There is no guarantee one way or the other, the stern-faced commissioner said.
June or July?
The time frame was understood to mean Mr. Vera could win a re-hearing as soon as four to eight weeks.
Beyond the mere advancement of the calendar, it was not clear whether any present conditions would need to change in order for Mr. Vera to be re-evaluated.
Mr. Vera, son of former Culver City Mayor Albert Vera Sr., has been participating in a jailhouse drug rehabilitation program since shortly after his most recent arrest, last March 6.
Rumors Floated
Rumors of a drug habit have been trailing the 42-year-old scion of one of Culver Citys prominent families for years.
The reports were consistently denied or discouraged.
If or when Mr. Vera is accepted into the highly intensive, year-long Drug Court program, operated under the auspices of the Clare Foundation, he would face daily testing.
An ancillary benefit of enrolling in and graduating from the Drug Court program is that his punishment potentially five years probably would be shortened.
Meantime, he must remain the epitome of model jailhouse behavior.
Warning Signs?
At the outset of the afternoon Drug Court session, Commissioner Ralph Amado, newly in charge of the courtroom, demonstrated his attitude toward laggards.
The first two civilians who faced him were promptly placed in custody, albeit briefly.
Shortly afterward, Richard Herzog, from the Office of the Alternate Public Defenders office, sat with his client to give him the news of the turndown.
The attorney explained that the presumably temporary rejection was the consensus reach after a four-way meeting involving a Deputy District Attorney, one of Mr. Veras public defenders, a representative from the noted Clare Foundation, host of the Drug Court rehab program, and Mr. Amado.
Opposition
Deputy D.A.s have virulently objected to declaring Mr. Vera eligible for Drug Court. Given that one party was strongly anti-Vera going in, it was not known how the consensus call played out.
This is what Mr. Amado told Mr. Vera in the courtroom:
Basically, this is what is going to happen. There was a reasonably lengthy discussion today about your candidacy for the Drug Court program.
The Court opted not to intervene at this time.
Mr. Amado said the likelihood is that he two separate cases Mr. Veras two pending cases will continue to meander through the court system.
His next court date is on Friday, June 8, and another hearing is set five days later.
The handcuffed prisoner was seated on a bench at the rear of the attorneys area, beside another inmate, in a ninth-floor courtroom.
No Change
Mr. Vera took the news stoically, as he has in every courtroom appearance since he was initially arrested on March 6 for allegedly committing a burglary in El Segundo.
Attired on this day in a royal blue County Jail jumpsuit, Mr. Vera is facing trial in two separate cases.
The Accusations
While he was in jail for allegedly breaking into a water-dispensing machine at the front of a Ralphs market, seven felony counts were brought against him as the result of investigations by the Culver City Police Dept. and the Sheriffs Dept.
With gun, theft and break-in charges interlaced, reportedly to support a drug habit, Mr. Vera could face five years or more in state prison, if convicted.
