IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA IN AND FOR THE COUNTY OF AMADOR ---oOo--- The People of the State of California) Plaintiff, ) ) vs. ) No. 98-0767 ) ROBERT ROLAND WOMACK, DAVID STERLING ) MASON III and MARK SHERRILL, ) Defendants. ) _____________________________________) PROCEEDINGS HELD BEFORE THE GRAND JURY DECEMBER 1, 1998 VOLUME X APPEARANCES: For the People: DAVID J. IREY Deputy District Attorney Reported by: JAN BENEDETTI-WEISBERG, CSR No. 4643 ---oOo--- 2464 1 JACKSON, CALIF., TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1998, 3:17 P.M 2 BEFORE THE GRAND JURY OF AMADOR COUNTY 3 ---oOo--- 4 THE FOREPERSON: On the record. 5 At this point, Mr. Prosecutor, we have 6 voted on a True Bill. It was a unanimous decision. And 7 we present with you the True Bills at this time for 8 signature. 9 For the record, we are signing one True 10 Bill as the original for each of the three defendants. 11 Okay. 12 MR. IREY: Thank you. Thank all of the Members 13 of the Grand Jury for their time and efforts. 14 At this stage, we make several copies of 15 the originals, and then probably five or eight minutes 16 and the Judge will come into here. Thank you. And we 17 are off the record. 18 (Recess taken from 3:16 to 3:30 p.m.) 19 (Whereupon, the following proceedings were held in the presence of Judge 20 Harlan:) 21 22 THE COURT: All right. Good afternoon. I am 23 going to ask that my clerk call roll. Please indicate if 24 you are here. 25 THE CLERK: (Redacted.) 2465 1 GRAND JUROR XXXXXXXXX: Here. 2 THE CLERK: (Redacted.) 3 GRAND JUROR XXXXX: Here. 4 THE CLERK: (Redacted.) 5 GRAND JUROR XXXXXX: Here. 6 THE CLERK: (Redacted.) 7 GRAND JUROR XXXXXX: Here. 8 THE CLERK: (Redacted.) 9 GRAND JUROR XXXXXX: Here. 10 THE CLERK: (Redacted.) 11 GRAND JUROR XXXXX: Here. 12 THE CLERK: (Redacted.) 13 GRAND JUROR XXXXXXXX: Here. 14 THE CLERK: (Redacted.) 15 GRAND JUROR XXXXXXXX: Here. 16 THE CLERK: (Redacted.) 17 GRAND JUROR XXXXXX: Here. 18 THE CLERK: (Redacted.) 19 GRAND JUROR XXXXX: Here. 20 THE CLERK: (Redacted.) 21 GRAND JUROR XXXXXXXX; Here. 22 THE CLERK: (Redacted.) 23 GRAND JUROR XXXXXXX: Here. 24 THE CLERK: (Redacted.) 25 GRAND JUROR XXXXX: Here. 2466 1 THE CLERK: (Redacted.) 2 GRAND JUROR XXXXXXX: Here. 3 THE CLERK: (Redacted.) 4 GRAND JUROR XXXXXXXXXX: Hey, that's not bad. 5 Here. That's good. Nice try. 6 THE CLERK: (Redacted.) 7 THE SECRETARY: Here. 8 THE CLERK: (Redacted.) 9 THE FOREMAN: Here. 10 THE CLERK: (Redacted.) 11 GRAND JUROR XXXXXXX: Here. 12 THE CLERK: (Redacted.) 13 GRAND JUROR XXXXXXXX: Here. 14 THE COURT: It appears that everyone is present. 15 Would you kindly hand me any indictments 16 or exhibits, exhibit lists that you have. And the record 17 will reflect that I have been handed -- 18 MR. IREY: Three originals, your Honor, and nine 19 copies. 20 THE COURT: Okay. Try and get organized here, 21 since I haven't seen these before. 22 MR. IREY: Each of the originals is a mirror 23 image of the others. 24 THE COURT: Okay. So as I understand it, there 25 is one indictment, three originals. Is that correct? 2467 1 MR. IREY: One original, three individuals. 2 Therefore, three originals, that is correct. 3 THE COURT: Okay. Very good. Are there any 4 exhibits? Here is the exhibit list? And where are the 5 exhibits? Over there? 6 THE FOREPERSON: They are all right here. 7 THE COURT: You feel, Madam Clerk, you know where 8 the exhibits are? Why don't we put them all in the box, 9 so I know exactly where all of your exhibits are. I will 10 hand my clerk the list of exhibits. 11 MR. IREY: Your Honor, prior to being done, Ms. 12 Mary Kraft suggested I might present this order to you 13 and your clerk related to the exhibits. 14 THE COURT: All right. What this is, is that I 15 am going to authorize the release of all these exhibits 16 to the District Attorney, Mr. Irey. 17 MR. IREY: Correct. Thanks, your Honor. 18 THE COURT: Have to sign this acknowledging 19 receipt. 20 MR. IREY: For the record, the -- a copy of the 21 original exhibit list will be attached as Exhibit A 22 pursuant to your order, your Honor. 