DA Asks Ex-RHOC Star Josh Waring's Motion To Dismiss Attempted Murder Case Be Denied
Feb. 8 2018, Published 9:38 p.m. ET
The district attorney in Orange County calls ex-Real Housewives of Orange County star Josh Waring’s request for dismissal of his attempted murder case “wrong," claiming recorded telephone calls in question are “unconfidential and unprivileged,” according to court documents exclusively obtained by RadarOnline.com.
In June 2016, the former reality star was charged with attempted murder after allegedly opening fire on three people and shooting one in Costa Mesa and leading cops on a car chase before being captured.
The telephone calls in question took place when Waring, who is former 'RHOC' alumna Lauri Peterson’s son, was acting as his own attorney.
“Defendant argues that the simple recording of his collect phone calls involving unprivileged conversations with his father, mother, grandma and girlfriend while defendant was in pro per" — or handling his own case — "was the result of ‘outrageous government conduct’ for which he is entitled to a dismissal of his case,” read the documents.
As RadarOnline.com previously reported, Waring’s attorney Joel Garson filed a motion to dismiss, claiming his client's Constitutional rights to a fair trial were violated after private phone calls were recorded and submitted to prosecutors without his consent.
However, in their legal response, the district attorney claims the “defendant never sought access to unmonitored collect calls” and “has no one to blame but himself."
“The sheriff’s department is not a mind reader. If the defendant wanted to access his pro per phone privileges to unmonitored collect telephone calls under the court order, he had to say something before he made the calls. He didn’t. Defendant treated those phone calls just like any regular collect phone call, knowing they would be monitored and recorded," noted the DA, adding that the "defendant has failed to point to specific phone conversations and how those conversations will deny him a fair trial.”
But Garson told RadarOnline.com it comes down to what he deems to be a violation of attorney-client privilege.
“When I was listening to the phone calls, they were clearly listening in to what is essentially attorney-client privilege … he’s talking to his family about trial strategy,” Garson said.
“I don’t think there’s any reason for the deputies to turn it over to Costa Mesa PD. I understand there are some reasons for doing so,” Garson continued, citing jail safety, “but there’s a difference between monitoring and turning over to the prosecution team and the DA that is the problem.”
Garson also claimed Waring has been subject to what he considers harassment behind bars.
“There has been harassment in jail," he said. “We do know he gets searched more than other inmates. He was locked in the attorney booth for six hours after I visited him."
“I went to the jail to visit him and we are in a booth with a door behind him and a door behind me. We had a meeting for two hours and I left and he’s left in there,” Garson continued. “Normally, they have another deputy to take you back to your cell or put the prisoner in a holding area to wait for an available deputy."
Garson said he left at 7 p.m., but Waring didn't get returned to his cell until 1 a.m.
“He’s shackled, there’s no bathroom,” Garson said, noting his client feels it was done in retaliation for the subpoenas submitted to watch videos of searches in his cell.
Garson said, however, after watching the two videos he found “nothing out of the ordinary.”
Waring has claimed his innocence in the case, telling RadarOnline.com that despite his troubled past, including drug arrests, his mom stands by him.
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“My mom knows I am innocent and she knows I am not perfect and I have a drug problem and I have had my faults and weaknesses," Waring said. "But she has also said, ‘You don’t understand, this isn’t him. If it was drugs, there would be a 99 percent chance it’s true. But not this.’”
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