News
Criminal
Feb. 15, 2002
Prosecutor Crossed Line in Skinhead Case, Critics Say
VENTURA - n October 1999, Senior Deputy District Attorney Ron S. Bamieh and an investigator finally got what law enforcement needed to crack a dead-end murder case.
They flew to Phoenix to meet with Bridget Callahan, a member of a Ventura skinhead gang, who told them, according to their report, that she "had seen something gruesome happen in a motel room and she wasn't responsible for it and she didn't know what to do."
Ten months later, a grand jury indicted Callahan, 30, and two other members of the Skin Head Dogs for the first-degree murder of 17-year-old Nicole Hendrix, who was stabbed to death at a Ventura motel in October 1998.
For Bamieh, the indictments were a notable coup in his career as a prosecutor - one he can certainly tout as he runs against one of his supervisors, Gregory D. Totten, for election March 5 as Ventura County district attorney.
Nor is Bamieh, 36, shy about his achievements, having claimed a perfect record in felony trials. With more than $500,000 in his campaign coffers, most of it supplied by his wealthy father, he also has the means to publicize his prowess.
But in the hotly contested race to replace District Attorney Michael D. Bradbury, who will retire in January after 24 years in office, the Callahan case has become entangled in allegations of prosecutorial misconduct and political maneuvering that leave its place on Bamieh's résumé unclear at best.
According to Callahan's counsel, Bamieh and investigator Mark Volpei coerced her into confessing to Hendrix's murder and acting as an informant. In a motion to dismiss the indictment, attorney Joseph D. O'Neill of Oxnard accused Bamieh of making a "sordid pact with the devil" for political gain.
The district attorney's office removed itself from the case in November - a move that Bamieh complains was designed to embarrass him and benefit Totten.
"Desperate people do desperate things," Bamieh said - although Totten denies that the move to transfer the case to the state attorney general was politically motivated.
Hendrix's mother has spoken out in Bamieh's defense.
In a letter to the Los Angeles Times, Shelly Holland praised him for bringing her daughter's alleged killers to justice and blasted Totten for "trying to gain some political advantage with [the] case."
Untangling the political web may be beyond most voters. But the Callahan controversy clearly illustrates how high the stakes are in the first contested district attorney election since Bradbury took office.
"It's something we've never seen in Ventura County politics," Totten, the chief assistant district attorney, said.
Bamieh certainly isn't lacking in confidence about the outcome.
"I'm about to win this election," he said.
He's brash, intense and fast-talking, qualities that perhaps would make him very persuasive before a jury or a group of voters.
"Mr. Bamieh is an extremely aggressive prosecutor," said James M. Farley, a veteran Ventura defense lawyer. "But I've never seen him cross the [ethical] line."
According to O'Neill, Bamieh went too far in persuading Bridget Callahan to cooperate in the investigation of the Hendrix murder, crossing that ethical line and dangling false promises of immunity from prosecution.
"[Bamieh] deliberately misled, confused and provided completely false legal advice to [Callahan] to serve his own personal goals," O'Neill stated in a court document.
The prosecutor, who has called O'Neill "a nut," insists he did no more than follow routine law enforcement practice.
"When you're chasing evil, how fast do you run?" Bamieh asked. "We have no obligation to tell a murderer the truth."
Hendrix, a continuation-school student who was part of the Ventura skinhead crowd, disappeared Oct. 15, 1998, after going out with some friends.
Six months later, her skull was found off the side of a highway in the mountains north of Ojai.
Bamieh and Volpei tracked Callahan to Arizona to interview her about an unrelated murder. She already had testified before a grand jury that indicted Skin Head Dog member Justin Merriman in that case. At a Phoenix restaurant, she mentioned the "gruesome" motel murder.
According to Bamieh, Callahan was "scared to be a 'snitch'" and wanted some assurance of protection. She got that assurance at a meeting with Bamieh and other law enforcement officials in Ventura on Dec. 22, 1999, Bamieh said in an internal office memo.
In return for her truthful testimony about the Hendrix murder, prosecutors would process her application for relocation, and the sheriff's office would provide $3,000 for her moving expenses. If Callahan turned out to be a suspect, Bamieh told a grand jury, "All bets would be off."
Callahan did turn out to be a suspect. But Bamieh did not tell her that, and he and his superiors allowed the sheriff's office to use her as an informant as they built a case against two other skinheads - David Ziesmer and Michael Bridgeford - for the Hendrix murder, Bamieh said.
