Wednesday, February 19, 2025

Suspended Mendocino County Auditor’s criminal trial delayed again until late February

Categories:
LadyJusticeMuralFeatured
Lady Justice mural in the Mendocino County courthouse [Picture by Matt LaFever]

In a stunning turn, legal proceedings in the criminal prosecution of suspended Mendocino County Auditor Chamise Cubbison ground to a halt Wednesday because of court scheduling conflicts and will not resume until Feb. 24.

The delay means Cubbison and her co-defendant Paula June Kennedy, who have already spent 16 months in legal limbo, will not know until then whether the evidence presented so far by the District Attorney’s Office warrants their case going to trial or dismissed.

At the end of Wednesday’s court session, Superior Court Judge Ann Moorman said that pre-paid traveling plans involving county CEO Darcie Antle, a prime prosecution witness, and similar issues of her own forced the lengthy delay.

The surprise announcement came after the fourth day of testimony, which ended at about 4 p.m. on Wednesday. Hearing observers were caught off guard. 

Judge Moorman said, “I’m sorry, but there isn’t anything that can be done at this point.”

Witnesses during the preliminary hearing have been confined to law enforcement investigators and county staff, including department heads familiar with details behind Kennedy, the county’s former Payroll Manager, paying herself about $68,000 in extra pay over three years during the Covid pandemic. No one at the county level questions if Kennedy worked the hours required to process payroll for 1,200 county employees while working remotely single-handedly.

- Advertisement -
Western Vegetation Control - Weed Abatement, Mosquito/Tick Control, Fire Safety
Western Vegetation Control - Weed Abatement, Mosquito/Tick Control, Fire Safety
Western Vegetation Control - Weed Abatement, Mosquito/Tick Control, Fire Safety
Western Vegetation Control - Weed Abatement, Mosquito/Tick Control, Fire Safety

CEO Antle last week testified that she felt it was “almost illegal” the number of hours required for Kennedy to process the county’s payroll. Antle acknowledged her office, since 2019, had been locked in a struggle with then Auditor Lloyd Weer and later Cubbison over a push to shift payroll responsibility to administrators. Weer and Cubbison were adamant in their opposition, contending independent oversight by the Auditor’s Office was critical, Antle stated. 

The issue in the criminal case is who authorized the extra pay: Kennedy herself, Cubbison, and/or Weer. Kennedy was a salaried employee not entitled to overtime. Kennedy had exhausted whatever limited compensatory time she earned.

Kennedy blames Cubbison, her immediate supervisor. Cubbison said the extra pay deal was worked out between Weer and Kennedy. Weer initially denied involvement but later admitted to investigators that he had spoken with Kennedy about her chronic pay complaints. Kennedy told Weer that other county employees were circumventing overtime restrictions for salaried positions, and he, in turn, urged her to find out how investigators stated.

It is unclear how long it will take to wrap up the much-delayed preliminary hearing.

Even if witness testimony is finally concluded in February, time will be needed for final arguments in a high-profile case laced with local politics.

Only then will Judge Moorman be able to decide whether the District Attorney’s Office has presented enough evidence to move the case onto trial or grant pending defense motions for dismissal. 

In the meantime, there is a pending civil case that Cubbison has filed against the county Board of Supervisors for denying her due process before it suspended the embattled Auditor without pay or benefits. 

In that case, a significant element is whether DA David Eyster, who wrangled with Cubbison over his office’s spending, targeted the suspended Auditor for prosecution.

County supervisors in 2022, with the behind-the-scenes support of Eyster, overruled opposition from Cubbison and other senior county finance officials and forced the controversial consolidation of the independent Auditor-Controller and Treasurer-Tax Collector offices in hopes of creating a new Department of Finance under board control. 

- Advertisement -

DA Eyster, in a newly uncovered memo to a former board member, urged blocking Cubbison’s appointment as interim Auditor or any promotion when Weer retired. Eyster, in the memo, laid out a three-step consolidation plan in hopes Cubbison would be permanently blocked from leading the consolidated offices. Those hopes were thwarted, however, when Cubbison ran for election to oversee the combined offices and won.

The latest delay in legal proceedings is one more in a series that even Moorman labeled “unfair” to the defendants at one point.

The case has dragged on for 16 months. Only last week did it reach the preliminary hearing stage, a crucial first step in any felony prosecution.

Special prosecutor Traci Carrillo, a Sonoma County attorney hired by Eyster at a rate of $400 per hour, wrapped up her preliminary hearing case this week.

