Topanga Canyon Man’s Drug Trial Is Delayed

The case against a Topanga Canyon man accused of possessing methamphetamine for sale next door to Topanga Elementary School was delayed Thursday.

The postponement, until Jan. 13, was granted at the request of the attorney for James W. Hancock, a 65-year-old firewood cutter whose one-room shack was raided Sept. 30 by sheriff’s deputies.

Alternate public defender Richard Herzog asked for the extra time to investigate the role of a Hollywood political consultant in the case against Hancock.

Consultant David Carlat, who has coordinated a petition campaign against Hancock, has acknowledged triggering the deputies’ raid by contacting top-level sheriff’s officials about neighborhood concerns over Hancock.

Carlat has supplied copies of the signed petition to Superior Court Judge James A. Albracht and a county Probation Department officer assigned to Hancock’s case.

“I think it’s getting a little out of hand in that we have a lobbyist . . . submitting petitions,” Herzog said. “I think it’s inappropriate.”

Albracht granted the postponement. But he stressed that he considers community interest in the case “healthy.”

“What could be more appropriate” than input from people “who feel they have been victimized?” he said.

Thursday’s pretrial court session had been scheduled to deal with the probation officer’s report and with a defense motion to learn the identity of a confidential informant in the case.