Ex-Officer Gets Time to Decide on Stand in Drug Case

A former Newport Beach police officer arrested for failing to testify in a major drug smuggling case was in court Friday but did not explain his actions.

Jeff Henig, arrested Thursday for contempt of court, was handcuffed and escorted by marshals before Superior Court Judge Francisco P. Briseno, who ordered Henig released from custody and postponed the contempt proceedings until April 3.

Briseno told Henig: “I’m going to give you until then to allow you to make your own determination as to whether you want to talk to the (drug case) investigators.”

Arrested at an Irvine residence Thursday, Henig had been held without bail at San Clemente Jail until Briseno freed him Friday.

Henig failed to appear at a Wednesday hearing in the smuggling case, which involves 5 1/2 tons of marijuana found aboard a boat in Newport Harbor on Jan. 21, 1985.

The hearing involves pretrial motions filed by the three defendants--Richard W. Nelson, Victor P. Lucini and David P. Choy.

Fear of Reprisals

Briseno indicated from the bench that Henig fears reprisals, but did not identify the possible source.

“It’s my understanding that you are concerned about your safety and reluctant to have your residential address be put on the record,” Briseno said.

Henig was fired last October for lying to Newport Beach police during a departmental investigation into his alleged use of drugs before his employment as an officer.

One court official pointed out that if Henig testifies, “on one hand you have three suspected drug smugglers who will know where he lives, and on the other, a police department which hasn’t been supportive.”

At Friday’s hearing, Briseno appointed attorney James S. Odriozola to represent Henig in the contempt case.

Briseno also ordered Henig to return to court March 26 to see if he would speak--voluntarily--to defense and district attorney investigators.

Regardless of Henig’s decision, Choy’s attorney, Robert K. Weinberg, said he intends to call Henig as a witness.

Refers to Memo

Weinberg noted that Deputy Dist. Atty. Thomas J. Borris wrote a memo on November, 1986, stating that Henig had threatened to provide newspapers with details of a closed meeting involving police and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency that would harm the “integrity” of the department.

“I plan to call (Henig) as a witness because what he said casts a dark shadow on the very agency involved in the arrests,” Weinberg said.

Meanwhile, the judge scheduled a hearing to coincide with the contempt proceedings on April 3 for further pretrial arguments.

All three suspects were released at their first preliminary hearing when Harbor Municipal Judge Russell A. Bostrom ruled that the search and seizure of their boat was unlawful. However, the three were charged again in January, 1986, after an investigation by the Orange County Grand Jury.

Henig was one of the officers involved in the suspects’ arrests.

The three defendants have been released on $50,000 bail.