Acosta campaign photo. Submitted.

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Trial has been scheduled in late February for a Eureka defense attorney accused of dealing drugs out of his home and law office on Cedar Street.

This morning visiting Judge Marilyn Miles set a Feb. 27, 2023 trial date for Michael Phillip Acosta and his partner Sarah Marie Carroll, arrested during a 2020 raid and charged with drug possession and maintaining a drug house. Trial confirmation is set for Feb. 5.

The trial is expected to take 10 days.

Acosta, 51, was in court this morning with his attorney Zack Curtis. Carroll’s lawyer Andrea Sullivan attended the hearing via Zoom but did not appear on camera.

“I have tested Covid positive and am not feeling well,” Sullivan said. She practices in Lake County but also handles a number of criminal cases in Humboldt. Curtis was reluctant to set a trial date, saying he still has not seen all evidence from the prosecution.

“It doesn’t hurt to set a date,” Miles said. “You have plenty of time.” She noted the case began in 2020 and “it’s time to get this going.”

Should the case resolve, Miles said, the trial will be removed from the February calendar.

If the trial is indeed held in February, it will be held more than three years after Acosta and Carroll, 39, were arrested during a multi-agency raid on their home. The house also serves as a law office for Acosta, a graduate of Stanford University Law School.

At the time of the arrests the Humboldt County Drug Task Force said Acosta had been under investigation for about a year because of citizen complaints about the number of people coming and going from the Cedar Street residence.

Earlier this year, Acosta ran for the office of district attorney, placing a distant last in a three-way race.

This morning Deputy District Attorney Emily Norgaard was in court for the prosecution.

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