Horse Trail Blocking Incident Draws Criminal Sentence As Well As Fee Assessment.
Yorba Linda couple Todd and Deborah Kopit were in the local Orange County news after being found guilty of blocking a horse trail behind their home. The Kopits had claimed that the wooden gates were necessary to protect their property. The jury apparently rejected this defense.
Recently, Orange County Superior Court Judge Daniel T. Brice imposed a criminal sanction on them (including 90 days jail time for Mr. Kopit that could be suspended if he does manual work for Caltrans), fined them the maximum amount of $1,000, and ordered the couple to pay $47,157.50 in attorney’s fees to the City as restitution for expenses incurred in prosecuting the case. Jamie Raymond, a City attorney, was quoted as saying that the fees ordered to be paid were about half the amount of what the Kopits’ trial cost the city.
For more on this story and a photograph of the pertinent horse trail, see Jessica Terrell’s Yorba-gate story published in the September 18, 2009 online issue of The Orange County Register.
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