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E-mail StoryReport: Prosecutor, husband fought with guards
Lawyer with District Attorney’s office, husband cited on battery
| Friday, Nov 2 2007 11:06 PM
Last Updated: Friday, Nov 2 2007 11:06 PM
Andrea Kohler, a prosecutor with the Kern County District Attorney’s office, was arrested at a Santa Barbara County casino Oct. 20 on suspicion of misdemeanor battery, sheriff’s officials in that county confirmed Friday.
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Her husband was also arrested on the same charge.
Both were cited and released at the scene. The sheriff’s report alleges biting and scratching during a confrontation with casino security guards.
Kohler, a deputy district attorney who supervises the prison crimes unit, was a prosecutor in the high-profile Bruce Sons murder case in 2006. She will appear in court later this month at the same Santa Maria venue where she prosecuted Sons.
Kohler, who turns 43 on Thursday, could not be reached in her office Friday. Several calls to the couple’s home number were not answered.
Gregory Kohler, 47, an attorney with Barnes, Kohler & Monje LLP in Bakersfield, was out of town on a deposition until next week, a receptionist at the law firm said.
The couple had been attending the wedding of another prosecutor from the District Attorney’s office and were among a group of colleagues celebrating afterward at the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez.
Sgt. Erik Raney of the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department said a confrontation between the Kohlers and casino security guards turned into a “melee.”
The department’s report alleges Gregory Kohler was walking out of the casino, drunk, when he kicked an automatic sliding glass door and knocked it off its rollers, Raney said.
Security guards approached to see what was up. Mr. Kohler reportedly became confrontational, Raney said, and approached one of the guards, backing him up against a pillar or planter where the guard could not get away.
Mrs. Kohler then arrived outside where the incident was unfolding, Raney said, as did more security guards.
The resulting scene became a “melee,” Raney said, as the guards tried to “detain the Kohlers.”
Mr. Kohler allegedly bit one of the security guards in the side, Raney said, while Mrs. Kohler allegedly scratched one on the neck. The couple were cited at the scene on misdemeanor battery charges and released, he said. They were not taken to jail.
Casino personnel declined to comment.
The Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s office is handling the case.
“It’s under investigation,” said Gene Martinez, Santa Barbara County’s chief assistant district attorney for the north county, situated in Santa Maria.
No charges have yet been filed, Martinez said.
The incident was captured on a surveillance tape that will be part of the case review, Martinez said.
The Kohlers are scheduled to appear in a Santa Maria courtroom on Nov. 15, he said.
That’s the same courthouse where Andrea Kohler helped try Bruce Sons in 2006. Sons was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the 1994 death of California Highway Patrol Officer Richard Maxwell.
Kern County District Attorney Ed Jagels, talking from a cell phone at an airport Friday, said Andrea Kohler had told him about her arrest but he knew little about the situation.
“At the present time I have no knowledge of the matter other than what she told me,” Jagels said. “Obviously, I will be reviewing the matter.”
As to whether such a situation could impact a prosecutor’s employment, Jagels said it might.
A prosecutor’s conduct, he said, could lead to discipline or dismissal even without criminal charges or conviction.
On the other hand, he said, a charge or conviction on its own would not necessarily affect employment status.
Jagels spoke highly of Kohler’s work.
“I will say that she is one of the most respected and competent prosecutors in our office,” he said.
Staff writers Felix Doligosa and Jason Kotowski contributed to this report.