JUDGE DECLARES MISTRIAL IN DRUG CASE

A judge tossed a drug case this week because the prosecutor had failed to
turn over materials to the defense attorney in time, part of what one public
defender's official described as a "rash" of recent problems.

District attorney's officials slammed the mistrial decision, but they admit
their recent troubles meeting certain fast-track deadlines is causing some
disclosure problems.

Materials surfaced at the last minute in the case against Frank Mendoza on
charges of possession of PCP, being under the influence of drugs and driving
under the influence of drugs. Judge James Stuart declared a mistrial
Wednesday after several witnesses testified.

Another trial was scheduled for Monday.

"It (mistrial) is a rare sanction," said Public Defender Mark Arnold. "It
probably reflects the severity of the problem."

Arnold said he has had a "rash of complaints recently from my deputies"
involving disclosure disputes over about the last month. He cited a heavy
caseload as a cause of problems and predicted they would be resolved soon.
"I'm not suggesting for a minute that it's done intentionally," Arnold said.
"The problem is it really does occur, and it creates problems for the
defendant in terms of proper preparation of a case."

With the 43-year-old Mendoza, Arnold said he didn't know the contents of the
last-minute materials. Art Titus, the public defender's attorney who handled
the case, would not comment.

District Attorney Ed Jagels said the mistrial was unwarranted.

"This is the most hyper-technical, silly thing I've ever heard," Jagels said.

Prosecutor Richard June said the dismissal came after a defense objection to
photocopies of an envelope containing Mendoza's name, case number, date and
time of a blood sample and other details. The document did not appear
relevant until a nurse's testimony indicated there was an error in a log
over the blood vial, which officials had not known before, June said. He
said the photocopies then were brought in to clear up the error, June said.
June said the nurse mentioned the existence of the log the night before her
testimony, and he asked her to bring it in with her. June said he couldn't
remember whether the log was mentioned as a reason for the mistrial.

There are some problems with drug cases in a new program that fast-tracks
cases, Jagels said. Shorter deadlines in the program can make it difficult
for the office to get lab results to defense attorneys in time, Jagels said.
As a result, the office sometimes has had to go through the costly process
of dismissing a few cases and refiling them -- 0Fessentially starting the
case over. Jagels said he has just authorized large amounts of overtime at
the lab.

"It has really reached a crisis point," Jagels said.