Posted on Thu, Feb. 21, 2008
Judge seeks witness list in organ harvest caseSarah Arnquist
Less than a week before the scheduled preliminary hearing for Hootan Roozrokh—the San Francisco transplant surgeon accused of attempting to hasten the death of a potential organ donor in 2006—San Luis Obispo County prosecutor Karen Gray has yet to reveal the names of the witnesses she plans to call.
In response, M. Gerald Schwartzbach, Roozrokh’s attorney, threatened at a pretrial hearing Wednesday to ask for delays throughout the preliminary hearing because he says that without a witness list, he hasn’t been able to prepare the defense‘scase.
That could create scheduling problems for Gray’s expert witnesses who are coming from out of town, and for Superior Court Judge Martin Tangeman, who juggles other criminal and civil court proceedings.
A visibly frustrated Tangeman said no one should assume anything about how the preliminary hearing will proceed. He told Gray that not knowing the witnesses’ names and tentative timeline for the prosecution case has become “horribly problematic.”
Tangeman ordered Gray to send the names of the nine witnesses she plans to call to him and to Schwartzbach by 5 p.m. today.
The preliminary hearing is scheduled to begin Wednesday in San Luis Obispo Superior Court and is expected to last at least through March 3.
At a preliminary hearing, the prosecution must convince the judge that there is sufficient evidence, or probable cause, to send the suspect to trial.
Prosecutors charged Roozrokh in July with three felonies alleging he attempted to hasten the death of a potential organ donor, 25-year-old Ruben Navarro.
Roozrokh, 34, pleaded not guilty. If convicted of all charges, he could face up to eight years in prison and a $20,000 fine.
Schwartzbach filed multiple briefs since December requesting that Tangeman compel Gray to name the witnesses she plans to call. The secrecy has made it impossible for him to prepare for cross-examination, he argued.
The law requires prosecutors to provide the defendant copies of materials and evidence to be used at trial, including names of witnesses.
Gray argued in written briefs that those rules don’t apply to pretrial proceedings.
Tangeman sided with her in a Dec. 21, 2007, written ruling when he said he did not have authority to compel discovery before the preliminary hearing.
On Wednesday, Tangeman said now that they were on the verge of the preliminary hearing, disclosing the witnesses’ names would not hurt the prosecution’s case.
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