Jury Trial

Three members of a Costa Mesa religious sect were in court Thursday on charges of operating a restaurant without a proper permit and of blocking a health inspection, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Scott Steiner. At a pretrial hearing in Orange County Superior Court, the three members of the Piecemakers were represented for the first time by attorney Robert Miller, Steiner said. The pretrial hearing was continued, and a jury trial is scheduled for Feb. 28. Police believe crew targeted unlocked cars in Dover Shores A man arrested in connection with a theft from a vehicle in Newport Beach's Dover Shores neighborhood Jan. 6 is believed to be part of a crew that was targeting unlocked vehicles, police said.

Landlord Robert "Zeb" Ziemer can now claim a small victory for his Costa Mesa bar that recently closed after 23 years of business. A lawsuit alleging that The Helm did not meet American with Disabilities Act standards has been dropped, according to court records. John F. Fackler filed the lawsuit in June 2010, naming Helm owner Myron Miller and Ziemer as defendants. Fackler, a paraplegic, claimed he had gone to the bar on Jan. 25, 2009, to shoot pool and was unable to access the restrooms.

Marisa O'Neil The new attorney for a former UC Irvine student convicted of sexually assaulting and torturing a 15-year-old-girl is seeking a new trial, this one in front of a jury. Newport Beach resident Brian Dance, 21, was convicted in July of three counts of forced penetration, one count of torture and one count each of robbery and criminal threat. He had previously waived his right to a jury trial and faces a possible life sentence for beating a girl he had met on the Internet and carving swastikas on her face on the UCI campus.

COSTA MESA — Robert "Zeb" Ziemer, owner of the famed Goat Hill Tavern and landlord of The Helm next door, says he's not going down without a pint, er, fight. The Helm, whose owner told the Daily Pilot he was shuttering the dive bar on Newport Boulevard at the end of August, is being sued by John F. Fackler under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Fackler's lawsuit accuses The Helm of violating the act, enacted in 1990, and has named Ziemer, 80, and Helm owner Myron Miller as defendants.

A 37-year-old man from Orange has been convicted of shining a laser at two jet planes approaching John Wayne Airport last year. He’s the first in the nation to be convicted in a jury trial, according to federal prosecutors. Dana Christian Welch was convicted Wednesday of two felonies. He faces a maximum of 20 years in federal prison for each count. Welch intentionally aimed the hand-held laser at two Boeing 7-series jets May 21, according to prosecutors. The United Airlines jet had more than 180 passengers and crew members on it and the Alaska Airlines plane had more than 80 aboard.

BRIEFLY IN THE NEWS Nurses testify in high-profile case The prosecution in a gang-rape case called to the witness stand, hospital nurses who tested the then 16-year-old girl days after the incident. Prosecutors maintain that the victim sustained injuries from the incident. Defendants Greg Haidl, Kyle Nachreiner and Keith Spann have been accused of raping the girl and sexually assaulting her with various objects in the Corona del Mar home of Haidl's father, Orange County Assistant Sheriff, Don Haidl.

Hoag rated among top 5% of hospitals Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian is among the top 5% of hospitals nationwide, according to independent healthcare rating company HealthGrades. Hoag — one of 266 that received the Distinguished Hospital Award for Clinical Excellence — was chosen from among nearly 5,000 hospitals in the nation that are not operated by the federal government, according to a Hoag news release. The study used Medicare data to track in-hospital complications and deaths, ranking hospitals based on how well their patients recovered compared to how patients' risk factors predicted they would fare.

Newport-Mesa Supt. Jeffrey Hubbard will appear in a Los Angeles courtroom Wednesday for his pretrial in the case against him that alleges he misappropriated funds from his previous job in Beverly Hills. Prosecutors say Hubbard, 54, used Beverly Hills Unified School District funds to give Karen Anne Christiansen $20,000 in stipends and increased her car allowance without the school board's approval in 2005. Hubbard, who is on paid administrative leave, is charged with two felony counts of misappropriating public funds.

The jury trial for David Jeffrey McKee, a minor league hockey player accused of drugging and raping a drunken, unconscious woman at her Newport Beach home, will take place 9 a.m. Jan. 19 in Courtroom C5 of the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana. McKee was attending a hockey camp in Orange County in 2006 when the alleged rape occurred after he went drinking at Woody’s Wharf. He was playing for the Portland Pirates at the time and now plays for the Bakersfield Condors. Eric Andrew Naposki and Nanette Ann Packard pleaded not guilty at their arraignment Friday of murdering a Newport Beach businessman in 1994 for financial gain.

Former UCI student faces 94 years to life A Superior Court Judge on Thursday found a former UC Irvine student guilty of sexually assaulting and torturing a 15-year-old girl he met on the Internet. Brian Dance, 21, of Newport Beach was convicted of three counts of forced penetration, one count of torture and one count each of robbery and criminal threat. He faces 94 years to life in prison. Prosecutors said he bound the victim with duct tape and carved a swastika on her cheek.

