CALIFORNIA
The Press-Enterprise
12:25 AM PDT on Saturday, August 27, 2005
By SONJA BJELLAND / The Press-Enterprise
A former youth pastor and onetime volunteer coach for Corona Centennial High School will get a new trial after a judge said his attorney was "hopelessly unprepared."
A Riverside County jury convicted Joseph Mario Arredondo Jr., 30, in March of 15 felony counts that involved sexual abuse of two teenage girls who were members of Norco's New Beginnings Christian.
Superior Court Judge Russell Schooling said he did not want to put the victims through the pain of testifying again but felt there was no other solution. After 30 years on the bench, Schooling said, he could not remember ever granting a motion to a new trial.
"We can go on with a litany of the ways that he failed to represent his client," Schooling said. "... I've never seen such an egregious lack of representation by an attorney before me."
After the hearing, Arredondo's friends and family who had filled half the courtroom cried and hugged each other.