 Carrillo has been methodical about questioning witnesses and producing documents confirming Kennedy’s pay was not formally authorized. No evidence, however, has yet to be introduced to support any criminal intent, nor that Cubbison personally benefited from the extra pay for Kennedy.

Andrian and Fred McCurry, Public Defender for Kennedy, launched their defense this week by grilling key law enforcement witnesses.

DA Investigator Tom Kiely testified Wednesday he was present when Weer, the retired Auditor, was questioned about his alleged role. Kiely dismissed contentions that Weer had been given special consideration, including being allowed to have his wife present during questioning by investigators. 

Kiely also brushed aside suggestions that internal questions had been raised about the quality of the initial investigation done by sheriff Lt. Andrew Porter. 

“I think that’s unfair. He didn’t have all the information at first,” said Kiely.

Porter testified during the hearing that Kennedy was the only suspect in the criminal case at first but that later Cubbison became a suspect. Porter acknowledged meeting with DA Eyster about fifteen times during his investigation.

- Advertisement -

Weer was never the focus of the investigation despite his past efforts as Auditor to secure extra pay for Kennedy, said Porter.

The extra pay for Kennedy began in 2019 when she used an obscure county payroll code that typically is used to cover salary adjustments and miscellaneous expenses. The payments began while Weer was still the Auditor and continued until he retired two years later. Weer claims he never knew about them.

Danielle Grilli, a former Auditor office employee, testified Wednesday that Cubbison seemed “surprised” to learn about Kennedy’s use of the code when an internal probe unfolded.

“She asked me to run a system history,” said Grilli.

Attorney Andrian on behalf of Cubbison has raised the question of why the suspended Auditor if directly involved in an unauthorized pay scheme would have triggered a county investigation by reporting a written Kennedy threat to quit and sue. 

For now, those and other questions surround the controversial case remain unanswered. 

- Advertisement -
Dunlap Roofing
Dunlap Roofing
Dunlap Roofing
Dunlap Roofing

13 COMMENTS

  1. REALLY??? 68k has now cost the county 1 million or more in litigation. Litigation designed to cover up fraud and lies. GREAT ROI DARCIE!!! Hello a degree does not =brain power. The bumbling, fumbling, ever down dumbing supported by Mendocino County government management is the true definition of a cluster F. Moorman I feel your pain, listening to lies and not holding those accountable for the blatant lies must be BEYOND EXHAUSTING.

    29
    1
  2. Prepaid travel, how convenient. I call BS.
    If it is for business, it should be cancelled. The trial should be priority. Holding the defendants hostage longer is criminal. BS

    18
    • At this point it’s beyond holding the defendant’s hostage. It’s building a gigantic facade to hide a plethora of misgivings, blatant ignorance, lack of justice, squandered funds, on and on. What criminal misconduct HASNT happened? On all levels lies, denies, uninformed souls in jobs with no clue what to do. Shuffle the papers around again maybe a clue is on there??? Timely court proceedings will not occur in Mendocino. More money is spent in the courthouse for county BS than on any other program, need or function in the entire budget. Everyting is falling apart stop filing wanton lawsuits.

      12
      1
  3. Nothing surprises me any longer when it comes to Mendocino County government. It’s the same as it’s always been. The “good ‘ol boys” club got things done at one point in time. And they were just. But that was so long ago maybe it was just a dream.

    2
    1
  4. Eyster the Shyster, strikes again. The term Shyster, refers to someone who is dishonest or unethical. It is often used to describe a lawyer or politician who is dishonest or unscrupulous. Eyster is all four of those things, so there you go.

    11
  5. If someone can’t figure out how to legally compensate their employees for work required and performed THEN consolidating financial control under them is a really BAD idea. Also, if no one disputes the work was done, where is the crime exactly? Perhaps its when you take the money, but never do the work? Or when you take the bribe or commit extortion? This sounds like we need an independent auditor.

    • She worked from home the majority of the time, there is no way to actually know how many hours Kennedy worked, but she will tell you she worked all those hours. Kennedy is not a nice person.

      1
      1
      • Shhh…tell you a lil not so secret secret. Most management get paid well over 100k a year to do minimal tasks. DO as I say, not as I do the driving force behind all Program Managers, Program Supervisors and various Deputy blah blahs. Virtual work, yet another drain to functionality. County does not use time clocks. No one clocks in. They submit payroll on estimated hours. Imagine the abuse of that. Anyone work in places that do not use time clocks, or time tracking?

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Today's News

-Advertisement-
Western Vegetation Control - Weed Abatement, Mosquito/Tick Control, Fire Safety

News from the Week

Discover more from MendoFever – Mendocino County News

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading