The family that stands accused of scores of felony counts
stemming from a tow and sue scam appeared in court Wednesday, but
their preliminary hearing was postponed while the family’s
patriarch prepares to act as his own defense attorney.
The family that stands accused of scores of felony counts stemming from a tow and sue scam appeared in court Wednesday, but their preliminary hearing was postponed while the family’s patriarch prepares to act as his own defense attorney.
Attorneys will reconvene Dec. 3 to set a date for the preliminary hearing, a process that could take up to six weeks, they predict. The expected length of the preliminary hearing, in conjunction with the task of organizing court staff and four attorneys’ schedules, along with sifting through mounds of evidence has postponed the case for months. More recently, Vincent Cardinalli, Sr. decided to fire his defense attorney and represent himself, a decision that will surely set the case months back, attorneys said. The case has not yet been assigned to a judge.
Cardinalli, 65, his son Paul Greer, 31 – formerly Vincent Cardinalli, Jr., Greer’s sister Rosemary Ball and her husband Michael Ball face 169 counts of conspiracy, perjury, forgery, attempted grand theft and other felony charges stemming from hundreds of lawsuits filed by Cardinalli and Greer in hopes of collecting towing and storage fees for their defunct towing businesses.
Cardinalli and Greer were arrested in June 2007 following an eight-month investigation conducted by the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office. Sixteen months later, the case has not yet gone to preliminary hearing. Defense attorneys have dropped out along the way. The case has been transferred from South County to San Jose. The attorneys who did manage to plow through countless stacks of evidence have been called away to other cases. And after months of working to coordinate their schedules and delve into what is expected to be a lengthy preliminary hearing, attorneys learned that Cardinalli dropped his lawyer and will take up the role himself, causing this most recent delay as he familiarizes himself with the evidence.
