First the gun charges against the porn couple were dismissed, now the dubious drug charges have been dropped. It’s amateur hour in San Bernardino County.
Gustavo Turner gets credit for breaking this story at XBIZ this morning, but it demands amplification here — if only because we received criticism for pointing out certain unusual aspects of the case against adult star Mercedes Carrera and her husband, which came to light during the Preliminary Hearing on August 8.
Turner reports:
As the case against adult performer Mercedes Carrera and her hsuband Jason Whitney finally enters its actual trial phase, the revised charges after the preliminary hearing show that San Bernardino County District Attorney Brianne Durose has quietly dropped both the drugs and guns charges against the couple.
In my Aug. 8 report, I noted that the gun charges against Carrera and her husband, Damon Cins, were to be dropped “because the detective who led the raid on the couple’s home today confirmed that the two guns found there were not loaded at the time.”
My op/ed continued,
Carrera and her husband are now charged with child molestation, incidents of oral copulation, aiding and abetting each other in the above, and possession of a controlled substance — which was visually identified by the investigating officer as small containers of methamphetamine. . . .
And incidentally, no lab report was introduced in court demonstrating that the powder was indeed a controlled substance. I’m not saying that I don’t believe one exists, but I can think of no legitimate reason to not at least mention its result (if it came back positive) because all such evidence must be turned over to the defense before trial.
This all seemed highly suspicious to me at the time . . . and at today’s arraignment we learned that the drug charges have been dropped, too. Hmmmm.
It’s not all good news for Carrera and Cins, however. The DA has added three more sexual abuse charges against each of them, bringing the total number of such charges against each of them to eleven.
Both defendants have pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Mayberry, USA, or, ‘The Gang That Couldn’t Prosecute Straight’
After the couple’s February 5 arrest charges of on child sexual abuse, an unusual press announcement by the Rancho Cucamonga Police Department trumpeted the gun charges (in addition to publishing the wrong stage name for the adult industry photographer they called Carrera’s husband). The couple was also initially charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance While Armed with a Handgun. We know know that no one was really “armed” at the time of the arrest; there were simply unloaded (registered) firearms stored somewhere in the home.
Despite the police department’s earlier claim that the search of Carrera’s residence turned up “a large amount of evidence corroborating the victim’s statement,” in this case there is actually no known physical evidence of any crime against the child, who has been identified as Carrera’s daughter — nine years old at the time she was questioned by a police officer. There appears to be only the child’s testimony.
This reality stands in marked contrast to statements made by police to media, including adult media, in the days and weeks following the couple’s arrest. In other words, the plaice fed disinformation to media for public dissemination
This is amateur hour, folks, and I foresee a clusterfuck of nearly McMartin Preschool proportions.
Carrera and Cins’ jury trial is set to start September 30, 2019.
