Hasan A.

Hasan A. was an established businessman with a large family who worked with him in the family store in Fontana. He had no criminal history. He had expanded business by building a new store in Muscoy. After a few months of successful operations, the store was burned one night--a total loss due to arson. Hasan, his wife, and his son were all home in Rialto when the alarm was triggered, and were contacted there by the alarm company.

Regardless, a particular arson investigator prepared reports that were full of conclusions that Hasan and his wife and oldest son were the culprits. His theory was that whoever started the fire went into the store, turned off the alarm system, and then poured gasoline throughout the store. He theorized that they then turned the alarm system back on, went outside, broke the window, and threw some fire into the store, which ignited the accelerant and caused the raging fire.

We hired a private arson investigator who went to the scene, and disagreed with most of the conclusions of the county arson investigator, except that it was clearly arson.

The private insurance appraiser was also named as a defendant, with the prosecution theory being that Hasan and his family had burned the store, then conspired with the appraiser to file a padded insurance claim. Thus, Hasan was also charged with insurance fraud.

At the first Preliminary Hearing, I represented the son, and other lawyer's represented Hasan and his wife. The case was dismissed at the Preliminary Hearing.

However, after a few months, the prosecutor re-filed the case, and I still represented the son. Another lawyer was hired for Hasan, and the prosecutor did not re-file charges against his wife. The insurance investigator was also charged, and had his own counsel.

At the Preliminary Hearing, the son's case was dismissed, but Hasan was held to answer for trial. So was the insurance appraiser.

Hasan fired his other lawyer, and asked me to represent him. After making certain that no conflict of interest rules, or other ethical considerations prevented me from representing him, I took over Hasan's case.

Being Muslim, and because it was after 9/11, Hasan did not want to have a jury trial.

We agreed to try the case before a Judge only--called a "Bench Trial", and the prosecution began its case.

The arson investigator testified about his dog, and how she alerted on an accelerant in several locations in the store. He was allowed to give his theory of how the fire was started, and then he told of a finding that the prosecution thought was a big piece of evidence, which was that none of the meats that were sold daily for sandwiches and burritos were found burned in their in-store containers. The arson investigator testified that it was his opinion that the meats were removed the night before the fire, an indication that the fire was planned by people with access to the store.

Our arson investigator testified that it was clearly an arson, but that there was no evidence to indicate that Hasan had been the person to set the fire.

Hasan's wife testified that she was asleep at home with her family when the call came in from the alarm company. She told of their drive to the store, and that their house was about a twenty minute drive from the store. We had established that the alarm would have gone off within a couple of minutes of the fire starting, and that the alarm company called shortly thereafter. Of course that meant that if Hasan, his wife, and his son were at home, they either teleported themselves there, or someone else started the fire.

What would have been amusing if it had not been part of such a serious and traumatic experience for Hasan and his family, was the testimony of his wife that yes, the meats were taken out of their in-store containers and put into the cooler/refrigerator the night before the fire, just like they did every night. Fresh meat is not left out in the store overnight.

The looks on the faces of the prosecutor and the arson investigator were of people who had never considered this likelihood, and were just hit in the face with the obvious truth for the first time.

The Judge found Hasan not guilty that day. It was the end to a long and hard battle.

We later sued the county and the arson investigator on behalf of Hasan's wife. You see, in their religion, a woman is shamed when she is accused of a crime, and had been jailed and deprived of her scarf, and had been offered foods that may contain prohibited foods. Her husband is shamed because he could not protect her, and she is further shamed because of his shame. The religious and cultural values at play here were of major impact upon the lives of Hasan and his family.

We settled the case for enough money to pay for all of their attorney fees, and other costs, as well as for their pain and suffering. We then settled the arson claim with the insurance company, and finally, the county wrote a letter of apology to Hasan's wife. All total, we recovered over a million dollars after Hasan was acquitted.