Police Pilots Say They Got the Pointer
Laser-beam assault case brings cops up against a longtime courtroom ally
Among Southern California criminal-defense lawyers, few rank ahead of Laguna BeachNs John Barnett. Over the years, he has represented not only millionaires, but also a slew of police officers, including one snared in the infamous, taped Rodney King beating. So when Barnett publicly accuses law enforcement of lying, as he did in Orange County Superior Court on April 3, you pay attention.
Barnett sat in Judge Richard TooheyNs eighth-floor courtroom defending Peter Gregory Kontos, who was scheduled to be sentenced in a wild Newport Beach case that involves a half a million dollars in embezzled homeownersN-association funds, packaged cocaine, a vial of methamphetamine, forgery, grand theft, more than $134,000 in hidden cash, deadly metal ninja-like throwing stars and accusations of attempting to crash police helicopters with a common laser pointer.
Now, shining even a common laser pointer into the cockpit of an aircraft is a crime—please donNt do it. But in this case, it would seem preposterous that a then-unemployed 33-year-old man with ample reason to keep a low profile would stand on his balcony on two separate nights in the spring of 2006 and point his bought-from-FryNs, 5.5-inch Alpec cylindrical laser into the cockpit of a low-flying Eagle One, part of the fleet of helicopters for the Newport Beach and Costa Mesa police departments.
But the pilots swore theyNd been attacked by green laser blasts and, though they supplied no evidence of their reasoning, claimed they were positive the beams had originated precisely from KontosN second-story balcony at the Villa Point Condominium Association, close to Fashion Island. Based on those assertions, their colleagues in the detective division secured a search warrant, raided KontosN condo and—voila!—discovered the illegal bounty and a laser pointer.
Barnett has worked out a deal for his client to plead guilty in exchange for a light sentence. At the sentencing hearing, with Barnett by his side, Kontos listened with his back to a hostile crowd of former neighbors who said theyNd been embezzlement victims when the hefty, Porsche Carrera 911-driving, first-generation Greek-American served as president of their condo association. According to court records, more than $548,000 went missing from association coffers under KontosN watch. Numerous speakers told Toohey that the defendant is an arrogant sleazebag prone to using the justice system to, well, thwart justice. They pleaded for a two-year prison sentence, which would include restitution payments.
Also present was John Susman, a retired Costa Mesa P.D. helicopter pilot. He came to court to say that, while he canNt prove it, he believes KontosN laser-beam assaults on his helicopter cause him to suffer from epiphora, an uncontrollable overflow of tears that distorts vision. Susman, who indeed had teary eyes in court, said heNs paid the medical expenses out of his own pocket and wants the defendant to reimburse him.
“The cockpit was completely illuminated with green light,” said Susman. “Bob Rivers [his co-pilot during one of the laser-beam incidents] got itchy eyes and was in pain from headaches. I suffer from watery eyes.”
Barnett not only views SusmanNs medical claim as “a sham” and a “convenient excuse to claim a disability” in the early stages of government retirement, but he also argues that Susman, Rivers and Jeff Van Es, another pilot, lied in crafting official laser-beam-assault reports. (Full disclosure: INve flown with all three helicopter pilots and have covered Barnett in trial on multiple occasions.)
“There were conflicting descriptions of the source of the laser light, with reckless disregard for the truth,” Barnett told Toohey. “It is impossible that a laser directed from behind [as the officers alleged] could not only be seen by the pilots, but actually penetrate the inside of the helicopter.”
The veteran lawyer went further, alleging corruption in the police air squad. He described factual inconsistencies about the laser incidents as an indication of “a conspicuous effort on [the] part of the [pilots] to buttress” an improperly desired search warrant on KontosN property.
In BarnettNs view, the laser villain might not have been a villain at all, but rather the innocent work of entertainment staff preparing for an outdoor show at the nearby Toshiba Classic golf tournament, an event the pilots noted in their flight log.
While addressing the court, Susman—who has been struck by laser beams at least 25 times as a pilot—said he wasnNt pleased by BarnettNs accusations, noting he was positive “we pinpointed [KontosN condo as the source of the beam]” and that “if it [the beam] didnNt cause [his eye disability], it advanced it.”
“The truth is the opposite,” said Barnett, who asked for probation for his client.
Prosecutor Marc Labreche told me that a cocky Kontos confessed to using the laser when first questioned by detectives—and that Kontos also admitted to using the laser pointer in his plea agreement. In court, Labreche urged the stiffest available punishment because “had the helicopter crashed, the potential damage is great.”
But a hesitant-looking Toohey decided to postpone sentencing. “INm remanding the defendant for a 90-day [prison] evaluation, and then INll make my final decision on June 26.”
Nobody in the courtroom seemed happy. Susman beckoned Barnett to a corridor. A heated exchange ensued. Minutes later, as his stone-faced victims watched, Kontos stood and then was handcuffed and hauled away by a deputy.
POLICE-PROSECUTOR TRYST DOESNNT HELP CONVICT
Jealous that his ex-girlfriend had gone on a South Coast Plaza-area date with another man in 2007, Metin Reza Gurel raped her and threatened to disfigure the womanNs vagina with a stove-heated screwdriver. GurelNs defense? They had consensual kinky foreplay and sex. A jury didnNt buy it. After GurelNs 2008 conviction, District Attorney Tony Rackauckas learned that Suzy M. Snyder, the deputy DA on the case, had secretly slept with the police detective who headed the probe, a huge ethical no-no.
I revealed the scandal last year (see “The Rapist, the Judge, the Lawyer and Her Lover,” Oct. 30, 2008); soon thereafter, Snyder found herself out of the DANs office. Subsequently, an incarcerated Gurel attempted to get his convictions overturned, claiming heNd been robbed of a fair trial. But Superior Court Judge Thomas M. Goethals determined that, based on the strength of the victimNs testimony alone, Gurel would likely have been convicted even if GurelNs lawyers could have discredited the detective as biased. Goethal left the convictions intact.
STILL UNREPENTANT CARONA HEAVES HAIL MARY
Need more evidence of ex-Sheriff Mike CaronaNs shamelessness? The convicted felon recently tried a cute legal maneuver to nullify a juryNs guilty verdict for sabotaging a federal grand jury investigating corruption at the Orange County SheriffNs Department. Through his Jones Day lawyers, Carona told federal Judge Andrew Guilford that the jury found him guilty of a statute that prohibits convincing a witness not to testify.
CaronaNs angle? He didnNt try to block the testimony of Don Haidl, a wealthy businessman who says he gave Carona $1,000 per month in cash bribes. He pointed to secret FBI recordings of his efforts to convince Haidl to testify and lie to the grand jury.
Guilford was not amused.
CaronaNs sentencing date remains April 27. Federal officials recommend a 6.5-year prison term. Carona, once OCNs most popular Republican politician with a eye on the U.S. Senate, seeks leniency—not a minute in prison.
CNN-featured investigative reporter R. Scott Moxley has won Journalist of the Year honors at the Los Angeles Press Club; been named Distinguished Journalist of the Year by the LA Society of Professional Journalists; obtained one of the last exclusive prison interviews with Charles Manson disciple Susan Atkins; won inclusion in Jeffrey Toobin’s The Best American Crime Reporting for his coverage of a white supremacist’s senseless murder of a beloved Vietnamese refugee; launched multi-year probes that resulted in the FBI arrests and convictions of the top three ranking members of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department; and gained praise from New York Times Magazine writers for his “herculean job” exposing entrenched Southern California law enforcement corruption.