By Brian Anderson
Contra Costa Newspapers

April 10, 2002

OAKLAND —An Alameda County judge Tuesday again criticized defense lawyers for a woman accused of helping kidnap and kill a Pleasanton woman, saying they continued to withhold witness evidence from a prosecutor and lawyers for another defendant.

Judge Larry Goodman, who on Monday accused attorneys for Michelle Michaud of playing "hide the ball," chastised Barry Karl and Spencer Strellis for not turning over notes and other documents gathered during their pretrial research of the case.

"I've never been confronted by such foot-dragging by defense counsel and I'm tired of it," Goodman said during a tense morning session. "I've been doing this for 18 years and I've never seen anything like this before." At the center of the conflict has been a defense investigator whose interaction with witnesses in the case has raised credibility questions, Goodman said. One earlier witness testified that she was not told by the prosecutor's investigator to refrain from speaking to the defense investigator, even though she signed her declaration stating as much.

Goodman demanded to see all notes, recorded statements, reports and other information the investigator obtained during her examination of the case.

"Every time her name pops up, there seems to be some credibility problems," he said. "Who knows what else (she) manufactured."

Karl and Strellis indicated Tuesday that they planned to put a doctor on the stand who believes Michaud suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder stemming from her career as a prostitute in the Sacramento area.

People with such an affliction, Karl said the doctor would testify, tend to be followers and find it difficult to leave a person.

They are trying to distance themselves from James Daveggio, who along with Michaud is accused of kidnapping, raping and killing 22-year-old Vanessa Lei Samson on Dec. 2, 1997. Her body was discovered along a road in rural Alpine County near Lake Tahoe.

Goodman said, however, that Karl and Strellis must first allow prosecutor Angela Backers an opportunity to look at any notes or other materials created during interviews with Michaud. Without those, he said, their witness could be barred from taking the stand.