Jury seated for trial

By Andrea Makshanoff, On-Line Forty-Niner

Tuesday, Octber 27, 1998

In a surprisingly fast jury selection, six women and six men were seated Monday for the trial of Elena Zagustin, the Cal State Long Beach civil engineering professor who has been cited for 95 fire, housing and municipal code violations at her Huntington Harbor home.

Completion of selection is considered a major breakthrough in this case that has been on the Westminster Municipal Court docket at least twenty dates this year. Representing herself, Zagustin has filed repeated motions since the case began on Jan. 9, effectively slowing the court process.

The most recent being the subpoena of every judge in the Westminster court regarding a probate case filed in South Dakota concerning a possible Zagustin will. The motions, which disqualified various judges and court officials have been effective, causing the case to be transferred between judges several times.

"You've made motion to disqualify most of the judges in the court, but you didn't file to disqualify the court," Judge Robert Gallivan said to Zagustin. "You can't sue everyone."

Wearing a face mask, Zagustin arrived in the morning at the courtroom in handcuffs after spending five nights in the Orange County Women's Jail, but was soon released by Gallivan on her own recognizance, and with a promise to return at 1:30 p.m. for the jury selection process. Gallivan also modified the $50,000 bail.

Zagustin was taken into custody by the court's marshals last Wednesday on a bench warrant issued by Judge McBride when she arrived 15 minutes late to his courtroom.

The case was then transferred to Division 15 and Gallivan for bail review and jury trial on Oct. 22, when the judge denied multiple miscellaneous motions by the defendant, but agreed to hear her motion to dismiss the case for failure to bring it to speedy trial.

Zagustin had filed the motion March 27, saying she had not been advised of her right to waive or to have a speedy trial when the case began earlier this year.

After McGrath submitted additional arguments against this motion, Gallivan dismissed it, saying that Zagustin had been advised properly last Jan. 20, that she had chosen the first trial date in March herself, and that she was solely responsible for the subsequent delays.

When asked why she failed to serve subpoenas on the remaining three judges in the court, Zagustin said after being put in jail, she decided she needed them to get her out.

Opening arguments are scheduled for 9:15 a.m. today.