Lawyer Goes Apesh-t At SFO

[dales]

A former Los Angeles deputy city attorney has been charged with assaulting police with a pole after creating a scene at San Francisco International Airport in which she vandalized a coffee kiosk...

A former Los Angeles deputy city attorney has been charged with assaulting police with a pole after creating a scene at San Francisco International Airport in which she vandalized a coffee kiosk, authorities say.

Angela West, 50, a Harvard Law School graduate, was seen by airport police officers smashing merchandise, milk containers and other food items with a 3-foot-long metal pole at a Peet's Coffee kiosk at SFO on Christmas Eve, said San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.

When officers tried to speak to her, West "raged" at them and began swinging the pole, which she had taken from a janitor's cart, Wagstaffe said.

An officer had to use a chair to fend off at least 10 blows, authorities said. West then calmed down and sat in a booth, only to start throwing items at the officers, Wagstaffe said.

When the officers tried to arrest her, she kicked one of them in the groin, Wagstaffe said. After being subdued, West shouted out that she was a lesbian and that the officers "should stop trying to have sex with her," the prosecutor said.

West was taken to a hospital and held in a psychiatric ward for a week, Wagstaffe said.

At a court hearing Tuesday, Judge Barbara Mallach allowed West to represent herself after learning that she had attended Harvard Law and was admitted to the California State Bar in 1989. West, however, has been inactive since 1997.

West pleaded not guilty at Tuesday's hearing, at which she also demanded a copy of the police report. Prosecutors asked for more time to prepare a redacted copy by removing witnesses' addresses, but West objected, saying she was a former prosecutor and was "entitled to the information," Wagstaffe said. (In Los Angeles, deputy city attorneys handle misdemeanor criminal cases, among other matters).

West received the redacted report at a hearing Wednesday. She is being held in custody in lieu of $10,000 bail, after she argued successfully to have it reduced from $25,000.



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/cri ... z1AIivy6ot

I guess she couldn't raise the lousy $1000 for bail?

[Gob]

Hmmm... maybe a little bit psychotic... just a tadge?

[kristina]

I'm a little surprised she's being allowed to represent herself.

[Miles]

I'm a little surprised she's being allowed to represent herself.

Perhaps thats a good thing for the prosecution. She may flip out if challenged in court and that would pretty much settle the matter of her state of mind, but then we are talking about California.

[Gob]

Is that what is known as the "California state of mind" then?

[Jarlaxle]

Someone needs her meds adjusted...