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Disciplinary Counsel v. O'Neill9/7/2004
sel. Edwards's clients overheard the discussions and were disturbed and expressed concern about the Judge's anger and their status. Edwards and Vaughan were unsuccessful at scheduling the debriefing and several days before trial Edwards was informed that Nezvalova and Stasko had retained their own counsel who entered appearances and requested continuances of the trial date of November 28, 3000.
29. On the scheduled trial date the defendants appeared each with their own lawyers, Edwards, Dennis Belli and David Rieser. Renee Amblin, a new prosecutor was assigned on rotation to the trial and appeared with Vaughan available in the courtroom as backup. In a series of discussions at the sidebar and on the record among counsel and Judge O'Neill the unopposed Motions for Continuance made by new counsel were denied by Judge O'Neill who mentioned concerns about controlling her criminal docket. Prosecutor Amblin's attempts to offer misdemeanor or no-contest pleas were denied by Judge O'Neill. (Transcript Vol. V - 79-81) (Exhibit 47, p.12) Counsel were told by Judge O'Neill that only guilty pleas to the indictment would be considered. Judge O'Neill's demeanor was described by Amblin as, "I felt like we were being yelled at...I was about to cry, because I didn't know what to do. I felt as if she were upset about things that shouldn't be the cause of being so upset." Her demeanor was described by Edwards as, "very tense" and by Vaughan as "very angry, very loud, very demeaning to the defense counsel, very frustrated with the prosecutor's office...It was a very hostile courtroom." (Transcript Vol. I -- 216, 240-242, 268-269) All three defendants plead to the indictment. Judge O'Neill denied being angry, loud, frustrated or demeaning to defense counsel. (Transcript Vol. V - 72-79)
30. Nezvalova and Stasko appealed and their convictions were reversed by the Tenth District Court of Appeals on grounds that the trial court's refusal to accept no contest pleas was an abuse of discretion, which prejudiced appellants' rights. "Appellants sought to enter no contest pleas to preserve the appealability of pretrial evidentiary decisions. The trial court repeatedly advised appellants' new defense counsel that appellants either had to plead guilty to the indictment or proceed forward with trial. In addition, the court suggested that a failure to enter pleas would result in an abbreviated period of time in which the court's staff could have lunch. As a result, appellants plead guilty. Therefore, the trial court, by injecting itself into the plea bargain process, affected the voluntariness of appellants' decision to plead guilty." (Exhibit 52 p. 9)
31. The Court of Appeals opinion was filed on May 21, 2002. (Exhibit 52) On May 24, 2002, a Friday afternoon, Corrina Vaughan received a phone call at her office from Judge O'Neill about the Nezvalova case. She testified that Judge O'Neill was agitated and angry and stated: "You're not going to believe this. They overturned that Russian case. We're going to have to do something about this. We're going to have to fight this. We're going to have to do something about this. I think we did everything right. I don't think we did anything wrong." (Transcript Vol. I - 273-274)
32. Vaughan testified that she said very little in response and was horribly uncomfortable with Judge O'Neill's statements "as if we were on the same team, meaning me and Judge O'Neill, is how she kept phrasing these discussions or these comments." Judge O'Neill did not discuss scheduling or procedural matters in this call. (Transcript Vol. I -- 274-275) Judge O'Neill admitted that she made a single phone call to Vaughan but maintained that it only concerned scheduling matters and nothing els
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