Martinez Attorney Seeks Rape Charges Dismissed

by Bay City News

The attorney representing Michael Gressett, a Contra Costa County sex crimes prosecutor accused of raping a colleague in 2008, filed a motion today to have the state Attorney General's office removed from the case.

Attorney Michael Kotin filed the 55-page motion, which was sealed because  it contained the alleged victim's name, during a hearing in Martinez with a new judge recently appointed to the case.

Deputy Attorney General Peter Flores and Supervising Deputy Attorney General Joyce Blair have until April 8 to file their response to the motion.

Also at today's hearing, the new judge, retired Santa Clara County Judge Thomas Hastings, formally arraigned the 54-year-old Gressett on a 13-count grand jury indictment.

The indictment includes charges that Gressett raped and sodomized the alleged victim during a lunch break at his house in Martinez on May 8, 2008.

Kotin said the arraignment was necessary because the previous judge had been disqualified.

Gressett pleaded not guilty to all the charges and denied all enhancements.

Kotin has also filed a notice that he will be filing a motion to dismiss all the charges.

The next hearing in the case is scheduled for March 25 in Contra Costa County Superior Court in Martinez.

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