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PREVIOUSLY:

• Calling State Law ‘Unconstitutional,’ Attorneys for Rancher Ray Christie Ask Judge to Throw Out Case Involving Hundreds of Cattle Carcasses Found on His Land
  
• Ray Christie’s Lawyer Says: First They Came For Ray Christie, and You Did Not Speak Out Because You are a Vegetarian
• ‘Nothing But a Show,’ Rancher Ray Christie’s Attorney Says After Jury Shown Images of Numerous Dead or Dying Cows
• CHRISTIE TRIAL: While Witnesses Testify to Stacks and Stacks of Carcasses Found, Defense Wonders Whether Cattle May Have Been Killed by Wild Animals or Poisonous Plants
• Rancher Ray Christie’s Attorney Asks For Yet Another New Trial On Top of His Client’s Already Impending Retrial

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Five days before his second jury trial is set to begin, Arcata rancher Ray Christie has fired his primary attorney and been given two days to find a new lawyer who is ready to take on the case and go to trial.

This morning Southern California lawyer John Cogorno, appearing in Judge Christopher Wilson’s courtroom via Zoom, announced that yesterday afternoon he got papers indicating he’d been sacked.

“I received the defendant’s declaration to discharge counsel, which is me,” Cogorno said. He appeared to be surprised.

Cogorno made a motion to withdraw from the case, which Wilson granted.

Christie was in court with co-counsel Ken Bareilles, the local attorney who has been peripherally involved for the past two years. Bareilles said he is willing to stay on as counsel and go to trial, but there is no way he can be ready in a few days.

“I can’t do that,” Bareilles told the judge. “I can’t be prepared.”

Wilson told Christie that because he hired Cogorno, it’s his choice to fire him. But he said he expects Christie to be in court Friday morning with a lawyer who’s ready for trial.

“It’s hard to find a lawyer in two days,” Bareilles said.

“It is,” Wilson replied. “This should have happened months ago.”

Christie’s Arcata ranch was raided more than three years ago by officers from numerous agencies. They found hundreds of cow carcasses within 150 feet of state waters, and also saw cattle living in substandard conditions. A jury convicted Christie of numerous misdemeanor charges of dumping the carcasses, but deadlocked on four felony counts of animal cruelty. Only one of the 12 jurors did not vote for a guilty verdict on the felonies.

Cogorno has filed a series of motions and appeals over the years and has failed each time.

Wilson noted that Christie has a constitutional right to counsel, but this last-minute firing was troublesome.

“Mr. Christie, you put me in a tight spot,” the judge said.

Cogorno is off the hook, Wilson said, but he warned Bareilles he’s still on.

Christie wants Bareilles to represent him, and Bareilles has no desire to withdraw from the case. He just can’t go to trial now.

“I knew the case three years ago, but I don’t know it anymore,” he said.

That was not a statement that pleased the judge.

“I’ll see you on the 6th (Friday),” Wilson said, “with some answers.”

Friday is set for trial assignment, meaning deciding which judge will preside. Trial is set to begin Aug. 9.

Deputy District Attorneys Steven Steward and David Moutrie are the trial prosecutors. They are ready for trial.