Christie’s Former Wife Claims Grand Jury Bias

The ex-wife of Hells Angels leader George Christie Jr. is asking a judge to set aside a massive drug-and-racketeering indictment, arguing that the grand jury that charged her was too male-dominated.

Cheryl Christie, a 54-year-old Ventura resident, argues the indictment is invalid because Ventura County’s grand jury selection process is constitutionally flawed.

“The importance of a representative grand jury to the fair administration of justice cannot be overstated,” her attorney, Kay Duffy, wrote in a motion filed late Friday.

Her challenge comes three weeks after a Santa Barbara judge found the same grand jury lacked women and was not reflective of the Ventura County population.

In that ruling, Superior Court Judge Frank Ochoa found that the grand jury pool did not represent a fair cross-section of the community as required by state and federal laws.

Ochoa found that while women constituted 51.1% of the jury-eligible population, they represented only 26.5% of the grand jury pool.

As a result, he set aside the indictment of murder suspect Michael Schultz, who is accused of raping and strangling a Port Hueneme woman in 1993. Schultz has since been rearrested and is awaiting arraignment on murder charges.

Duffy refers directly to the Schultz case in her motion and argues that the same problems exist in her client’s case.

She further requests that the case be assigned to Ochoa for a hearing.

“Based on the ruling on the same issue,” Duffy said Friday, “it behooves us to follow suit.”

Christie has pleaded not guilty to 18 criminal counts, including conspiracy, drug possession and filing false tax returns.

She is one of 27 defendants, including her ex-husband and 25-year-old son, indicted last year following a four-year investigation into alleged drug sales by Hells Angels members to high school students in Ventura and Ojai.

At least one other defendant is expected to piggy-back on her motion. A hearing is set for March 11.