An arraignment hearing was continued Tuesday for a former senior Santa Barbara County prosecutor charged with unauthorized possession of a firearm in a public building.
Judge Patricia Kelly scheduled Paul T. Greco‘s further arraignment for 8:30 a.m. Feb. 23 in Santa Barbara County Superior Court’s Department 6 in Santa Maria.
Greco, a former chief deputy district attorney in the district attorney’s North County office in Santa Maria, was not in court Tuesday morning for the hearing since people charged with misdemeanor crimes are not required to be present for arraignments.
Greco was represented by attorney Michael Scott, who asked where the case would be heard.
The court’s normal procedures called for the case to be assigned to Department 6, but before scheduling the further arraignment, Kelly conferred with Judge John McGregor to confirm he wouldn’t recuse himself from the case.
If no local judge accepted the case, the court could have shipped the matter to another county or brought in a visiting judge who had not interacted with Greco previously.
The California Attorney General’s Office is handling the prosecution and was represented by Deputy Attorney General Nathan Guttman.
The state filed the misdemeanor count against Greco on Jan. 19, alleging he took the firearm into a public building sometime between April 1, 2015, and Dec. 1, 2015.
Greco contends he took the unloaded weapon registered to him into the District Attorney’s Office through a non-public entrance to educate younger prosecutors about firearms. At the time, he was supervisor for prosecutors in the North County.
Greco was placed on leave in December and later terminated from his job with the District Attorney’s Office.
The Attorney General’s Office is handling the case upon the request of the District Attorney Joyce Dudley, who said she reported the matter to both the Sheriff’s Office and the Attorney General’s Office due to the potential conflict of interest.
— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.