by Emerson Drake
6/30/11
This morning in Judge Richardo Cordova's courtroom defense attorney Micheal Rains for Kari Abbey and D.A.Dave Harris for the people, delayed justice once again. What was supposed to be a bail adjustment hearing today, was postpones until August 10th at 8:30 to hear pretrial motions and again review the bail adjustment request by the prosecution.
It was also agreed to that the sealed search warrants would be unsealed and given to the defense. Most of this was worked out behind closed doors in the judges chamber prior to the hearing. The hearing was over quickly without any extemporaneous discussion.
When Dave Harris was asked before the hearing started about the pipe bomb found at the home of Rita Elias' oldest daughter his reply was "no report has crossed my desk."
Interestingly enough this is the same judge hearing the Joseph Hoyt case that Frank Carson is defending in. As D.A. Harris was leaving the courtroom with the defense attorney he noticed Frank Carson waiting in the hallway just outside. He reached out his hand to Carson and Carson placed the subpoena in it requiring Harris to testify in the Micheal Hoyt case. The undercharging of Kari Abbey and the bail set below the normal bail schedule has rippled through the legal world of defense attorneys. The extremely low $300,000 bail has already caused at least one mult-imillion dollar bail to be substantially reduced, with further reductions being imminent.
Later on his way to the District Attorney's office to discuss the case further with Rains, Harris was asked why he had undercharged Kari Abbey since no firearm enhancement has been added as is standard in Stanislaus County when a gun is used in a murder. He refused to provide a meaningful response.
Why the Sheriff's Department failed to notify D.A.Harris on a timely basis of the live bomb is anyone's guess as is the reason for the special treatment(favorable) Kari Abbey seems to be receiving.
