Real Housewives Of OC Son Files For Dismissal Of Murder Charge

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, CA — The Costa Mesa Police Department has been called into question by the son of a former "Real Housewives of Orange County" cast member who wants an Orange County Superior Court judge to dismiss attempted murder charges against him. He has alleged that CMPD listened in on his phone calls from jail when he represented himself legally in the case against him.

Joshua Waring, now being represented by attorney Joel Garson, has had a motion filed on his behalf, alleging outrageous governmental misconduct. This, as attorneys were scheduled to begin picking a jury for Waring's trial. Waring is the son of Lauri Peterson, a "Real Housewives of Orange County" cast member from its debut in 2006 until 2008.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Jonathan Fish put off jury selection and will hear arguments Feb. 13 on the motion to dismiss the case.

Garson argues that the jailhouse recordings of his client were done in violation of a court order. He further alleges it violated Waring's constitutional rights to a fair trial because it tipped off prosecutors to his defense strategy.

Waring noted that the tape recordings of Waring's phone calls from the jail were not ordered by the current prosecutor in the case, Deputy District Attorney Cynthia Nichols, and that she put an end to it when she took over the case.

Waring represented himself during a preliminary hearing and was ordered to stand trial on Dec. 5, 2016. Garson ultimately took over as Waring's attorney and got the case dismissed, but prosecutors refiled it recently and after another preliminary hearing Waring was ordered to stand trial again.
Garson said on Friday he received a 41-page report on the recorded phone calls from Costa Mesa police, which was dated June 16.

"This report was somehow 'lost' at CMPD until last Friday," Garson said in his motion.

Garson said the detective working the case requested copies of Waring's mail and calls from jail, starting "at least June 25, 2016, and continuing unabated until at least Feb. 8, 2017."

Waring was representing himself legally during that time, Garson said.
Garson acknowledged that he received copies of the recorded phone calls he could not open them on his computer.

And before he got the police report on Friday, Garson said he "did not realize that (the investigator) had been listening to telephone calls pertaining to defense strategy."

This is a developing story. Patch has reached out to Costa Mesa Police Department for a response, and will update this post when it is received.

Costa Mesa Police Department photo