County Counsel David Herman and e-mail Herman about two dozen photos that showed the Houstons, Stamas and the road grading crew on the road that early October morning. Significantly, Sheriff John Anderson did not get involved, finding it to be a civil matter. Nine minutes after receiving the e-mailed photos from Houston, Herman e-mailed Prentice and claimed the photos showed Stamas "in the act" although Herman never said what the actual "act" was. Herman used the photos to determine five separate misdemeanors had occurred. It was a classic case of prosecutorial overcharging. One of the misdemeanor counts, failure to get a permit for the road grading, was filed despite the fact county code enforcement officials had been to the disputed road several times in the previous two years, on behalf of Prentice, and had never required a permit. The other counts were even more difficult to comprehend. One count said it was a crime to "divert, drain, sprinkle or otherwise cause to allow water, silt, mud, or debris to flow or seep onto, into or under any county highway." None of the photos showed any water, silt, mud or debris. Another count, subdivision (e), forbid anyone to "place, store, throw, sweep, deposit or permit the escape of any debris, mud, manure, garbage, refuse, carcasses of dead animals, or nauseous or offensive matter, on or under any county highway." Apparently, Herman believed smoothing a road was a "nauseous" misdemeanor and that the road gravel constituted "debris." Another count, subdivision (f), said it was illegal to "park or place" a vehicle on a road "which is likely to injure or create a risk of injury to any person..." Herman also apparently thought the road graders could be deadly weapons. On November 9. 2007, homeowners attorney Feigel wrote then Madera District Attorney Ernie LiCalsi a letter noting there had been "a long standing civil action" over
ownership of the road and that the plaintiffs in that case were the Houstons, who were pressing Prentice for criminal action against Stamas.
Gerald Houston (right) holds a document he claims prevents neighbor Mark Stamas (in hard hat), former president of the Casc-adel Woods Property Owners' Association, from making repairs to a fire safety road in eastern Madera County. Bob Buckles, a part-time handyman for the homeowners' group is seated at left in this photo taken in October of 2007. Stamas was later charged with five misdemeanors for damaging the road but the charges were eventually dismissed. "Several things strike me as being inappropriate about this criminal action against Mr. Stamas," Feigel wrote to LiCalsi. "First, it appears that this action by [county counsel] Prentice, using the authority of your office as a special prosecutor, is nothing more than a backwards attempt to force the CWPOA [homeowners' association] to adhere to a civil settlement to which they were never a party." Feigel said Prentice was under the mistaken assumption that he had the authority to force that private settlement on Stamas and the homeowners' group. Feigel added: "Mr. Prentice, after filing the criminal action, called my office and when I informed him that it was my feeling that he filed this action solely to threaten Mr. Stamas, he said 'So sue me. Bring it on!' Not exactly what I would call an impartial representative of the People of California. Further, I have been contacted by a private law firm, Cota, Duncan & Cole, who have informed me that they have the authority to 'suspend criminal action against Mr. Stamas if he and the rest of the CWPOA will just abide by the civil settlement agreement.' I find it interesting that a biased County Counsel (because he has a personal interest in seeing that his civil settlement agreement with Houston/Barlow is carried out) and a private law firm are acting on behalf of the District Attorney's office to bring and settle criminal actions in order to enforce a civil property dispute." LiCalsi, now a Madera County Superior Court judge, did not answer Feigel's letter, although in a
later phone conversation with Feige» said he would look into the matter. Fei gel and Stamas, at that time, were also unaware of how close the connection between Prentice and Cota was. Prentice, who became county counsel in 2002, left the county for six months in 2005 to join a Sacramento law firm where Dennis Cota also worked and they became friends. Prentice, who had continued to handle cases for Madera County in private practice, returned as county counsel in January
2006.Cota later left the Sacramento firm
and opened his own office in Madera.
Prentice began referring county cases
to Cota, including the Houstons' lawsuit
against the county.
In 2009, the Madera County Grand Jury scolded Prentice for failing to reveal that his wife and 18-year-old son had been hired by the Cota law firm, which, according to county officials, has been paid $2.7 million in legal fees by the county or its insurance carrier for handling cases during the last three years. The Grand Jury said Prentice's family working at the Cota law firm represented "at best, the appearance of a conflict of interest" Prentice himself left county employment in December 2010 and now is a partner in the Cota firm.
Stamas Faces Criminal Charges Stamas dutifully appeared at the nearby Bass Lake courthouse on November 27,
2007,to answer the charges. He was ac
companied by attorney Feigel. Deputy
County Counsel David Herman appeared
on behalf of the county counsel. Stamas
denied the charges and the matter was con
tinued to January 15, 2008. At the January
15 hearing, Herman was late in appear
ing and Deputy District Attorney Shawn
Huston substituted for Herman, as Deputy
DAs frequently do when another deputy
prosecutor is late for court. Although it
was not his case, or even his office that
was doing the prosecution (district attor
neys normally prosecute crimes but county
counsel's officers are empowered to pros
ecute some minor misdemeanor matters),
Huston surprised everyone by reducing
the misdemeanors to infractions, which
carry no possibility of jail time. Herman
finally showed up to court and he was not