When the grand jury convened in August 2000, Callahan, still without counsel and unaware of her liability, testified that Ziesmer had suspected Hendrix of being a police informant. Callahan said she brought the girl to the Crystal Lodge Motor Hotel. There, Ziesmer and Bridgeford killed Hendrix in a bathroom, as Callahan sat in the adjoining bedroom, according to Callahan's testimony.
"I was trying just to stare out the window and not really listen or anything," she recalled.
Questioned by Bamieh, Callahan admitted that she helped make sure Hendrix did not leave the room and had, at one point, given her a goodbye kiss.
"I told her I was really sorry and there was nothing I could do at that point," Callahan said.
According to grand jury transcripts, Bamieh briefed the panel on how investigators had used the witness, telling them, "If you find that we behaved in a way that does not justify [a murder] indictment on Miss Callahan, you can consider that."
Callahan's testimony had become less important to the prosecution because both Ziesmer and Bridgeford took the stand and incriminated themselves before the grand jury.
"She gave us a provable theory of the case," Bamieh said.
All three suspects were indicted for first-degree murder. People v. Callahan, CR49435 (Ventura Super. Ct., filed Aug. 21, 2000). If convicted as an aider and abettor, Callahan faces life in prison without parole; Ziesmer, 29, and Bridgeford, 25, could get the death penalty.
In February 2001, Bamieh won his most notable courtroom victory when a jury convicted Merriman of capital murder in the death of Katrina Montgomery.
The key witness was a former Skin Head Dog whom Bamieh and Volpei had persuaded to testify.
After Merriman was sentenced to death, Bamieh announced his intention to run for district attorney in August. But since then, the Callahan case has been mired in controversy.
"There's a lot of worms in this case," O'Neill said.
On Nov. 2, the defense counsel filed a motion to have the district attorney's office withdraw, alleging "extreme prosecutorial misconduct" and violations of Callahan's civil rights that had created a conflict of interest.
At the October 1999 meeting in Phoenix, O'Neill claimed in court papers, Bamieh misled Callahan with promises of immunity and appealed to her fear of eternal damnation, all part of an "evil scheme" to compel her cooperation.
He also suggested that Bamieh acted out of political ambition.
"[T]his case is all about the danger that is probable when persons obsessed with self-promotion finally obtain power," he argued.
Bamieh scoffed at the accusations.
"In 1999, I would have to think Callahan would be my ticket to DA," he said. "That's just foolish."
Callahan's statements, he insisted, were voluntary and she was never promised immunity.
Rather than prosecute Callahan to the hilt, moreover, Bamieh recommended in October 2000 that she be allowed to plead guilty to second-degree murder.
"Callahan's cooperation should inure to her benefit," he wrote in a memo to his supervisors. Management rejected the plea bargain.
Nevertheless, Bamieh does believe politics have intruded into the Callahan case - thanks to his opponent, Totten, and Totten's allies.
"They think there's some political gain to be made from a murder case," he said.
In particular, he challenges the district attorney's decision not to fight O'Neill's withdrawal motion and to hand the case over to the state attorney general.
According to Bamieh, top managers in his office were "very comfortable" with his handling of Callahan. Totten, he said, participated in meetings about the case and exchanged e-mails with him.
"The only thing that changed [to explain the withdrawal] was I decided to run for district attorney," he said.
Totten, who has the endorsement of Bradbury and other senior prosecutors, said there were two levels of supervisor between him and Bamieh.
"Most of the decisions [in the Callahan case] were made at those levels," Totten said. "My role was pretty limited."
If true, Totten said, the allegations against Bamieh are "extremely serious." But he denied making any effort to manipulate the Callahan case for political ends.
"[Bamieh] was directly involved in the investigation and did things that, according to the defense, created issues of conflict," he explained. "It seems entirely appropriate for the attorney general to take the case."
O'Neill has subpoenaed Bamieh, Totten and other prosecutors to testify at a hearing March 8 on his motion to dismiss the charges against Callahan.
By then, Ventura County voters will have chosen a new district attorney.
If he is elected, Bamieh has no intention of putting the Callahan case behind him.
"I'll make every effort," he promised, "to get Callahan back [from the attorney general] to prosecute."
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Matthew Heller
Daily Journal Staff Writer
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