An East Bay oncologist is seeking reversal of a court order to stand trial on charges stemming from a sex-predator sting conducted by Petaluma police, NBC News and an online advocacy group.
Maurice Wolin's lawyer said in court Thursday that Judge Raima Ballinger erred in rejecting arguments that he was illegally entrapped by a paid, untrained decoy who badgered and cajoled him into committing a crime.
Blair Berk, a Los Angeles lawyer representing Wolin, asked Judge Andy Wick to dismiss a felony charge of attempted lewd and lascivious acts with a child under 14.
Following a preliminary hearing last year, Ballinger ruled there was enough evidence to show Wolin drove to Petaluma to meet someone he believed to be a young girl for sex.
The girl turned out to be a decoy employed by NBC for its "To Catch a Predator" television series, and the person with whom he'd engaged in sexually charged online chats was really a decoy from the advocacy group Perverted Justice.
Wolin was arrested in August 2006 along with 28 others in a three-day sting Petaluma police conducted with the TV show and the advocacy group.
In seeking dismissal of the case, Berk argued that prosecutors didn't meet two legal requirements: Proving Wolin unequivocally intended to commit the crime and that he took a direct step toward committing it.
Prosecutor Brian Staebell countered that Wolin clearly communicated his sexual intent and that his actions showed more than mere preparation toward committing the crime.
Wick said he will issue a ruling Jan. 31.
Wolin, a married father, had chatted online over the course of four days with a decoy who told him she was 13 before he agreed to drive to Petaluma to meet in person, according to testimony.
Citing numerous points in their conversations when Wolin hesitated, suggested meeting in a public place or appeared to waver about meeting face-to-face, Berk argued that Wolin's intent was far from clear.
She made a comparison to attempted murder. If a person told someone they were going to kill them, arranged a meeting and didn't show up, then did show up but left, she asked, would it amount to attempted murder?
"I suggest to the court that the District Attorney's Office would not even come close to having a factual basis to allege an attempted murder would have been committed," she said.
Wolin "just showing up" at the Petaluma house didn't amount to the "intent" and "direct act" required in the law, she argued.
Staebell countered that Wolin's intent was crystal clear. He engaged in vulgar sex talk with someone he thought was a 13-year-old girl, asking intimate questions, suggesting sex acts and arranging a meeting at a time he knew her parents would be gone.
"When he got into the car to drive from Piedmont to Petaluma, he was clearly showing his intent," Staebell said. "This was no fantasy."
You can reach Staff Writer Lori A. Carter at 568-5312 or lori.carter@pressdemocrat.com.
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