23 THE COURT: Okay. Let's go ahead and attach that 24 right now. 25 For the record, the Court has before it a 2468 1 Second Amended Proposed Indictment, which contains a list 2 of the witnesses to it. And I see that there are 21 3 counts. I am going go through them so that I am aware of 4 them. 5 Count 1 is conspiracy to commit a crime, 6 to wit, hazardous waste disposal, hazardous waste 7 transportation, hazardous waste storage and/or water 8 pollution. And there are various overt acts that are set 9 forth. And this count involves Robert Roland Womack, 10 David Sterling Mason III and Mark Taylor Sherrill. 11 And Count 2 is disposal of hazardous 12 waste. And that is against Robert Roland Womack and Mark 13 Taylor Sherrill. 14 MR. IREY: For the record, your Honor, the 15 Foreman and myself initialed the edge of each paragraph 16 in which there was a deletion, and the deletion in each 17 case was a specific name. 18 THE COURT: Okay. 19 MR. IREY: So the original is original initials 20 by the Foreman and myself, as well as a black highlighted 21 redaction; and the only redaction is a specific name. 22 THE COURT: Count 2 involves a felony violation 23 of Section 25189.5(c) of the Health and Safety Code. 24 And Count 1, just so I can read the Code 25 sections, violation of Section 182(a)(1) of the Penal 2469 1 Code, conspiracy to commit a crime, as a felony. Count 1 2 alleged as a felony. I stated the Code section. 3 Count 2 is alleged also as a felony, and I 4 have set forth the code section. 5 Count 3 alleges a violation of Section 6 25189.5(c) of the Health and Safety Code, transportation 7 of hazardous waste. Is this as a misdemeanor or a 8 felony? 9 MR. IREY: The second line -- approximately line 10 9. 11 THE COURT: As a felony. And this involves 12 Robert Roland Womack and Mark Taylor Sherrill. 13 Count 4 involves Robert Roland Womack and 14 Mark Taylor Sherrill, alleges violation of Section 15 25189.5(c) of the Health and Safety Code, transportation 16 of hazardous waste, as a felony. 17 Count 5 is against Robert Roland Womack 18 alone as a felony, alleging violations of Section 19 25189.5(c) of the Health and Safety Code, transportation 20 of hazardous waste. 21 Count 6 involves Robert Roland Womack and 22 Mark Taylor Sherrill, alleges violation of Section 23 25189.5(d) of the Health and Safety Code, treatment or 24 storage of hazardous waste, as a felony. 25 Count 7 is against Robert Roland Womack 2470 1 and Mark Taylor Sherrill, alleging violation of Section 2 25189.5(d) of the Health and Safety Code, treatment or 3 storage of hazardous waste, as a felony. 4 Count 8 is against Robert Roland Womack, 5 alleging violation of Section 136.1(c)(2) of the Penal 6 Code, dissuading a witness, a felony. 7 Count 9, again, is against Robert Roland 8 Womack, alleging violation of Section 13 -- 136.1(c)(2) 9 of the Penal Code, dissuading a witness in furtherance of 10 a conspiracy, also a felony. 11 Count 10, involving Robert Roland Womack, 12 alleging violation of Section 632(a) of the Penal Code, 13 eavesdropping on or recording confidential 14 communications, as a felony. 15 Count 11, involving Robert Roland Womack 16 and Mark Sherrill, alleging violations of 5650(a)(1) of 17 the Fish and Game Code, water pollution, as a 18 misdemeanor. 19 Count 12, involving Mark Taylor Sherrill, 20 alleges a violation of Section 136.1(c)(2) of the Penal 21 Code, dissuading a witness in the furtherance of a 22 conspiracy, as a felony. 23 Count 13, as against Mark Taylor Sherrill, 24 alleging violation of Section 136.1(c)(2) of the Penal 25 Code, dissuading a witness in the furtherance of a 2471 1 conspiracy, as a felony. 2 Count 14, as against Robert Roland Womack, 3 alleging violation of Section 3700.5 of the Labor Code 4 failure to secure payment of compensation, as a 5 misdemeanor. 6 Count 15, as against Robert Roland Womack, 7 alleging violation of Section 7027.3 of the Business and 8 Professions Code, fraudulent use of a license number, as 9 a felony. 10 Count 16, as against Robert Roland Womack, 11 alleging violation of Section 7028(a) of the Business and 12 Profession Code, contracting without a license, as a 13 misdemeanor. 14 Count 17, as against Robert Roland Womack, 15 alleging violation of Section 118 of the Penal Code, 16 perjury, as a felony. 