Oklevueha's "Sonoma County Case" Dismissed due to lack of effort of legal representtio
It is with great sadness and frustration that we have learned of the dismissal of what's known as "the ONAC Sonoma county case". According to court records, former church legal representative Matthew Pappas flat dropped the ball in the Sonoma case including ignoring and even disabling both telephonic and email accounts listed in the filings as his options of contact.
Ultimately it is noted on record as the judge ordered the dismissal that even he himself personally was so disappointed in pappas's complete lack of effort to either handle or else remove himself legally from the case that he personally was contemplating filing a complaint against Pappas with the California state bar suggesting punishment for Pappas. U.S. District Court Judge Vince Chharia warned Pappas that “continued failure to meet the deadlines, prosecute the case, or otherwise fail to live up to the minimum standards of professional responsibility could result in sanctions and/or referral to this court’s standing committee on professional conduct.”
Charnel James, a Marysville attorney who also claims to have represented the church, told the Press Democrat that she was terminated from the lawsuit four weeks ago. “They were supposed to take my name off the case,” she said, adding that she was brought in to deal with “land use issues.” Representitives of the church state that the Mother Church were unaware of Ms. James having been recruited to represent the church or even heard of her until after "Team Pappas" was terminated as counsel. Charnel James is licenced in California as principle agent of an ONAC church, which is interesting to ONAC leaders how, but state registry confirms it as far as the state of California's business licensing system is concerned.
Interesting to note also is that County Counsel Bruce Goldstein said Friday that the county was represented in the federal case by an outside law firm, whose attorney who could not be immediately reached for comment but at one point publicly stated that the 600-plus marijuana plants seized from the property appeared "more consistent with a drug sale operation than local church sacraments."
Thankfully for ONAC and the Valley of the Moon branch in Kenwood, that fell under Sonoma counties fire last summer for sacrament cultivation, the judge is seemingly wise enough to know that churches, as private organizations do Not have room for "state opinion" nor dictation over any church, so ultimately chose to leave a window open so that the case can be refilled in state superior court which is promptly in preparation from the churches new legal oversight representatives, please stay tuned for updates as this case progresses onward.
