Ex-DA Pfingst accused of hiding evidence

6 — County prosecutors are accusing former District Attorney Paul Pfingst of hiding evidence in a high-profile Carlsbad murder case.

They say Pfingst could have a conflict of interest so serious that a judge might decide to disallow him from representing his client, Julie Harper, who is accused of killing her husband, a Carlsbad High math teacher.

Pfingst said Thursday he will fight the allegations — which he called “ridiculous” — as well as any attempts to remove him from the case.

The allegations are laid out in a court motion in the criminal case against Harper, 40.

Pfingst began advising Harper before her husband’s body was discovered. The attorney was the one who called Carlsbad police late on Aug. 7, 2012, and said to check on the welfare of the husband, Jason Harper.

Police went to the house where the couple lived with their three children, and found Jason Harper, 39, had been shot and killed.

The next day, Julie Harper turned herself in to police at her father’s Scripps Ranch home. She has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.

Deputy District Attorney Keith Watanabe filed a motion last month in Vista Superior Court accusing Pfingst of trying to hide evidence, including a backpack containing cash, passports and a gun — although it was not the gun used to kill the husband.

Watanabe has asked Judge Blaine Bowman to review Pfingst’s actions for a possible conflict of interest in representing Harper. The prosecutor wants the judge to make Julie Harper aware of any possible conflict, then let her decide if she wants Pfingst to stay on as her attorney.

The judge could also decide to remove Pfingst as the attorney.

He was assigned the case this week and has not set a date to hear arguments.

Watanabe declined Thursday to discuss the conflict-of-interest allegations that the District Attorney’s Office has lodged against Pfingst.

Pfingst was the county’s district attorney for eight years before Bonnie Dumanis defeated him in 2002. She is seeking re-election next year to her fourth, four-year term.

Pfingst, who has become a successful defense attorney since his defeat, said he will continue to represent Harper and “continue to show that Mrs. Harper is a domestic violence victim who is not guilty of murder and acted in self defense.”

Watanabe alleges that Pfingst should have told police about the backpack, which authorities did not seize during the initial search of Harper’s father’s home.

At his daughter’s preliminary hearing in December, the father testified that days after the search he came across the backpack in his car, which was parked in the garage during the search.

The backpack contained cash, $27,000 to $30,000, as well as a gun and passports for his daughter and her children.

The father showed the bag to Pfingst and gave him the cash to put toward his daughter’s legal fees and possible bail. While talking with the attorney in the garage, the father decided to put the backpack in the garage attic. The goal was to keep the contents undisturbed, the father testified.

During a second search of the father’s home, days after the first search, the father led police to the backpack.

Pfingst said he had no plans to hide the backpack from prosecutors and planned to use it as “exhibit one” at the trial. He said it would show his client’s intention was not to kill but to take her children and leave a husband she said was abusive.

Julie Harper had filed for divorce five days before her husband was found dead.

“All the evidence was handled in compliance with the appellate court decisions of the state. There has never been a case in the history of the state of California where a court required an attorney to turn over anything other than a murder weapon or the fruits of a robbery,” Pfingst said.

Watanabe wants Pfingst to turn over the money. He also wants to put Pfingst on the stand — not in front of a jury — to testify about his actions related to the evidence in question.

He also said in his motion that the state Attorney General’s Office has been asked to look into the allegations against Pfingst. The office did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.