Judge Calls Carmona Disability Significant

After reviewing new evidence, a judge for the first time Friday expressed concern about the robbery case against Arthur Carmona and scheduled a hearing to consider overturning his conviction.

The hearing will focus on several facts not brought out during Carmona’s 1998 trial, including evidence that the 18-year-old Santa Ana man has a learning disability and that a key witness has since recanted her testimony.

Judge Everett W. Dickey said he thought Carmona’s learning disability was significant, “especially because the prosecution relied so much on the defendant’s behavior” during the trial.

Attorneys for Carmona have asked Dickey to overturn the conviction because of alleged ineffectiveness by the defense lawyer, Kenneth Reed. They say Reed should have presented evidence about Carmona’s disability during the trial.

During the trial, Deputy Dist. Atty. Jana Hoffman argued to the jury that Carmona was evasive with police while discussing what he was doing at the time of one of the two robberies he was convicted of taking part in.

The disability, his lawyers contend, makes it difficult for Carmona to express himself.

Dickey told Carmona’s lawyers Friday that he also wants to hear more evidence about Reed’s decision not to seek to exclude testimony from robbery victims who identified the teenager in court.

The identifications were tainted, Carmona’s lawyers contend, because police forced Carmona to wear a cap worn by the robber while witnesses observed him. A jury convicted Carmona in 1998 of robbing a Denny’s restaurant in Costa Mesa and an Irvine juice bar.

Last year, Dickey sentenced Carmona to 12 years in prison. Since Carmona’s conviction, a witness who identified Carmona as the Denny’s robber has said she changed her mind. Two jurors also said they now believe Carmona is innocent.

Outside the courtroom, Carmona’s relatives and attorneys said they were pleased by the judge’s reaction to the evidence. Dickey rejected a previous effort to overturn Carmona’s conviction but was ordered by the 4th District Court of Appeal to reconsider some evidence.

“This is a good day,” said Carmona’s mother, Ronnie Carmona. “The last time I walked out of here, I [was] feeling like I wanted to die. Now I have hope.”

Dickey rejected a request by Carmona’s lawyers to grant him a new trial without any further proceedings. Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael Pear contended that the prosecution was entitled to cross-examine witnesses on whom the lawyers have based their appeal.

Attorney Robert Fabrikant said the judge gave Carmona’s supporters reason to be optimistic.

“I think he’s open-minded,” Fabrikant said. “We’re very pleased with the spirit of his comments.”

The effort to win Carmona a new trial has won the support of a variety of community organizations. But more than two years have passed since Carmona’s arrest. He is now held at Ironwood State Prison in Blythe, where his mother visits every weekend.

“He’s very quiet,” Ronnie Carmona said. “I do [nearly] all the talking. We talk about everything but court.”

Dickey scheduled the hearing, expected to last four days, for Aug. 21. If the judge awards Carmona a new trial, Fabrikant said he would probably seek the youth’s immediate release on bail.

Reed has filed court documents defending the strategy he used during Carmona’s trial. He noted that he carefully cross-examined police officers about their decision to force Carmona to wear the robber’s cap during identification lineups.

Police arrested a man they believed was the getaway driver shortly after the juice bar robbery. In that man’s truck, officers found a bag containing a gun and the cap identified by witnesses.

Carmona, then 16, was arrested while walking in a neighborhood near the juice bar. He said he was walking to a friend’s house and knew nothing about the robbery or the getaway driver, a man who was twice his age.