County’s 1st Felony Stalking Trial to Begin : Crime: Man is accused of threatening ex-girlfriend’s life as well as other actions. Charges have been filed against two other local men.

After Ojai Valley resident Lisa Hale ended a relationship with her boyfriend last January, prosecutors say he began stalking her.

They say Harold Owen Edwards twice broke into the woman’s house, ransacked her bedroom and shredded her lingerie.

Court records show he also made repeated threats on Hale’s life and once even said her unhappiness was “worth going to prison for.”

Indeed, Edwards is now facing the possibility of a long prison term.

He has been charged with felony stalking and other crimes in connection with incidents involving his ex-girlfriend. His case, expected to go to trial today, will be the first felony stalking trial in Ventura County history, prosecutors say.

Along with the Edwards case, local prosecutors have filed charges of stalking against two other men in the county. One is accused of stalking the wife of a Ventura County fire captain, the other with terrorizing his ex-girlfriend in Oak Park, prosecutors said.

Charges of stalking could not have been filed before 1990, when the state’s first stalking law went into effect. The law was passed after a series of women--notably slain actress Rebecca Schaeffer--were followed, threatened, attacked or even killed. It has been a model for similar statutes in other states.

Even with the 1990 law, it was not until this month that prosecutors felt confident filing charges in most stalking cases. Some local prosecutors said far more than three cases would have been filed in Ventura County by now, but the law was too narrowly defined.

Responding to those concerns, state legislators last year designed a new stalking law with more bite.

Essentially, the legislation expanded the definition of stalking to cover victims who are in reasonable fear of their safety or the safety of their families.

Before, people were considered victims of stalking only if they were in reasonable fear of death or great bodily injury.

The new law provides prosecutors with a better chance of winning stalking convictions and is expected to lead to more such cases being filed, authorities said.

“It eliminates the requirement of proving severe emotional distress,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Maeve J. Fox.

Fox said that element was difficult to prove because not everybody react to threats the same way.

Still, even with the new law, Fox does not expect stalking cases to be filed routinely.

“These aren’t exactly run-of-the-mill cases,” said Fox, who is prosecuting the Oak Park stalking case.

That case has been filed against 33-year-old William Mitchell of Oak Park. Between July and September of last year, authorities said, Mitchell “camped out” on the condominium grounds of his former girlfriend, whom court records identify as Edith Lincoln. She could not be reached for comment.

On July 14, Mitchell forced his way into the woman’s home, attacked her and imprisoned her, authorities said. He continued to stalk her for nearly two months after the incident, she said.

In seeking a restraining order, Lincoln told the court that Mitchell threatened to “kill me to prevent me from pursuing future relationships.”

At a preliminary hearing in which Mitchell was ordered to stand trial, he mouthed the words “I love you” to Lincoln as she testified, Fox said.

Mitchell’s attorney, Robert I. Schwartz, disputed the notion that his client is a threat to Lincoln’s life. “She testified that when he threatened her, she thought he might have a gun in his car,” said Schwartz, adding that Lincoln had never known Mitchell to carry a gun in the five years they were together.

“I think it’s a good law,” Schwartz said of the stalking legislation. But, he added, it does not apply to his client’s case.

Perhaps the most unusual stalking case in the county involved Matthew James Towler, 27.

According to court testimony, Towler began stalking Lisa Plott, the wife of Ventura County Fire Capt. Norman J. Plott. He had gone to junior high school with the woman. He had not seen the woman for more than a dozen years but started calling her for no apparent reason in 1990.

The first call was so bizarre that the victim thought Towler had confused her with someone else, and asked him not to contact her again after their initial phone conversation, according to court testimony. He persisted on and off during the next several years and was spotted looking into the family’s mailbox last November.

Authorities arrested Towler in December and charged him with misdemeanor stalking, making annoying phone calls, making anonymous phone calls and making terrorist threats.

He pleaded guilty to the terrorist-threats charge and will be sentenced Feb. 18. Deputy Dist. Atty. Gregory G. Phillips, who is prosecuting the case, said the other charges are expected to be dismissed at that time. The Plotts declined to comment.

In the case against Edwards, prosecutors were able to file charges before the change in the law because his harassment of ex-girlfriend Lisa Hale was blatant, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Donna K. Gissing.

For example, one morning last April, Edwards, 36, showed up at Hale’s house just as she was about to go to work and would not leave the yard, court records show.

When she returned home for lunch, she found her bedroom in disarray. Trash was dumped about, and her lingerie and underwear were shredded, court records say.

Two weeks later, Hale discovered Edwards hiding behind her bedroom door at 5 o’clock in the morning. She called sheriff’s deputies, who served him with a copy of a temporary restraining order.

On May 17, the same day Hale appeared in court to obtain the three-year restraining order, Edwards phoned her again.

“Miss Hale told the defendant he could not call her, he could not come (over),” court records show. “She explained that the restraining order was good for three years, that he had to stay away from her, he had to stop.

“Defendant responded that it would never stop and that the restraining order did not mean anything to him.”

The harassment continued for several more months, according to court records, until Edwards was arrested and charged with felony stalking and other crimes.

Deputy Public Defender Stephen P. Lipson said his client is not guilty of stalking.

”. . . I think he crossed that line. It’s really a fine line, but it’s got very little to do with stalking. It’s got more to do with a long-term relationship gone bad.

“The stalking law is probably a good law,” he added, “but in this case, they are stretching it.”