A Costa Mesa law school hopes to ease the stress on the California court system, which has suffered severe budget cuts, by offering its newly christened practice courtroom on campus for official legal proceedings. In response to belt-tightening within the state's legal system, Whittier Law School plans to invite authentic trials and arbitration to its facility. Such a setup would benefit students, as well, allowing them to observe the proceedings in the school's fully functioning 4,400-square-foot courtroom, which opened this month.

Landlord Robert "Zeb" Ziemer can now claim a small victory for his Costa Mesa bar that recently closed after 23 years of business. A lawsuit alleging that The Helm did not meet American with Disabilities Act standards has been dropped, according to court records. John F. Fackler filed the lawsuit in June 2010, naming Helm owner Myron Miller and Ziemer as defendants. Fackler, a paraplegic, claimed he had gone to the bar on Jan. 25, 2009, to shoot pool and was unable to access the restrooms.

SANTA ANA — The jury trial of the college students accused of disrupting a public speech at UC Irvine has been continued to Aug. 29. Their trial for the misdemeanor charges was set to start Monday, but both the Orange County district attorney's office and defense attorneys said they were not ready. The so-called "Irvine 11" disrupted Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren's speech about American-Israeli relations in February 2010. The students — three from UC Riverside and eight from UCI — were members of Muslim student groups from both campuses.

COSTA MESA — Robert "Zeb" Ziemer, owner of the famed Goat Hill Tavern and landlord of The Helm next door, says he's not going down without a pint, er, fight. The Helm, whose owner told the Daily Pilot he was shuttering the dive bar on Newport Boulevard at the end of August, is being sued by John F. Fackler under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Fackler's lawsuit accuses The Helm of violating the act, enacted in 1990, and has named Ziemer, 80, and Helm owner Myron Miller as defendants.

Opening statements were made Wednesday in the jury trial of a Costa Mesa man accused of raping two females, including a 17-year-old. Prosecutors say Jaime Zamora Ramirez, 42, raped the girl at his home in July 2009 after luring her there to pick up paperwork for the Fountain Valley dry cleaning business they both worked at, according to news releases from the D.A.'s office. He also allegedly threatened to report her undocumented immigration status if she reported the sexual assault.

Newport-Mesa Supt. Jeffrey Hubbard will appear in a Los Angeles courtroom Wednesday for his pretrial in the case against him that alleges he misappropriated funds from his previous job in Beverly Hills. Prosecutors say Hubbard, 54, used Beverly Hills Unified School District funds to give Karen Anne Christiansen $20,000 in stipends and increased her car allowance without the school board's approval in 2005. Hubbard, who is on paid administrative leave, is charged with two felony counts of misappropriating public funds.

The jury trial of a Costa Mesa priest accused of molesting a 7-year-old has been delayed, according to court records. Denis Lyons, 77 of Seal Beach, was set to appear at Santa Ana's Central Justice Center on Monday, but will now appear in court at 9:30 a.m. Thursday. Lyons is charged with four felony counts of lewd acts on a child under the age of 14, court records show. He is accused of molesting a boy in the church rectory and sacristy at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Costa Mesa, according to archived reports from the Costa Mesa Police Department and Orange County district attorney's office.

A jury trial is set to begin Wednesday for a man accused of raping and attempting to murder a woman in Costa Mesa and sexually assaulting another in Santa Ana, according to court documents. Juan Carlos Martinez Quintas, 30, is accused of stabbing a 26-year-old woman in the left temple after raping her, according to a news release from the Orange County district attorney's office. Prosecutors allege that Martinez Quintas pulled up to the woman as she was walking along Harbor Boulevard toward McFadden Avenue at about 10:30 p.m. on May 8, 2008, and offered her a ride to a Motel 6 in Costa Mesa, where she was staying.

The state Court of Appeal in Orange County has ruled 2 to 1 that the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles owns the St. James Anglican Church in Newport Beach — not breakaway congregants who left the diocese in 2004 after it decided to allow gay bishops to serve. The court upheld a state Supreme Court decision that the diocese owned the property on 32nd Street in Newport Beach, not members who continue to use it. The congregation laid claim to the church after it disagreed with the decision to allow gay bishops.

The jury trial for David Jeffrey McKee, a minor league hockey player accused of drugging and raping a drunken, unconscious woman at her Newport Beach home, will take place 9 a.m. Jan. 19 in Courtroom C5 of the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana. McKee was attending a hockey camp in Orange County in 2006 when the alleged rape occurred after he went drinking at Woody’s Wharf. He was playing for the Portland Pirates at the time and now plays for the Bakersfield Condors. Eric Andrew Naposki and Nanette Ann Packard pleaded not guilty at their arraignment Friday of murdering a Newport Beach businessman in 1994 for financial gain.