17 Count 18, as against Robert Roland Womack, 18 alleging violation of Section 118 of the Penal Code, 19 perjury, as a felony. 20 Count 19, as against Robert Roland Womack, 21 alleging violation of Section 118 of the Penal Code, 22 perjury, as, a felony. 23 Count 20, as against Robert Roland Womack, 24 alleging violation of Section 118 of the Penal Code, 25 perjury, as a felony. 2472 1 Count 21, as against Robert Roland Womack, 2 alleging violation of Section 118 of the Penal Code, 3 namely, perjury, as a felony. 4 The Court will note that it has been dated 5 and signed by the Foreperson of the Grand Jury. 6 And that is your signature, sir? 7 THE FOREPERSON: Yes, it is. 8 THE COURT: Okay. Accordingly, this Court will 9 find that it is a True Bill. 10 Now, Mr. Foreman, did twelve or more Grand 11 Jurors receive all of the evidence pertaining to this 12 indictment? 13 THE FOREPERSON: Yes, they did, your Honor. 14 THE COURT: And did the same twelve or more Grand 15 Jurors participate in the deliberations regarding this 16 indictment? 17 THE FOREPERSON: Yes, they did, your Honor. 18 THE COURT: Did at least twelve of these same 19 Grand Jurors concur in the findings of this indictment? 20 THE FOREPERSON: Yes, they did, your Honor. 21 THE COURT: I am going to ask my clerk to file 22 this document, this Indictment, and issue it a number, 23 please. We will affix the same number on the exhibit 24 list. And the exhibits and exhibit list are deemed 25 lodged. 2473 1 Mr. Foreman. 2 THE FOREPERSON: Yes. 3 THE COURT: Does the Grand Jury have any further 4 business of this Court? 5 THE FOREPERSON: No, they don't, your Honor. 6 THE COURT: Okay. I am just about ready to 7 excuse you. It's been a long time. I realize that. I 8 am sure you are anxious to go home. 9 But on behalf of the State of California, 10 I want to thank you very much for your participation in 11 this process. The system could not work without you. 12 And I know it's been a sacrifice, especially during the 13 holiday season. I wish you the happiest of holidays. 14 And thank you. And I will excuse you, as well as remind 15 you of the admonition that has been carried and given to 16 you throughout these proceedings. 17 And that is, it is a misdemeanor and you 18 are not to disclose the fact that an Indictment has been 19 made for a felony until the defendants have been arrested 20 or arraigned. And that may take some time. So make sure 21 that you keep your admonition to your heart. 22 And further, it's still a misdemeanor for 23 any Grand Jurors, exempt when required by the Court, to 24 willfully to disclose any evidence educed before the 25 Grand Jury and anything which he or any other Member of 2474 1 the Grand Jury has said or in what manner any Grand Juror 2 may have voted on any matter before the panel. 3 No one can question you about what took 4 place here. That's why you are sequestered. You are 5 allowed to discuss things freely. And you need to be 6 able to leave this knowing that the people that you work 7 with will keep the admonition. Okay? 8 I think we have done everything we need to 9 at this time. You are excused. Thank you. 10 (Whereupon, the Grand Jury was excused at 3:50 p.m., then the following proceedings 11 were held at 4:01 p.m.:) 12 THE COURT: We are on the record. The Grand Jury 13 has been excused at this time and we need to deal with 14 the remaining issues of issuing an arrest warrant and 15 setting the amount of bail and setting a return date on 16 the bench warrant. 17 The Court is familiar with Penal Code 18 Section 938.1 that deals with the transcript of the 19 testimony. And it generally indicates that the reporter 20 shall complete such certification and delivery within ten 21 days after the indictment has been found or the 22 accusation presented, unless the Court for good cause 23 makes an order extending the time. 24 The time shall not be extended more than 25 than 20 days. 2475 1 I have been informed that the court 2 reporter has had longstanding airline tickets to go with 3 her family to Mexico for a period of two weeks and that 4 she indicated to me that this transcript may well exceed 5 3,000 pages. She is scheduled to leave for this trip to 6 Mexico this Friday, and is scheduled to return on the 7 19th. 8 What day is the 20th? 9 THE CLERK: That's a Sunday. 