Man Acquitted of Charges He Made Threats

SANTA ANA — A Municipal Court jury on Friday acquitted a San Juan Capistrano man who had been charged with making threats against his neighbors and elected officials and assaulting someone with a deadly weapon after the city approved a liquor license at a nearby restaurant, his attorney said.

Jurors took less than 90 minutes to find David Chorak, 55, not guilty of eight misdemeanors, said Chorak’s attorney, Marshall M. Schulman.

“This jury didn’t need a long time to reach its verdict at all,” Schulman said.

Jurors had listened to testimony in the two-week trial where Chorak was portrayed as an out-of-control resident, upset at the granting of a liquor license to the Ramos House Cafe, his next-door neighbor.

Chorak was accused of making annoying telephone calls to City Council members and picking fights with his opponents. But Schulman successfully argued that Chorak was only exercising his right to free speech and the assault and battery occurred after he had been struck.

“The jury didn’t buy any” of the allegations against Chorak, Schulman said.

Gil Jones, a City Council member and Chorak’s neighbor, who had accused Chorak of assault and making threats, said that when he had heard the verdict, he was “flabbergasted.”

“I thought he would at least get a restraining order against him but they acquitted him,” Jones said. “I’m just flabbergasted, to say the least.”