Everything said prosecutor Karen Wold outside the courtroom is “about the District Attorney’s Office and accusations against it…the DA’s Office did not hide hazardous waste there and we did not cause,” serious injury to firefighters and others.
It is increasingly obvious said Wold that the strategy of the defense is to avoid the facts of the case and instead focus on attacking the prosecution in an effort to intimidate them.
Groveman and other attorneys first went on the attack December 1 when all the defendants still awaiting trial were making a court appearance.
Defense attorneys accused prosecutors of wrongdoing including making misleading statements and withholding documents, and stated they would seek to dismiss the charges. Groveman had filed a motion that was upheld in September by the appellate court seeking documents that prosecutors argued should be sealed before arraignment of the defendants because of the ongoing criminal investigation.
The December 1 appearance came on the heels of two of the original nine defendants pleading guilty to lesser charges, warrants revealing confidential informants that turned out to the be the two still awaiting sentencing, four firefighters — three Santa Paula and one Ventura County — filing lawsuits, the Attorney General announcing they would join the prosecution and the warrant search of Santa Clara Waste Water — Green Compass where 5,000 gallons of allegedly highly caustic chemicals were found. According to investigators a chemical was leaking from one tote and other totes were showing bulges. The totes were found in a storage container that had been on the premises prior to the November 2014 explosions and fire.
The companies’ officials and employees, including Board Chairman Douglas Edwards, are facing 71 counts of various felony and misdemeanor offenses related to the explosion.
A Ventura County Grand Jury issued an indictment against Santa Clara Waste Water, its parent company Green Compass, and nine company officials and employees in August after three-weeks of testimony involving almost 70 witnesses.
The counts include conspiracy to commit a crime, disposal of hazardous waste, recklessly handling hazardous waste, known failure to warn of serious concealed danger and causing impairment to an employee’s body; three Santa Paula Firefighters remain off duty and in recent weeks filed a lawsuit seeking damages for injuries allegedly from chemical exposure.
All defendants remain free on $20,000 bail. Mitzel and Faltemier are facing additional charges stemming from the charges that led to their arrest in December.