If the murder trial against National Guardsman Scott A. Ansman ever does get under way, seekers of drama will face a pickle of a time trying to surpass the unscripted drama that is rippling through the runup courtroom appearances.
This year and a half-old case has been unswervingly headed for a meltdown for months as the prosecutor grows increasingly impatient over what he regards as undeniable delaying tactics by the public defender.
The obvious dislike that Dep. Dist. Atty. Joe Markus and defense counsel Nan Whitfield have for each other reached its shouting-level zenith this morning in the courtroom of Judge James R. Dabney.
Even though Judge Dabney threatened to hold one or both of the veteran lawyers in contempt, he is no authoritarian who finds it natural, or easy, to impose binding discipline.
He struggled, without immediate results, to regain the upper hand.
Instead of striking with a lightning order that would have frozen the combatants in their rhetorical tracks, the judge, perhaps 3 times, repeated his directives to address all comments to him instead of each other.
Acerbity fueled the lawyers’ acid-tipped arrows.
It began as they were privately huddling with Judge Dabney, before the imprisoned Mr. Ansman was summoned from the holding area and the conversation went on the record.
The Darts Start
Raising his voice, Mr. Markus snapped at Ms. Whitfield: “I am tired of you saying things that simply are not accurate.” Her response went unrecorded, buy then the prosecutor added, “What does that have to do with anything?”
Flowers wilted when they went on the record.
“Don’t point your finger at me,” Mr. Markus said, across the room, to Ms. Whitfield. “You’re not my mother.”
“I am not going to have this,” Judge Dabney scolded as the two angry lawyers dueled.
At one time, Mr. Markus was talking about going to trial possibly as early as late spring of last year, certainly not later than the end of summer.
However, the mysterious triangle of collecting, organizing and assessing DNA evidence from the crime scene — the afternoon of Aug. 24, 2007, at the Culver City National Guard Armory — has plagued repeated attempts to begin a trial in the brutal homicide of the married Mr. Ansman’s girlfriend, JoAnn Crystal Harris.
The purpose of this morning’s appearance, called a status conference, was to determine whether Ms. Whitfield would be ready to go to trial on Monday, as supposedly planned.
She had explained at a March 9 hearing that a laboratory official had told her two more weeks were needed to produce the DNA evidence she has been chasing since late last year.
Delaying on Purpose?
That was why Judge Dabney ordered today’s hearing, just in case the defense would not be ready.
For perhaps the fourth or fifth straight hearing, Mr. Markus, exasperated to his limit, implied that Ms. Whitfield was adroitly jockeying for time, although to what end was not apparent.
Mr. Markus explained that he took the defense counsel to the crime scene last September, when, he said, she could have launched her own DNA campaign. “But she said to me,” he recounted, “‘You do yours first.’”
Ms. Whitfield refused to blanch or retreat in the face of Mr. Markus’s muscular suggestions and accusations. She forcefully denied slowing the DNA-results process, or that she had any influence in its delivery.
After sorting through a jumble of charges and counters, Judge Dabney allowed that “I understand the people have been ready for quite awhile.”
Martha Lou Harris, the grieving mother of the victim, has not missed a single courtroom hearing, and Mr. Markus never has failed to point this out when he sternly complains about the defense’s alleged prolonging tactics.
Irony of a Date
As the feuding abated — without either side trying to conceal its withering bitterness — Judge Dabney ordered the parties back in his courtroom two weeks from this morning, Wednesday, April 1.
(And you know a courtroom wit cracked, “How fitting, April Fool’s Day.”)
The date has been set aside for still another status conference, to determine if Ms. Whitfield has her side’s version of DNA evidence in-hand.
Not that the murder trial is likely to start on any nearby date.
Both Ms. Whitfield and Mr. Markus said they want the trial in Judge Dabney’s courtroom, since he is so familiar with their case. The judge responded that he will be off the bench the first full week of April, which marks the start of the week-long holiday of Passover.
For now, no one is speculating on a trial date. The principals just want to get to, or through, April Fool’s first.
