Attorney Ordered To Court For Delaying Start Of Trial
A Spokane attorney must appear in Superior Court on Friday to explain why he shouldn’t be found in contempt for failing to appear for a repressed-memory sex trial.
Attorney Bill Strzelec Jr. was ordered Tuesday to appear before Superior Court Judge Robert Whaley.
The judge said he will issue arrest warrants for Strzelec and his client, Bruce J. Johnson, if they fail to appear at 10 a.m. Friday.
The judge issued the court order Tuesday after court officials said a jury panel had been paid and kept waiting two days for Johnson’s trial.
Afterwards, Strzelec was contacted for comment and said the whole thing was a scheduling mixup that wasn’t his fault.
“We are ready to appear for trial,” Strzelec said. “Maybe there was a miscommunication.”
Strzelec said he and his client will appear as ordered on Friday.
Johnson, a 46-year-old musician, is accused of repeatedly raping a friend’s daughter. He is charged with two counts of first-degree child rape and one count of indecent liberties.
He says he’s being wrongly accused.
The repressed-memory case developed last November after the victim watched a segment about sex offenders on the ABC-TV newsmagazine show “20/20.”
As she watched the show, the 12-year-old girl started crying and told her friends she had been raped repeatedly between the ages of 5 and 7 in Spokane.
The case was assigned to sheriff’s Detective Jerry Hendren, who obtained the three felony charges against Johnson.
Deputy Prosecutor Carol Davis sought the hearing before Whaley after Strzelec was told by court administrators to be “on call” to start the trial Monday.
Because of a scheduling complication, Strzelec later was told to be ready for the trial to begin at 9 a.m. Tuesday before Superior Court Judge Robert Austin.
Just minutes before that trial was to begin, Strzelec filed unsigned legal papers asking that Austin not hear the case.
When the case was assigned to Whaley, court personnel said they were unsuccessful in attempts to contact Strzelec at his office.