Prosecutors seek 2nd chance against Acosta

Costa Mesa prosecutors have asked an appellate court for another chance to press their misdemeanor case against an activist who was accused of disrupting a City Council meeting on immigration reform.

They expect to hear next week whether judges will refer the case to a higher court and give them another chance to reverse the decision to uphold the dismissal of the case against Benito Acosta.

An appeal by Costa Mesa prosecutors to reopen the misdemeanor criminal case against Acosta, who also goes by the name Coyotl Tezcatlipoca, on charges that he disturbed a City Council meeting and resisted arrest in 2006 was rejected Sept. 9.

The city’s case was thrown out last year on a technicality when it came to light that Dan Peelman, the prosecutor assigned the Acosta case, was not sworn in as a city prosecutor.

Last week, prosecutors petitioned the court to re-hear their arguments, claiming the judges might have misinterpreted the contract between Costa Mesa and City Prosecutor Kimberly Barlow and the Jones & Mayer law firm.

The three-judge panel in September said Hall did not have the authority to appoint Peelman as the prosecutor, nor was Peelman given authority by the city.

Prosecutors say the judges are reading the city ordinances and the contracts the wrong way.

Acosta was thrown out of a City Council meeting Jan. 3, 2006 after urging audience members to stand up in support of his opinion despite city officials’ urging him not to. Police said he resisted later when they threw him out of the council chambers. Acosta sued the city months later with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Jones & Mayer prosecutor Krista Jee, who’s handling the case for Costa Mesa, said the court has 30 days from the Sept. 9 ruling to grant a re-hearing in the court of appeals. Jee said she filed the city’s petition last week.

If the court does not respond to the petition, it’s essentially a rejection, she said. From there the city would be left with one option: to go directly to the court of appeal and request that they hear the case, Jee said.

JOSEPH SERNA may be reached at (714) 966-4619 or at [email protected].