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THE JUDGE & THE CONVICT'S WOMAN
Jin's habeas petition, again, contains more specifics, as well as encounters not mentioned in Fasel's findings: On September 29, 1996 at 1400 hours, my wife went to the judge's house. The judge told my wife that he was married three times and he loved his first wife with 95% of his heart. He loved the second wife with 50% of his heart, and he loved his third wife with 25% of his heart. Judge Trammell also told my wife that she is the second person in the world that could make his heart jump faster whenever he saw her. Judge Trammell raped my wife because she didn't want to put me further in a bad situation and it was against her will. Then Judge Trammell took my wife to a restaurant to have dinner. My wife left at 2100 hours.
At 5 p.m. on October 5, 1996 Lo again went to Trammell's house. After sex Lo used Trammell's phone to call her home to create a phone record of calls before leaving at around 11 p.m. Lo followed a similar routine on October 8, October 14 and October 16, taking the time to create a phone record. On that last day she told Trammell that the defense lawyers had filed motions to disqualify him from the case. Trammell asked Lo to tell Chu and Jin to have the motions withdrawn and promised that he would try his best to help Jin. The next day Lo called Trammell at his house around 9 p.m. and asked him a number of questions about the 170.1 motion to disqualify Trammell from the case and taped the conversation as she had been doing every other day since the start of their trysts. "Judge Trammell told Lo that if Chu didn't withdraw her 170.1 CCP motion both Chu and Jin would have their sentencing hearing sent to another judge downtown because it was a joint defendant case," Judge Fasel stated in his findings of fact. "On this same day Chu telephoned Lo from the Pomona courthouse. It appears that Chu consulted with Lo, Jin and members of Jin's family regarding her case." Trammell's efforts to have the disqualification motion withdrawn was successful. At the hearing scheduled for the following day, Chu's attorney Ballantyne withdrew the motion. Citing the fact that Chu's court-appointed second counsel Karen Gee had still not filed findings of incompetence regarding Ballantyne, Trammell postponed Chu's new trial motion and sentencing to December 6, over Ballentyne's strenuous objection. This postponement--or "continuance" in legal jargon--directly violated Trammell's earlier assurance to Chu that his appointment of Gee as second counsel would cause no delay in the hearing of her new trial motion or sentencing. Trammell had made so many questionable rulings against Chu, Ballantyne believes, that the best way to get Chu out of jail was to finish up the postrial endgame and appeal to the second division appellate court which sits in downtown Los Angeles. |
At around 8 p.m. on October 20, Lo got a call from Trammell ordering her immediately to his home. There he told her he worried about losing his judgeship. Someone had shot at him twice a few days earlier, he told Lo, and he had called the police. Now he was worried that undercover officers were staking out his house and saw Lo coming in and would question her if they saw her leaving. He asked her not to call or visit until he contacted her. They watched from behind the curtain until they felt the police had left. Trammell told Lo that if the DA learned of the relationship he would give Jin a five-year deal, then Trammell wouldn't be able to help further, alleges Jin's habeas petition. "Judge Trammell promised to give probation to me if she wouldn't tell anyone," Jin continues. "Judge Trammell asked my wife to send him some love cards without her name or address. She left his home at 2330 hours." At around 5 p.m. on October 28, 1996 Lo again visted Trammell at his home. "They went out to have dinner and went back to his home and had a sexual relationship," states Jin's habeas petition. Trammell went to take a shower, providing Lo with her first opportunity "to collect his body hair from his bed." Those body hairs were listed among the evidence Jin cites in support of his habeas petition. In the conversation that lasted until Lo left the house at around 11 p.m. Trammell told her that Jin's attorney had made numerous errors and advised Lo to tell Jin to file a supplemental statement to the court that would enable Trammell to appoint an attorney to file a new trial motion. He also advised Lo to write a letter to the court requesting return of personal property seized following the arrest. Trammell later called Lo's attorney Dale Rubin and encouraged him to to file a motion for return of the confiscated belongings and also another motion to terminate her probation in March 1997. Rubin complied and Trammell ordered Jin's Benz and personal computer to be released to Lo, on the ground the property was unrelated to any criminal activity. In this way, Trammell strung Lo along with small rewards and the promise of the ultimate reward--release of her husband. But if he ever meant to confer that final reward, Trammell seemed determined to postpone it as long as possible. On December 6, 1996 Chu's motionfor a new trial and sentencing came on for hearing a second time. Once again citing the fact that Karen Gee had not yet filed findings on Ballantyne's competency, Trammell continued both hearings over Ballentyne's objections and Chu's refusal to waive her right to prompt sentencing. Ballentyne then moved to be relieved from having to represent Chu. Trammell denied that motion. He also denied Ballantyne's request to have Gee removed for failure to submit findings in a timely manner. Trammell seemed to see Gee as a convenient source of legitimate delays that prolonged his jurisdiction over the case. Page 12 | Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 |
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