Deputy Testifies on DUI Arrest of Judge

A judge accused of battery and drunk driving after an argument with her domestic partner had slurred speech, watery eyes and smelled of alcohol when she was pulled over last December by sheriff’s deputies after she drove away from her home in the aftermath of a 911 call, one of the arresting officers testified Friday.

Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Deputy Kevin Whalen said he stopped county Judge Diana R. Hall in front of Santa Ynez High School the night of Dec. 21 after a report that she had left her house and might have a gun she allegedly produced during her confrontation with Deidra Dykeman, her lover and domestic partner for four years.

Because of the report that a gun might be in the car, Whalen said he ordered Hall to keep her hands on the wheel while he approached with his gun drawn, standard procedure in what police call felony stops.

“We brought the driver out at gunpoint,” Whalen testified. “She said she was a judge, and that there was no problem at her house and that she was going to her office in Solvang.”

As other officers arrived, Hall was handcuffed during a search of her car, which showed there was no gun in the vehicle. Whalen then asked her if she had been drinking. He said she told him she had consumed two glasses of red wine.

After Hall failed a series of field sobriety tests, Whalen asked her if she would voluntarily submit to a breathalyzer test. He said she refused, and was then taken to a hospital for a blood test that ultimately showed a blood alcohol level of 0.18%, more than twice the legal limit of 0.08%.

The testimony came at the end of the prosecution’s case in what is expected to be a two-week trial. Assistant Dist. Atty. Kimberly Smith called nine witnesses over a four-day period, including Dykeman, 39, a program manager for Raytheon, who testified that Hall had consumed a full bottle of wine and a beer that day, then erupted in a rage during which she threatened to shoot one of their two cairn terriers.

Hall, 53, faces two felony charges in connection with the incident, trying to prevent a witness from contacting police with use of a gun and damaging a telephone to block a 911 call. She also faces four misdemeanor charges of battery, brandishing a gun, driving under the influence and driving with a blood alcohol level of more than .08%.

The legal proceedings against Hall, who faces removal from the bench if convicted of either felony, have largely been held in secret closed hearings, many of them in Santa Maria. During one of those closed hearings, the case was moved to Santa Barbara.

Before Hall’s trial on Monday, lawyers and Judge Carol Koppel-Claypool held another closed hearing in Santa Barbara that included discussions of what evidence might be used during the trial. The Times and the Santa Barbara News Press immediately protested the closure, citing numerous court decisions that pretrial court proceedings should be kept open unless there is overwhelming reason to believe that information kept secret would prevent any chance of a fair trial.

Koppel-Claypool rejected efforts to release all documents previously kept secret in the case on grounds that portions of the record “concern anticipated testimony about the history of the relationship between the defendant and the complaining witness involving uncorroborated allegations.”