Girardi’s LA criminal trial faces no delay despite shift in counsel

Despite concerns raised over the departure of Thomas V. Girardi’s lead federal public defender, a U.S. judge Wednesday said the “well known” criminal trial will not be further delayed, and will begin on May 21.

During a status hearing, prosecutors expressed concerns over possible delays in the trial because of a shakeup in defense counsel. Deputy Federal Defender Craig A. Harbaugh is scheduled to retire on Jan. 26.

“The government is a little disappointed because we understand Mr. Harbaugh specifically sought out to be an attorney on this case to represent Mr. Girardi, and now it seems awfully convenient that in the eleventh hour he’s filed … indicating he plans to withdraw from the case which may necessitate a significant delay for new counsel to get up to speed,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Ali Moghaddas.

The announcement came a week after U.S. District Judge Josephine L. Staton found the former plaintiffs’ attorney to be feigning the severity of his 2021 dementia diagnosis. She ruled that he was competent to stand trial on five wire fraud charges stemming from allegations he stole $15 million in settlement funds from five clients. United States v. Girardi, 2:23-cr-00047 (C.D. Cal., filed Jan. 31, 2023).

Harbaugh’s departure was first made public in a status report Monday filed by his co-counsel, J. Alejandro Barrientos, who will be joined in the May trial by Deputy Federal Defenders Samuel O. Cross and Charles J. Snyder.

Harbaugh said in an email Wednesday that he plans to join Keller/Anderle LLP in Irvine. He told Staton he asked the law firm if he could continue representing Girardi on the case, but said they denied his request.

Staton said she recalled Harbaugh in prior cases in the past years discussing his retirement plans, and that the news “shouldn’t come as a surprise if you’ve been paying attention to Mr. Harbaugh.”

Staton said she understood the government’s concerns about the ramifications of Harbaugh’s departure, but that the case was not complex and would be in good hands with Barrientos, who helped Harbaugh defend Girardi in last year’s three-day competency hearing.

“I saw how competent you were at the, no pun intended, competency hearing,” Staton said to Barrientos. “You’ve been on this case and have what appears to be strong knowledge on the facts and circumstances of the case.”

Moghaddas also raised concerns that because of Girardi’s age – he will turn 85 in June – delaying the trial beyond May would be a disservice to the public and to victims in the case “who’ve waited quite some time to see justice in this matter.”

Both parties and Staton agreed Girardi suffers from a mild cognitive impairment.

Barrientos told the judge that his new co-counsel might need more time to get up to speed, pointing to the tens of thousands of documents from third party subpoenas to banks that the Girardi Keese law firm used and State Bar complaints that were filed against Girardi and other attorneys in his law firm.

Moghaddas said a majority of that evidence was not relevant to the government’s case, which he said will be narrowed to only the allegations in the California indictment and not other matters related to Girardi’s alleged theft, a federal indictment in Chicago and State Bar disciplinary proceedings.