Nutting wants all charges to be dropped
By Kathryn Reed
Ray Nutting, his attorney and supporters believe the felony and misdemeanor charges brought against the El Dorado County supervisor should be dropped.
Nutting didn’t say a word during his arraignment Monday in El Dorado County Superior Court in South Lake Tahoe. Before the hearing he sat with his wife and cadre of supporters, getting up at times to confer with his attorney, and mostly looking sullen.
Instead of entering a plea, defense attorney David Weiner told Judge Tim Buckley that he intended to file a 995 and a demurrer.
The legal proceedings challenge whether there is enough evidence to try Nutting and essentially ask for the case to be dismissed.
Ray Nutting, back left on phone, with wife, Jennifer, wait with supporters July 22, while his attorney, David Weiner, left foreground, goes over paperwork. Photo/Kathryn Reed
Weiner has until Aug. 15 to file the paperwork. The prosecution has until Sept. 9 to respond to it. Buckley will hear both issues on Sept. 20 in South Lake Tahoe.
“We are aware of the negative impact on the county and related government entities with this case hanging around,” District Attorney Vern Pierson told Lake Tahoe News. “We are doing everything we can to move it along as expeditiously as possible.”
Nutting, 53, faces four felony counts regarding money he received from the state to clear brush from his 350-acre ranch on the West Slope. (His brother owns an adjacent 350 acres.) He is accused of not reporting the money and voting on contracts that affected him monetarily.
After those charges were leveled in May, the district attorney and state Attorney General’ Office filed seven misdemeanor charges against Nutting regarding how he got his $55,000 in bail money. He is accused of taking loans from county employees.
The bail was the subject of most of Monday’s hearing because Weiner wanted his client to be released on his own recognizance. The state said the $55,000 bail should remain in place.
Buckley said the money for the bail should be returned to the people it came from and that Nutting would have until Friday to post a reduced bail of $20,000.
The legal system as it is applied in El Dorado County needs an overhaul.
Certainly Nutting did some edge of the law things with regard to playing fast and loose with grant money etc.
The jailing of Nutting seems a bit of overkill in view of the white collar nature of the alleged crime. If every politician who took personal financial advantage of his or her position was jailed, there would not be room in the slammers for violent criminals.
The DA’s office seems to be blowing this one up up well beyond normal proportions. Publicity play? Personal vendetta? Probably some elements of both. In any event the courts will decide guilt or not.
But the source of bail money seems really trivial. Is it not common to borrow money from friends and family to bail out of jail? Does the law in El Dorado have a list of approved lenders and they can’t work for the County?
County employees should be able to loan or borrow money to or from anyone they wish unless they are paying for special favors or being paid for special favors.
Is the court worrying about this seemingly innocent thing because it is the tip of yet another iceberg?
Can’t wait to see how this works out.
The man stole thousands of dollars from the county, And voted on contract that would make him money. HELLO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just because he is an official doesn’t make him above the law. Makes it worse actually. If he isn’t prosecuted, the court system in El Dorado County will be sending the message that it is flawed and corrupted in its operations. People go to prison for FAR less. Why should this hack be any exception to the laws that protect us
Ray Nutting, the tip of the iceberg, and the bottom of the barrel. El Dorado County has always had a problem with following laws, lots of good ole boys, who have for many many years acted as if it’s OK to be above the laws. When exposed they use the you can’t touch me card, John I think you expressed it well, there is no seemingly innocent thing here.
HELLO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
also, this guy started several illegal fires on his property and was told to cease and desist and yet he did it again and then the taxpayers had to foot the bill to put out the fire. He should, in the very least, have to repay for the fire supression costs. What if someone had been hurt or killed? he would be responsible for that as well. Im sure others would be treated as criminals. Just because he is a elected official dosent mean he is above the rules and law. Pay his debt to society and move forward.
Quoting Ray Rays attorney “He is a country boy who happens to be a politician” Guess country boys like Ray get a Pass Go card.
How about the report of a $27,000 cash bank deposit.
I have a ? for WQHODAT observer “What would DA Gary Lacy do”
john, if any of the facts you described happened, well I think we would all agree. But the fact of the case is that voted to fund an agencies yearly operations and that agency had a single vote on whether the grant was awarded.
john, wouldn’t it make sense that if Nutting was guilty of buying a grant, then someone on the other side should also be guilty of selling the grant?
Why is no one else implicated in this? Because there was no crime is the answer.
Is this the same ADA who went after Swanson?
His attorney, instead of asking for an immediate jury trial, appears to want to delay the case for many more months by filing nuisance delay motions and milking the case which he is certain to do by these actions and if Nutting supporters contribute for defense costs, the case will likely be delayed further as a finance plan not costing Nutting will be in place, is this another conflict? This is the question. Asking for the charges to go away is laughable as is Nutting pretending to be doing his former elected job, his plan appears to be to keep working the system for his own benefit, forgetting all the illegal fires he caused and the Calfire reports and costs he is facing, and all the grant money he obtained by his own design and keep spinning this until a jury trial which looks like next year at this point.