In April 2018, the Ronald Reagan Federal Courthouse witnessed an altercation between a defense lawyer and an OCDA investigator connected to the 2016 jailhouse informant scandal. Norm Watkins and Jerry Steering used swear words as they portrayed their clients Dillon Alley and James Crawford as the victims in a 2016 ruckus. Judge David Ormon Carter as well as a jury that comprised one man and six women listened to the profane arguments of Steering and Watkins.
Cursing was rarely heard in the presence of Carter, but he encouraged the attorneys to avoid sanitizing their stories of hurling insults in the Orange County Superior Court. In the stories, where the two adults sought financial compensation from the other, witnesses heard them yelling vulgar slang words and demands for each other to perform self-sex.
Then, Steering claimed that Alley hurled a paper clip towards Crawford and that it injured Crawford. Then, Crawford did the same thing to Alley. Watkins agreed about those claims but said that Alley, known as a strong man in the Orange County district attorney’s office, was scared of the clip.
Steering claimed that Alley started to punch his client even after he turned and walked away. Steering said to the jury that Alley acted in a way that was out of control. On the other hand, Watkins told a different story. He said that an angry Crawford slapped a calm Alley first and that Alley started to hit Crawford’s face with his fist as he had to protect his handgun.
Then, almost gleefully, Watkins said that his client Alley got the better of Crawford. It was true, as the latter sustained facial abrasions, a broken tooth as well as nasal and eye bone fractures. He was also photographed with a bruise around the eye and blood on his shirt. On the other hand, Alley claimed that he had a dislocated thumb following the fight with Crawford and that the altercation made him depressed. Alley claimed that he deserved a favorable verdict from the jury about his compensation due to the depression he suffered.
Watkins accused Crawford of having a toxic prejudice against Alley and said that the incident turned his client’s life completely, in an upsetting way. To support his arguments, Watkins told jurors that Crawford once described a female lawyer as ‘a bitch’.
Steering contended that Alley started his attack as Crawford won a murder trial related to OCDA informant deception. Steering also claimed that the District Attorney’s Office was ashamed of the trial.
As a counter-argument, Watkins said that Crawford and Alley did not know each other prior to their physical altercation in Orange County all those years ago. Judge Carter expected the jury to have this case for deliberation on or before April 13, 2018. An accountant, an ex-mailman, a healthcare assistant and an English teacher were part of the jury. Even KNBC TV reporter Vikki Vargas was summoned in the form of a jury member but was not selected.