10 THE COURT: Okay. So the best that we could 11 probably do would be to try and have this sometime on the 12 21st. 13 THE CLERK: You have ten days from today, and you 14 can extend it up to 20 days, right? Wouldn't that be the 15 31st? 16 MR. IREY: The statute can be read both ways, 17 your Honor. That's why I bounced it off of the Court in 18 chambers. I don't know absolutely what the legislative 19 intent was, but the same person, I think, can read that 20 statute twice two different ways. 21 Twenty is certainly a cautious approach 22 and a reasonable approach, but thirty is understandable. 23 THE COURT: It doesn't say -- it doesn't say that 24 it could be extended for an additional 20 days. It says 25 that, for good cause, makes an order extending the time. 2476 1 The time shall not be extended for more than 20 days. 2 MR. IREY: That's the way I read it the first 3 time, your Honor. 4 THE COURT: I know you are returning on the 5 19th. And you indicated that you would be able to work 6 on this during your vacation. Can you have it back to us 7 by the 20th? 8 MR. IREY: What are the afternoon arraignments? 9 My understanding, she lives an hour and a half away. 10 THE COURT: Certainly do that. 11 THE CLERK: The arraignments on are on Wednesdays 12 and Thursdays at 8:00. But actually, they have in 13 custody arraignments every day at 3:00, except Fridays 14 are at 1:00. 15 THE COURT: What about 3:00? Set it at 4:00. 16 4:00 on December 21st. I am sorry to do that to you, but 17 these things are statutory. I am afraid to do much 18 else. 19 The Court will find that good cause 20 exists, be an extremely undue hardship to ask our court 21 reporter to forfeit this trip and non-refundable tickets. 22 And it's my understanding that, while we 23 may set bail in this matter, that most likely, the 24 District Attorney is not going to object to an O.R. 25 release from these individuals, so they wouldn't be 2477 1 even -- we are going to stay the bench warrant until the 2 21st anyway, so no one would be incarcerated. 3 MR. IREY: That's correct, your Honor. Our 4 office has not made a decision whether or not to waive 5 time after arraignment. But at this time, we have no 6 intention on anything other than having the Court stay 7 the bench warrant/arrest warrant, and giving the 8 individuals an opportunity to surrender themselves on the 9 date of arraignment. 10 THE COURT: Okay. Let's set the arraignment date 11 then for December 21st, 1998, at 4:00 in Department 1? 12 THE CLERK: Department 1, yes. 13 THE COURT: At this time, I am going to order the 14 clerk of the Court to seal the indictment, the exhibits 15 and the exhibit list pending booking or arraignment of 16 the defendants on the indicted offenses, whichever occurs 17 first. And you will need to prepare an arrest warrant 18 for the Court to sign. 19 MR. IREY: We will have that done certainly by 20 this time tomorrow, your Honor. 21 THE COURT: Okay. Then we will -- I think we -- 22 what's the schedule look like for tomorrow, to where we 23 could continue these proceedings for the signing of an 24 arrest warrant and setting of bail? 25 THE CLERK: I have to grab a calendar. 2478 1 MR. IREY: Your Honor, I could try to get it done 2 today. That way the Court Reporter wouldn't have to have 3 a three-hour round trip to record that three-minute -- 4 THE COURT: Let's do it that way. Let's trail 5 this matter. We will be in recess until you can get that 6 information and we will take it from there. Okay. 7 (Recess taken until 4:30 p.m.) 8 THE COURT: We are back on the record. At this 9 time, the District Attorney is present. He is the only 10 one in the, courtroom other than the clerk and the court 11 reporter. 12 We are here at this -- at this point in 13 time, at your request to issue an arrest warrant and set 14 bail. 15 Based on the number of charges, the bail, 16 by my calculations, would be extremely high. Is that 17 what you are seeking, sir? 18 MR. IREY: Your Honor, I think some reasonable 19 number that the Court makes a determination on is 20 perfectly applicable. We don't think there is a flight 21 risk. We don't think there will be a need to surrender 22 passports or anything along those lines. 