California Criminal Attorney Blog

Peter Kontos, 36 of Newport Beach was convicted of embezzling over $500,000 from the condominium association where he lived. He was sentenced to 2 years in state prison for the theft from Villa Point Condominium Association.

Kontos was president of the association in March 2003 when the theft and embezzlement took place. Prosecutors said Kontos committed the thefts by forging the signature of the treasurer for checks made out to contractors under the pretense they were performing work on the condo complex. The contractors would return the money to Kontos in hopes of being hired to perform work by the association.

Peter G. Kontos, 36, former president of the Villa Point Condominium Association, pleaded guilty in December to a variety of charges, including grand theft and money laundering.

When law enforcement went to Kontos’ home, they found $135,000 in cash and cocaine. The cash went to the condo association for restitution and Kontos also repaid an additional $200,000 in restitution.

Jeffrey Buttler, 51 was convicted in Santa Ana Court on multiple counts of white collar fraud resulting from a ponzi scheme.

Jeffrey Butler, of San Juan Capistrano was convicted of hundreds of counts of fraud and theft from elderly people for overseas investments. Mr. Butler promised his elderly investors an interest payment each month on the overseas telecommunication investment but rather pocketed some of the cash to pay off earlier investors.

Peggy Butler was convicted of filing false income tax returns.

The jury trial lasted 6 months and took two days to read the verdicts.

Jesse Pena, an emergency room technician was arrested on suspicion of raping a female patient inside the hospital who was too intoxicated to resist. The patient was taken to Mission Hospital in Mission Viejo, California for treatment and was under the influence of an anesthetic substance and possible controlled substance. The victim told investigators that she was too intoxicated to resist however, she knew she had been raped.

Investigators form the Orange County Sheriff’s Department linked Pena to the rape via DNA. The victim called 911 from the hospital to report the assault and told investigators that she was semi-conscious and intoxicated during the assault.

Pena was working as an independent contractor for many hospitals in Orange County, Riverside County and San Diego County. When arrested, Pena was in the city of Ontario at the home of his mother and being held in Orange County Jail on $500,000 bail.

We get our fair share of comments on this case, some convicting Nanette Packard and Eric Naposki before trial and some wanting to wait and see what the prosecutor has in the way of new evidence. Thus, we decided to pose this question……Can these two get a fair trial here in Orange County.

I thought about this blog and decided to copy some quotes from the prosecutor to further the debate. Now, let me first say I think the prosecutor is a good, honest lawyer and well intentioned. By pulling these quotes, I am not suggesting they were done for any self-serving purpose but rather an illustration of public comments and whether they have an impact on the jury process.

"well-intentioned people, but I can't imagine they have any clue about what she is really like." Speaking of the friends and neighbors who wanted to pledge money for Nanette’s defense

There is no doubt we have the right guys," Speaking of Nanette Packard (formerly Nanette Johnston), 43, a Ladera Ranch housewife, and Eric Andrew Naposki, 42, of Greenwich, Conn.

As we all know, innocent until proven guilty. Sounds great in theory but in real life, most of us our judgmental and reserving judgment until a trial is almost too much to ask. At Pilchman & Kay, our lawyers have been on both sides of the table, as prosecutors and now as defense attorneys. What we can tell you from our years of experience is that most jurors come into court and WANT to convict. They feel the defendant must have done something wrong to be sitting in court awaiting trial. In our opinion, it really comes down to having to disprove a prosecutor’s theory in order to win an acquittal.

The potential jurors who come into court are for the most part law abiding citizens who have never had the experience of being accused of a crime. Face it, those who are not probably don’t even respond to their summons. So, these honest, hardworking jurors come to court and most of them cannot fathom the idea that some innocent people do get arrested. Add the media coverage and public comments by the prosecuting agency on top of their honest albeit flawed thinking and what do you get? Probably a panel of jurors who despite their best efforts, cannot be fair and impartial.