lieu of $2,025,000 bail on those charges, Deputy Dist. Atty. Larry Diamond said.

The Los Angeles County complaint arose from allegations that Cockrell had tried to hire an undercover federal agent to help him bomb the courthouse to wipe out any evidence in his upcoming trial on securities fraud.

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Agent Charles Pratt testified in court last week that Cockrell paid him $2,000 to kidnap and rob Sherman Oaks car dealer Raul Ray Feinstein and his wife, Marilyn Feinstein.

Pratt, who posed as the leader of an anti-government militia, testified that Cockrell wanted him to take money, jewelry and other valuables from the couple’s businesses, then kill them by burning down their house.

The profits from robbing the Feinsteins as well as gun shops, jewelry shops and armored cars were to be spent on a campaign of terror that would include crippling the Ventura Freeway with rockets, setting fire to a refinery, destroying the courthouse and killing Bradbury and his staff members--all to obliterate Cockrell’s fraud trial, Pratt testified.

But agents arrested Cockrell at his Sherman Oaks home last week on the no-bail warrant that Ventura County Judge Robert Bradley issued in the fraud case after hearing Pratt’s testimony.

And Tuesday, Diamond filed an eight-count criminal complaint against Cockrell. It accuses him of one count each of attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder in the cases of Ventura County prosecutor Bradbury, his staff members, Raul Feinstein and his wife.

The ATF is still working with the U.S. attorney’s office on a possible federal complaint against Cockrell in the alleged bomb plot.

Cockrell was indicted by the Ventura County Grand Jury in December 1995 on charges of fraud, grand theft, money laundering and tax evasion. Prosecutors alleged Cockrell and five others swindled investors who thought they were buying stock from a company that sold surety bonds to minority building contractors involved with the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

Cockrell’s attorney, Ed Whipple, and Deputy Dist. Atty. Mark Aveis declined to comment Wednesday on Cockrell’s bid to have bail set in the fraud case.