Ex-CHP assistant chief Scarber’s criminal hearing starts with snag

The long-awaited criminal hearing for former CHP Assistant Chief Kyle Scarber, his wife and daughter hit a snag Tuesday when a judge said prosecutors apparently obtained confidential information about Kyle Scarber illegally.

Kyle Scarber, his wife Gail Scaber and daughter Crystal Reynoso are charged in Fresno County Superior Court with helping their son and brother, Spencer Scarber, flee to Mexico in December 2012 to avoid being convicted of rape.

Though missing from the courtroom, Spencer Scarber was convicted anyway, and a few months after his escape, he was captured in Mexico. Authorities brought him back to Fresno, where he was later sentenced to 35 years to life in prison.

The Scarber family was in court Tuesday for the first day of their preliminary hearing, which will determine whether they should stand trial on felony charges of conspiracy, accessory after the fact and helping Spencer Scarber avoid court.

But the hearing ended early when Judge W. Kent Hamlin said prosecutors obtained confidential information from Kyle Scarber’s CHP file without filing a motion with the court to legally obtain it. Prosecutors then apparently shared the confidential information with the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office, which Hamlin said, “appears to be inappropriate.”

In addition, defense attorneys for Gail Scarber and Reynoso contended they never received all of the confidential information that prosecutors planned to use against the defendants.

Once Hamlin learned of the apparent legal violations, he stopped CHP Sgt. Chris Sahagun from testifying about Kyle Scarber’s confidential information that came from a CHP internal investigation into alleged misconduct connected to Spencer Scarber’s escape to Mexico. Hamlin then ordered both sides to return to court Wednesday, when he will decide whether Sahagun should continue his testimony.

The ruling could be crucial to the prosecution’s case, Hamlin said, because Sahagun could have incriminating evidence against all three defendants.

The case against the Scarber family reads like a dime-store novel, and Hamlin’s ruling could be another chapter in the family’s long-running conspiracy theory against local law enforcement.

Before he was convicted, Spencer Scarber and his family contended he was beaten and coerced into confessing that he raped a Squaw Valley woman at knifepoint in July 2011. But a sheriff’s video shows he freely confessed to raping the woman, authorities said.

Kyle Scarber also contended that he once had an affair with former District Attorney Elizabeth Egan before she was elected to the office. Therefore, Egan should have let another agency file charges against Spencer Scarber. Court records show the state Attorney General’s Office took over prosecution four months after Spencer Scarber’s arrest.

In addition, before he was arrested, Kyle Scarber said he was thinking of running against Sheriff Margaret Mims in the 2014 election, and had told former Madera County Sheriff John Anderson about the idea. Anderson has vouched for Kyle Scarber’s claim of running against Mims.

Because of the potential conflict, Mims should have turned over the sheriff’s investigation of the Scarber family to another agency, the family contends.

But in court Tuesday, the Sheriff’s Office kept its grip on the Scarber investigation, while Heather Gimle, a deputy with the Attorney General’s Office in Sacramento, questioned witnesses for the prosecution.

Gimle’s first witness was Danielle Isaac, a senior investigator with the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office. Isaac testified that she investigated the Spencer Scarber rape case as a sheriff’s deputy.

Isaac said during Spencer Scarber’s trial, specifically on Dec. 11, 2012, the court received a letter from the Scarbers that they said was left on a fence of their Squaw Valley home. The Scarbers said the letter mentioned threats made against them, Isaac said.

It’s unclear who wrote the letter and the court was in recess that day to allow Spencer Scarber to attend a doctor’s appointment, Isaac said. The prosecution had rested and the defense was scheduled to call its first witnesses the next day, Dec. 12, 2012, when the court learned Spencer Scarber was missing, Isaac testified.

While Kyle Spencer stayed at home, Isaac testified she learned that Gail Scarber and Reynosa had gone to San Diego.

The next witness, sheriff’s detective Michael Wynn, testified that he interviewed Kyle Scarber on the morning of Dec. 12, 2012. He said Kyle Scarber was visibly upset.

Wynn said Kyle Scarber reported his son missing from his bedroom about 4:30 a.m. Kyle Scarber then looked for his son inside and outside the house. It was around 5:15 a.m. when Kyle Scarber said he found his son’s crutches (he recently had knee surgery), a black knit cap and his son’s bloody tennis shoe, Wynn testified.

The detective also testified that Kyle Scarber told him about the threatening letter. Then about 100 yards away from the crutches and bloody shoe, Wynn testified, he found tire tracks and a black knit cap.

Sahagun was the third witness, but his testimony was cut short after he revealed that he had interviewed Kyle Scarber in February 2013. Because Kyle Scarber was employed by the CHP at the time, Visalia attorney John Sarsfield, who represents Kyle Scarber, told Hamlin that his client’s personnel file was protected under the California Peace Officer Bill of Rights that prohibits release of confidential information without a court order.

Gimle told Hamlin there was an exception to the rule, but the judge said there wasn’t.

This story was originally published July 14, 2015 at 6:25 PM with the headline "Ex-CHP assistant chief Scarber’s criminal hearing starts with snag."