Sealed grand jury testimony in the court case seeking to remove Assessor John Tuteur from office is to be made public on Monday, at the request of both Tuteur and the Napa Valley Register.
Tuteur is accused by the Napa County Grand Jury of “willful or corrupt conduct.” Napa County Superior Court initially decided to seal the transcripts detailing witness testimony before the grand jury beyond the required 10-day period, perhaps until after the trial.
On Thursday, Judge Mark Boessenecker presided over a hearing at which he agreed to unseal the transcripts. Tuteur said he made the request to be transparent and to help his defense. The Napa Valley Register did so in order to inform the public about an important case involving a key elected public official.
“We got what we wanted,” said attorney Leila Knox, who represented the Napa Valley Register.
State law requires grand jury transcripts to be sealed for 10 days after being received by the defense. However, it also allows the court to keep the transcripts sealed beyond this period if a “reasonable likelihood” exists that unsealing them would jeopardize the defendant’s right to a fair trial.
But Tuteur’s attorney, who has seen the transcripts, said unsealing them won’t prejudice Tuteur’s right to fair trial.
“If anything, the transcripts contain substantial evidence that Mr. Tuteur wants aired out in public proceedings of the court to show that the accusation is completely unfounded,” attorney Thomas Barth wrote in court papers filed on behalf of Tuteur.
The papers say the accusations against Tuteur “appear to be primarily based on the complaint of a disgruntled employee, who was extremely angry about being passed over for promotion within the Assessor’s Office.”
Barth said after Thursday’s hearing that he believes the grand jury during its three days of witness interviews asked leading questions.
Although he didn’t speak to the judge, Tuteur attended Thursday’s hearing. He appeared relaxed, smiling at times as he chatted with others in the courtroom.
The grand jury accused Tuteur of four counts of misconduct that need not rise to criminal activity to be grounds for removal from office. Among them, he is accused of making an erroneous assessment regarding cell tower lease income on his own property and not paying $20,000 in back property taxes after the error was discovered.
Another count says Tuteur has cost the county tax money by failing to determine the value of grazing land using up-to-date grazing income, but instead using a minimum-value county formula unchanged since 1969. The grand jury said this benefits Tuteur, given he owns grazing land.
The grand jury filing against Tuteur says that the grand jury heard from seven witnesses. Six were from the Assessor’s Office, including Tuteur, and one was from the county’s Planning, Building and Environmental Services Department.
Tuteur was to appear in court next Tuesday to respond to the grand jury accusation, but Boessenecker changed this date to May 3.
Still to be decided is whether Tuteur’s legal team will have access to the original complaint to the grand jury by the Assessor’s Office employee and notes taken by an investigation committee prior to the grand jury interviews of witnesses.
Grand jury cases of this type under state law are to be handled by the District Attorney’s Office. The state Attorney General’s Office took over the Tuteur case because the Napa County District Attorney’s Office cited a conflict of interest.
Boessenecker said four local judges — Rodney Stone, Diane Price, Victoria Wood and Elia Ortiz — have declared a conflict of interest in the Tuteur case. The grand jury is being represented by Solano County Deputy County Counsel Jim Laughlin because of a conflict of interest involving the Napa County Counsel’s Office.
Tuteur served on the Napa County Board of Supervisors from 1973 through 1980. He was elected as Assessor in 1987. Today, he serves as Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk, with the position including Registrar of Voters duties.
April 19, 2018
Napa Valley Register
By Barry Eberling
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