UPDATED: Headline: "Elder abuse preliminary hearing set for June" the case is finally underway

UPDATE: Currently the Kern County Superior court web site indicates that there will be a hearing regarding a continuance in the Attorney General, Jerry Brown's elder abuse case against Pam Ott, Hoshang Pormir and Gwen Hughes formerly of the Kern Valley Healthcare District.
The site information also indicated that Gwen Hughes is filing for bankruptcy, which could be the need for a continuance in the case as she may be changing attorneys.
Well, I will likely not attend now, but I will get the information and pass it along Tuesday afternoon. As is explained below, this case hasn't even gotten to the point of trial, and they are still waiting to convene the preliminary hearing so that we can find out if there is enough evidence for trial.
The civil cases are hinging on the outcome of the preliminary hearing, so it looks like the families of the victims will have to wait again.
With a pattern of two month continuences, this could get back in court in August, and we will finally know if there will be a trial. Read below...


After more than a year since the original arrests and charges in the Kern Valley Healthcare District elder abuse case, the court has finally set the date for the preliminary hearing, which will be June 22 and 23 for all three defendants, Pamela Ott, Gwen Hughes, and Dr. Pormir.

Yes, it's a long process but finally we are here at,mid field, for football fans.

After speaking to one of the family members who is involved in one of the civil cases against the hospital nursing center claiming the chemical restraints caused the death of her mother, the families are more than a little anxious as the civil cases are currently on hold as the outcome of the criminal case is particularly important to those cases.

The preliminary hearing will be the judge basically deciding if there is enough evidence to proceed to trial in Superior court. And there could be witnesses called and all kinds of fun stuff and even the whole case or parts of the case, just being thrown out; anything can happen.

Bargains could be made, the judge could order bargains be made or new evidence and charges could be brought on; basically anything goes from now on it gets exciting.

We had been waiting to see that preliminary hearing date on the calendar and now they are lining up the witnesses and the elephants for the parade.

Sadly though these situations take years to resolve, so there is no expectation that just because the preliminary is on the calendar that there will be a organized chain of events which will follow.

Attorney's could ask for more time to prepare or prosecutors could be rummaging through the last of the evidence and witnesses and suddenly find the "magic evidence" that leads to truth and justice.

Considering every defense attorney out on the internet believes that more cases are settled without trial than with a trial, that would mean that bargains are yet to come.

Nothing will go quickly, unless there is a sudden need for a "speedy trial" as the defendants agreed to forgo a speedy preliminary trial after the last defendant in the case so far, Pam Ott, was brought in late for dinner, so it could happen.

But we still don't know about the attorney change that took place on Jan. 5, of this year, and came with a continuance as new criminal attorney for Dr. Pormir, Donald Etra, has yet to be seen or heard from. No pictures, no statement.

Yet Mr. Etra is quite a respected attorney of some merit. (which leads us to wonder what is he doing here?)

I'm sorry Mr. Etra, I am sure you are glad I decided to plead nolo sleepo Tuesday morning, and not attend the calendar change, as I would have been looking for you. I do hope to meet some day and ask why and how you got here to our white "by the collar," case?

So, the judge may get a shot at deciding whether to send this case upstairs, or deciding on other deals the kind done in chambers without court reporters. But the statistics show once we are here this judge doesn't have to decide if they are guilty without a doubt, they just decide if it looks bad enough to send upstairs to ICU, or I mean Superior Court.

Patience, this is the pace of the criminal calendar in Kern County, but we should keep a sharp eye now that things are coming closer to that preliminary hearing where we could be entertained with witnesses and evidence, and trying to figure out the strategies of all parties involved.

Personally, I think it has got to get interesting. I personally know the players involved; know what they are capable of; how they will protect themselves above anyone else; and then you throw in the likes of Jerry Brown, a new surreptitious attorney Donald Etra, and the potential for other "witnesses" or even "defendants" makes this nothing but must see TV...and then there's the spin off being filmed at the hospital right now.