Criminal
Aug. 1, 2002
False Imprisonment Suit Advances
SAN JOSE - A judge refused Tuesday to dismiss a woman's false imprisonment suit against Santa Clara County authorities for allegedly jailing her to improve the chances of getting her husband to plead guilty to a domestic violence charge.
A trial in the three-year-old case probably will be scheduled to start by the end of the year. Drane v. County of Santa Clara, 783556.
The suit, which also seeks damages for intentional infliction of emotional distress, is an unusual case in which a domestic violence victim has filed suit claiming prosecutors went too far in pursuing a criminal conviction against her abuser.
Lori Krems, who twice failed to show up in 1997 for scheduled court appearances in the prosecution against her husband, was taken into custody on "body attachments," which allow law enforcement officials to take a material witness into custody and bring her to court. She originally said her husband beat her but subsequently changed her story.
On the second occasion, shortly before her husband's trial, Krems - who has changed her name from Drane - was held behind bars for eight days without being taken before a judge. She was released only after Theodore Drane pleaded guilty.
Krems' attorney, Anthony Boskovich, of San Jose, said prosecutor Matt Braker should be held personally liable because he allegedly directed jail officials to hold her in custody until he got her husband to agree to a plea deal.
The county's attorney, David Nied, of Chapman, Popik & White in San Francisco, argued that neither the county nor Braker should be liable because there is no statute that required Krems - who was taken into custody for being in contempt of court - to be released within a specific amount of time.
"We have a statute that says she must be released within a reasonable amount of time," Nied said during the Tuesday hearing.
Superior Court Judge Jamie Jacobs-May replied: "You cannot say that 10 days is a reasonable amount of time."
Jacobs-May also rejected Nied's attempt to dismiss Braker from the case, saying the suit's allegations, if true, would make the prosecutor liable for conspiracy.
Boskovich claims that Braker intentionally kept her imprisoned even though he had the power to bring her to court.
Nied disputed whether Braker had any influence over what happened to Krems after she was brought to the county jail.
San Jose attorney Richard Pointer, who represented Theodore Drane in the criminal case, wrote in a declaration that it was his "distinct impression" that Braker wanted to keep Krems in custody to "leverage a guilty plea."
But Pointer's short declaration does not provide many specifics to support this conclusion and does not say what Braker's comments or actions were.
In an ironic twist, Krems was a cooperative witness in a subsequent domestic violence case filed by Santa Clara prosecutors against Drane, according to deputy district attorney Steven Dick. Drane was sentenced in January to eight years in state prison for punching Krems in the nose.
Drane, who also allegedly struck Krems in the head causing a cut that required seven staples to close, will serve at least six years behind bars.
Krems has moved out of the Bay Area but returned to testify voluntarily, Dick said.
Craiq Anderson
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