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[Definitie:] "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance."
(Wilmore and Costill) 
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Phone tapping raised in case
September 14, 2004 A Tuolumne man accused of having sex with a minor wants a judge to dismiss the charges against him. James King, 43, is facing three felony and one misdemeanor count relating to his alleged relationship with a co-worker's 16-year-old daughter. King, the water operations superintendent for the Tuolumne Utilities District, also faces 21 felony counts in another criminal case in which he's accused of owning eight assault rifles, two machine guns and hundreds of anabolic steroids, testosterone and human-growth hormone drugs. But the Tuolumne County Sheriff's Department obtained evidence regarding the alleged sex offenses through wiretaps on the teenage girl's home and cellular telephones that Stuart Hanlon, King's San Francisco attorney, contends were illegal. In a written motion, Hanlon asserts King was set up by law enforcement and the Tuolumne County District Attorney's office in order to "catch him in the act and to have King arrested." Because taping telephone conversations is illegal, the evidence should be thrown out and the case dismissed, Hanlon argues in the motion. A hearing on the issue is set for Tuesday before Tuolumne County Superior Court Judge Eric DuTemple. King is set to stand trial starting Sept. 29. Hanlon's motion said the girl's parents suspected a relationship between King and their daughter but did not have proof. The defense attorney further stated he will subpoena "no less than 10 witnesses who will testify they were told by the teen's mother that she went to the police with her suspicions and was advised by the police to tape the conversations in order to gather proof." Based on those taped conversations, the girl's parents had a friend hide in bushes at the girl's house on March 13 and when King showed up at the house around midnight to coax the girl outside, the friend detained King until a deputy arrived, the motion states. King was questioned and released, then arrested March 19 when deputies served a search warrant at his Rozier Avenue house and reported finding hundreds of vials of steroids, about 1,000 hypodermic needles and between 45,000 and 50,000 rounds of ammunition for the assault rifles. Investigators found the weapons a week later at a house in Twain Harte belonging to one of King's friends. Hanlon further states in his motion that he does not want to divulge names of the witnesses to testify about the telephone conversations for fear they will be intimidated or harassed, possibly with threats of search warrants and arrests. Hanlon was unavailable yesterday for comment. Tuolumne County District Attorney Donald Segerstrom denied the case against King is based on illegal wire taps and said Hanlon is "pulling at straws" to get his client off. Furthermore, Hanlon is obligated to disclose the witnesses he plans to have testify and prosecutors will ask the judge to force Hanlon to make the disclosure, Segerstrom said. Segerstrom has filed a separate motion to consolidate the case relating to the girls and that regarding the guns and steroids into one trial. "I think the conduct is sufficiently related to have one trial," Segerstrom said yesterday. "The victim in the sex case saw the weapons and he had that many steroids most likely because he was using steroids. And the county health official (Dr. Todd Stolp) will testify that using steroids makes one more sexually aggressive and increases a sex drive." If convicted on the sex counts, King faces up to 12 years in prison. King has worked for TUD since 1980. Through a restraining order, King is forbidden from coming near the girl and one parent, but not from being near the other parent with whom he works. King remains on the job and free on $30,000 bail. Trials delayed in sex-steroid case
November 11, 2004
The trial of a Tuolumne Utilities District employee accused of having sex with a co-worker's teenage daughter has been delayed more than two months. James King's San Francisco defense attorney, Richard Hanlon, injured his back and yesterday told a judge he cannot competently represent his client in his condition. King's trial was to begin next week. Tuolumne County Superior Court Judge Eric DuTemple reluctantly agreed to delay the trial until Jan. 26. He did so only after calling Hanlon's physicians during a lunch recess to confirm the attorney's ailments and the medications he is taking. The delay also puts off the start of King's second criminal case, in which he is accused of possessing steroids for sale and possessing and transporting illegal assault weapons and ammunition. The second trial, as earlier determined, will immediately follow the first. DuTemple's ruling came during a five-hour hearing on pretrial motions yesterday. Between the two cases, King faces 39 felony and misdemeanor counts, and a lengthy prison term if convicted as charged. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges, remains free on $30,000 bail and continues to work at TUD as water operations superintendent. King, 43, was arrested March 19 at his Tuolumne home by a sheriff's investigator. The alleged victim, a 16-year-old girl, had told the officer she and King twice had sex. The arrest came after a social worker interviewed the girl and after King was caught at the girl's house late one night trying to get her to come out with him, according to testimony at a June preliminary hearing. The girl's parents, suspicious that their daughter and King were having a relationship, enlisted the help of a friend and caught King at the house, Tuolumne County Sheriff's Investigator Todd Blankenship testified in June. Sheriff's Cpl. Jerry McCaig had also testified that King had claimed he was there that night because he wanted the teenager to help him scatter his dead wife's ashes. King was arrested six days later, as deputies were searching his Rozier Avenue home for evidence to confirm the girl's story. In addition to finding photos of the girl and letters from her, investigators and deputies reported finding about 45,000 rounds of ammunition, hundreds of doses of steroids and growth hormones and about 1,000 hypodermic needles. Almost two weeks later, assault rifles matching the ammunition were found in an attic at a Twain Harte home of a friend of King's. During yesterday's hearing, Hanlon asked for the dismissal of all evidence relating to telephone conversations between the girl and King that he said were were secretly and illegally recorded by her parents. Tuolumne County District Attorney Donald Segerstrom said he had never planned to use the tapes in his case against King. Still, Hanlon argued that the girl was questioned, King was arrested and the prosecution case was largely based on the information on the tapes. DuTemple denied Hanlon's motion. |
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