Speaking to witnesses is always a touchy proposition, which is why lawyers greatly prefer to leave such delicate tasks in the hands of those with greater experience and feel for their care and feeding.  Plus, we can use them as witnesses should that be necessary.

Private investigators are a curious bunch, glorified by television shows that make them look like the sexiest guys in town, driving around in Ferrarris and getting all the hot women.  The reality is a wee bit different, with most being ex-cops who are left to use their wits after their shields are gone.  Most find out that it’s a whole lot harder to get a witness to talk by persuasion than it was with a club.  The good ones bond with witnesses, speak their language, create a relationship that makes a witness trust them.  As Fesno PI Steve Vender found out, that can get you into some deep trouble.

From The Recorder :

Eric Safire brought Vender in to help with the defense of Phillip Pitney, who stood accused of shooting Ladarius Greer at the Prince Hall Apartments in the Western Addition on Easter Sunday almost two years ago. Greer and Pitney are both alleged gang members.

In a message left on Greer’s cell phone, Vender told him the government had a no-bail warrant out for him in Solano County. “It’s a good time to visit the Fresno Riviera uh, and stay well,” he said, according to a police transcript of the recording.

Greer disappeared. Even without his testimony, prosecutor Marc Guillory was able to convict Pitney. But the DA’s office moved quickly, and the following month a grand jury indicted Vender on one count of Penal Code 136.1: dissuading a witness. The felony carries a maximum three-year sentence. If convicted, Vender will lose his license as a private investigator.

While Greer was the victim of the shooting, he was also a purported gang member.  That makes him a special sort of witness, the type the cops are inclined to hold on a warrant to keep him in pocket, and the type disinclined to want to be quite that close to the cops. 

Vender, regarded as the pugnacious sort, knows how to work the streets.  That’s his job. That’s how he serves the defense in trying to get witnesses to open up, and to stand up to the pressure put on them by the other side. 

“Cops put pressure on witnesses all the time,” Hanlon said. “The pressure that a policeman, with the power of a badge and gun, can put on a witness is immense. It leads to more perjury and lies than anything we as investigators and defense attorneys can do.”

By arresting Vender for alleged tampering, the prosecution can taint his efforts as well as their impact on the defense of others.

But other prosecutors in the office are looking to capitalize on Vender’s plight. Opposing a motion for a new trial in another murder case that Safire and Vender are working on, prosecutor J. Michael Swart argued to Judge Jerome Benson in a brief last month that Vender “has a documented history of dissuading witnesses (and is facing criminal charges …).”

While the message left on Greer’s voice mail is susceptible to interpretation that would, if heard in polite society, suggest a threat, it’s certainly susceptible to the opposite interpretation, a friendly heads up to a guy who would greatly prefer not to sit in a cell while waiting to be called as a witness.  From the perspective of a PI who wants the witness’ cooperation, providing a helping hand is a far better means of gaining trust than making some veiled threat.  From the perspective of dealing with a putative gang member, a threat of “stay well” is tantamount to telling him his grandma wears army boots. 

From the perspective of chilling the criminal defense community, from investigators to lawyers, however, arresting and prosecuting a PI over something like this is another matter entirely. 

Looking ahead to the trial, many in the defense bar are worried.

“They could do this to any one of us,” defense lawyer Quigley said. “This kind of thing just ruins people.”

Not just the conviction, but the mere prosecution.  Always remember that you can beat the rap, but you can’t beat the ride.  Nobody is paid enough to suffer a baloney prosecution as part of the gig.  And the prosecution knows that, no doubt capitalizing on something like the Greer/Vender voice mail because that’s what they’ve got to work with. 

The repercussions of Vender’s arrest within the criminal defense community were clear, as shown by his representation by a “pro bono defense team” and the support he received at arraignment.

Vender, who turned 60 in August, is a popular investigator.

Going into the hearing, he had assembled 30-some letters on his behalf from people in and outside the Hall of Justice — including his own bail agent — asking Judge Ronald Albers not to impose bail.

The letters came from a wide range of people, from poets and professors to a former FBI agent and the grandmother of a murder victim, who said Vender “has been supportive of everyone that he comes in contact with. … If you ask anyone in the neighborhood they have nothing negative to say.”

Vender  was released on $75,000 bail.  Pitney, the defendant on whose behalf Vender was working, was convicted without Greer’s testimony.  And Fresno still has no Riviera.  But make no mistake about it, at least one threat was clear as day: Fight too hard for the defense and the prosecution is going to use whatever it can dredge up to try to make you pay.

As threats go, Vender’s alleged “stay well” stinks, but the prosecution of Steve Vender is a pretty darn good one.