Trial Date:
The trial date has been moved from June 2022 to October 3, 2022 with pretrial now set for September 15, 2022. This seems to be due to scheduling issues with attorneys. The court says it does not believe the trial will take more than 5 court days.
Further Pretrial Submissions:
Four main issues remain to be addressed and the court has asked attorneys to submit responses and information on the following.
First, Zoellner, the plaintiff, has argued that issue preclusion should apply to the court's ruling of no probable cause during the 2017 preliminary hearing. The likely goal of this is to prevent the defense from arguing the issue of probable cause for the murder charge during this civil trial based on the court's prior ruling of no probable cause at the time. The defense (for former Arcata Detective Eric Losey) has been asked to issue a brief that addresses this before July 11. The plaintiff may file a response before July 15.
The next issue is that the defense has objected to Zoellner calling any witnesses that have not been identified in his initial or supplemental disclosures. It's not clear which witness this is in reference to at this point. Zoellner is asked to submit a response to the court by July 11. The defense may file a respnse on or before July 15.
Third, both parties have disputed the relevance of evidence that shows that Zoellner may have stabbed Lawson. The court has said that both parties "shall file a brief that addresses the relevance, or lack thereof, of such evidence to (1) the elements of the malicious prosecution claim, particularly the elements of (a) lack of probable cause and (b) malicious intent, and (2) emotional distress damages.". The court has requested these responses by July 15.
Finally, the defense has listed 5 specific DNA evidence items on its exhibit list but not expert witnesses on DNA evidence in its witness list. The court has asked the defense to prepare a brief with citations that explains how this evidence would be admissible. It is not clear how this would be relevant to their defense argument as the issue going to trial is the claim of malicious prosecution by Det. Eric Losey due to the charging summary that he prepared before the 2017 murder charges were filed. The DNA evidence was not available until 1-2 years later, long after Losey's error was discovered and the 2017 case was dismissed at preliminary hearing. The court has asked the defense to file this brief by July 15.
References:
Document 289 - ORDER RE: TRIAL DATE AND FURTHER PRETRIAL SUBMISSIONS