Riese rulings issued while subpoenaed officers sit

Former Del Norte County District Attorney Mike Riese was in court Wednesday, and so were 14 law enforcement officers who were subpoenaed but never took the stand.

Judge Anthony Edwards delivered his rulings on whether there would be a change of venue, dismissal and allowance of Riese to be co-counsel in his case.

Riese faces a charge in Del Norte Superior Court of driving under the influence, two counts of child endangerment and a single count of public intoxication, all stemming from an Aug. 22 incident in which a Crescent City Safeway employee called police to say that Riese was behaving strangely. He wasn’t arrested at the time, but Deputy Attorney General Brian Newman filed a complaint against Riese a couple of months later.

Edwards denied a motion for change of venue, but did allow an option for it to be readdressed at the time of jury selection.

Riese was allowed to become co-counsel in the case — but won’t be allowed to cross-examine his daughter — and after reading police reports Edwards denied a motion to dismiss the charges against him.

“All the elements of the DUI are there,” said Edwards after reading the reports.

After about three hours of listening to attorneys argue, 14 officers from the Crescent City Police Department, Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office and California Highway Patrol were allowed to leave the courtroom after Edwards ruled he would not hear any testimony from them.

The officers were subpoenaed to testify for a motion by Riese that would try to prove District Attorney Jon Alexander has been influencing prosecution against him and Newman should be recused from the case as a result.

Alexander was also subpoenaed, but was not present because he was out of town.

That motion was ultimately continued to be heard on the morning of Feb. 7, before Riese’s scheduled trial.

Newman filed a subpoena of his own asking Edwards to unseal medical prescriptions issued by Dr. Donald Micheletti to Riese from June through August.

Riese filed a declaration with the court that stated he had taken   the drug Ativan for the first time on Aug. 22. Micheletti also filed a declaration stating he prescribed the medication to Riese and he would testify that a side effect of Ativan is sleep-walking.

Edwards decided to open the file and give the attorneys a copy of the prescription list before sealing the document.

“I’m going to keep this sealed for now. We don’t get many surprises in trial anymore,” said Edwards.

He did reveal that the earliest prescription written by Micheletti was Aug. 12.

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