Real Housewives Son Set For Plea Deal: Courts

COSTA MESA, CA — After years of battling the Orange County Sheriff's Department jail system, the son of a former "Real Housewives of OC" cast member is expected to strike a plea deal Friday.

Joshua Waring is expected to be released with time served, sparing him from additional jail time for a shooting in Costa Mesa that left one person wounded.
Joshua Waring, who is currently in protective custody on charges of attempted murder, vehicle theft and felony evading in 2016, attempted to lower his $1 million bail or be released on his own recognizance in the fall of 2019. Though he repeatedly attested to his innocence, Waring was set to enter the plea agreement Thursday. That matter was postponed until Friday to allow the victim, Daniel Lopez, to make a statement at the hearing.

Waring initially faced a possible life sentence if convicted at trial, set to begin next week.

Waring is charged with three counts of attempted murder, along with a sentencing enhancement for attempted premeditated murder.

Waring was charged with shooting Lopez, then 35, outside a home in Costa Mesa on June 20, 2016. Two other people escaped injury in the drive-by attack.

"He will be pleading guilty to lesser felonies," Waring's attorney Joel Garson said. "We appreciate the District Attorney's Office taking another look at the case on the eve of trial and allowing us to come up with a disposition that is fair to everyone involved."

Waring is the son of Lauri Waring Peterson, who appeared on 50 episodes of "Real Housewives of Orange County," mostly between 2006 and 2008. Her last two appearances on the Bravo cable network show were in 2016, the same yearWaring was arrested.

His case has generated numerous headlines since he was charged, not just because of his mother's notoriety, but because of allegations of corruption in the prosecution of his case.

Waring is also a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit alleging multiple claims,including denial of access to religious services for inmates, negligence in the care of pregnant inmates, and improper access of law enforcement to confidential phone calls from inmates to their attorneys.

In February 2018, Garson learned his client's phone calls to him from jail were being recorded and accessed by police, which is prohibited.

In July of 2018, the jail's phone provider, Global Tel Link Corp., acknowledged that a software update the system in January 2015 dropped dozens of attorneys from a do-not-record list of phone numbers.

Authorities accessed hundreds of calls between inmates and attorneys.

Waring filed a motion to have his charges dismissed due to outrageous governmental misconduct. Still, Orange County Superior Court Judge Jonathan Fish denied the motion, prompting an appeal, which was also denied.

Waring was attacked by another inmate Oct. 9, prompting him to allege that deputies were conspiring to get him hurt or were too negligent in protecting him. Jose Jesus Guzman, 36, is charged with slashing Waring with a blade while the two were supposed to be in isolation.

Waring also raised issues about a deputy firing pepper balls on June 24, 2018, in his jail wing.

When he attempted to call the deputy and the partner who was with him at the time to testify in a hearing on a motion for reduced bail last year, the deputies invoked their 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Orange County prosecutors previously reviewed the pepper-ball incident and declined to file charges, but they reopened the investigation when Waring raised the issue in his bail motion.

Ultimately, Waring agreed to drop the bail motion when Orange County sheriff's officials agreed to house him in Santa Ana's jail.

Meanwhile, Waring raised issues while in custody in Santa Ana about a lack of time out of his cell. He was moved into isolation to protect him, as is the case with well-known inmates.

Waring has accused Santa Ana Jail guards of providing the wrong dosage of his medication to help wean him off a narcotics addiction and failing to take him to a dentist to be treated for an exposed nerve and to get five crowns.

When Santa Ana Jail officials tried to cancel their contract with the county and ship him back to Orange County Jail, Waring objected, and the judge blocked the move.

His past four years in jail have been tumultuous and highly publicized, and though he waits one more night in jail, there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel for both Waring and his family.

"Josh is looking forward to getting out and restarting his life," Garson said.

City News Service, Patch Editor Ashley Ludwig assisted with this report.