23 We think, because of the egregiousness, 24 some reasonable number, some multiplier of the number of 25 felonies. For instance, I had quickly done a calculation 2479 1 based on $10,000 per felony and 5,000 per misdemeanor. I 2 came up with $10,000 for David Mason, $190,000 for 3 Robert Roland Womack, and $85,000 for Mark Sherrill. 4 Those are steep. These violations were 5 fairly egregious. We would like the Court to consider 6 something in that range for bail. 7 However, I don't really think bail is 8 going to be an issue, because I have discussed with the 9 elected District Attorney, and we are probably just going 10 to ask for book and release, if they attend their first 11 arraignment, which is currently scheduled for December 12 21st, 1998 at 4:00 p.m. We plan on sending letters to 13 appear to their counsel, if any, and each of the 14 individuals for that date and that time for arraignment 15 on this Indictment. 16 THE COURT: All right. Based on your 17 recommendations, then the Court will issue bail in the 18 sum of $10,000 for Mr. Mason. Bail will be set in the 19 sum of -- was it 195,000? 20 THE CLERK: 190,000 for Mr. Womack. 21 THE COURT: And for Mr. Sherrill, was it 180? 22 THE CLERK: 85,000. 23 THE COURT: 85,000. Thank you. 24 MR. IREY: Thank you, your Honor. 25 THE COURT: The Court has signed the orders for 2480 1 bail, but will stay this order, as well as stay the 2 arrest warrants that the Court, when presented, will sign 3 or hold them, stay them -- whatever term you want to 4 use -- on the condition that you notify these defendants 5 in writing, advising them what's taken place, than that 6 they need to appear on the date that has currently been 7 scheduled. 8 That the Court has issued an arrest 9 warrant with bail in the amount that has been set forth, 10 but has been stayed pending their attendance at the next 11 court date. If they fail to appear at that court date, 12 the arrest warrants and bail figures will go to full 13 force and effect. 14 MR. IREY: Thank you, your Honor. Our office 15 will comply with the Court's orders and requests. 16 THE COURT: Okay. I will need an arrest warrant 17 or I have one here for Mr. Sherrill, but I -- 18 MR. IREY: Since we are just going to hold those 19 and they will not be a signed order -- it's my 20 understanding that we will just attach a copy of the 21 indictment to each of these and keep them in our office 22 until December 21st at 4:00 p.m. And if they fail to 23 show -- or does the Court want something in the Court's 24 file? 25 It's my understanding at this point, is 2481 1 there a warrant that was issued as of today and that's 2 just being stayed? 3 THE COURT: That's right. So you need to prepare 4 something and the Court will sign it and it will hold it 5 until the next court date. 6 MR. IREY: We will have that to the Court by noon 7 tomorrow. 8 THE COURT: Okay. Let me hand these back to you 9 then so you can prepare them. 10 MR. IREY: Thank you. File the order and we 11 don't need copies of those until we get these signed. 12 THE COURT: That's correct. Everything is 13 stayed. All right. 14 MR. IREY: Thank you, your Honor, and all the 15 clerks for last month so far. 16 THE COURT: Okay. 17 MR. IREY: I know it was a lot of work for you 18 and your staff. 19 THE COURT: Well, thank you. 20 (Whereupon the Grand Jury proceedings concluded at 4:37 p.m.) 21 22 ---oOo--- 23 24 25 2482 1 REPORTER'S CERTIFICATE 2 3 STATE OF CALIFORNIA ) ) ss. 4 COUNTY OF TUOLUMNE ) 5 6 I, JAN L. BENEDETTI, CSR, hereby certify that I 7 was duly appointed and qualified to take the foregoing 8 matter; 9 That acting as such reporter, I took down in 10 stenotype notes the testimony given and proceedings 11 had; 12 That I thereafter transcribed said shorthand 13 notes into typewritten longhand, the above and 14 foregoing pages being a full, true and correct 15 transcription of the testimony given and proceedings 16 had. 17 18 19 20 21 22 _____________________________ 23 JAN BENEDETTI-WEISBERG 24 25