In two separate opinions published today by California's Court of Appeal, Second District, Division Six, two different Santa Barbara prosecutors were disqualified after being challenged by criminal defendants because of the prosecutors' "extra curricular" activities relating to the defendants' cases.
In one, Jesse James Hollywood v. Superior Court, defendant Hollywood is facing the death penalty for kidnapping and murder. His assigned prosecutor, Ronald J. Zonen, acted as a consultant to producer and screenwriter Nick Cassavetes on a film titled "Alpha Dog," which was about the very murder Mr. Hollywood is being prosecuted for. Not only that, but Zonen gave one of Cassavetes' researchers almost unfettered access to the District Attorney's files and evidence in the case. Held: Prosecutor Zonen is disqualified.
In the other, Massey Haraguchi v. Superior Court, Deputy District Attorney Joyce Dudley was assigned to prosecute defendant Haraguchi for "intoxicated rape," a felony. While working on the case, Dudley wrote and self-published a novel entitled Intoxicating Agent, which is about a Santa Barbara prosecutor named "Jordan Danner" (who admittedly is based on herself) prosecuting a defendant for the crime of "intoxicated rape." Held: Prosecutor Dudley is disqualified.
Maybe the Santa Barbara District Attorneys' Office needs to move a few miles further away from Los Angeles . . . .