A Modesto murder trial, brought on behalf of a 12-year-old girl killed in a 2020 hit-and-run, ended in a mistrial after the defendant's own attorney was arrested at the courthouse on suspicion of drug possession and public intoxication.
Christopher Loethen, the defense attorney representing Kelley Marie Ball in Stanislaus County Superior Court, was arrested September 16 inside the courthouse where he was supposed to be defending his client. Authorities booked him at the Stanislaus County Public Safety Center on suspicion of public intoxication, being under the influence of a controlled substance, and possession of a controlled substance. He was released later that night.
Then he vanished. When the trial resumed Thursday, Loethen did not show up. The court made what Judge Valli Israels described as "extensive efforts" to reach him by phone and email. He still did not appear at a second hearing scheduled for Friday, even after the judge left direct messages requiring his presence.
Ball's trial had begun August 25. By the time Loethen disappeared, jurors had already sat through seven days of proceedings. Judge Israels removed Loethen from the case and appointed Martin Baker as replacement defense counsel.
Baker told the court he needed more time to prepare before the jury returned Tuesday. Prosecutors objected. The judge granted Baker's request anyway, and then declared a mistrial without prejudice, meaning the state can try Ball again.
Ball is due back in court September 24. She remains jailed on $2.195 million bail.
Before Loethen's arrest, Judge Israels had already noticed something off. The New York Post reported the judge's remarks about Loethen's demeanor in the courtroom:
"It just seemed like there was an aggressiveness about Mr. Loethen, not just towards the court, but in general."
An unnamed person at Loethen's law office told the Modesto Bee she had not spoken with Loethen and had no information about his arrest. The California Post said it also reached out to his office for comment. No response from Loethen himself has been reported.
The case Loethen derailed is no minor matter. Ball stands accused of killing a 12-year-old Modesto girl in a DUI hit-and-run crash in 2020. She faces charges of murder, driving under the influence of a drug causing injury, gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated, and vandalism.
Court documents show Ball had accumulated several prior DUI convictions between 1997 and 2007, a record spanning a full decade before the fatal crash. Prosecutors charged her with murder rather than a lesser offense, a decision consistent with California law that allows murder charges against repeat DUI offenders who kill.
Now, five years after a child died and seven days into a trial, the family of that 12-year-old girl is back to waiting. The case resets. The jury's time is wasted. And the attorney who was supposed to ensure his client received a fair trial instead became a defendant himself, arrested in the very building where justice was supposed to be delivered.
Several questions remain unanswered. What controlled substance was allegedly involved? Has Loethen contacted the court or his client since his arrest? Will the California State Bar open a disciplinary inquiry? None of that information has surfaced publicly.
What is clear: a murder trial built around a dead child collapsed because the defense attorney could not stay sober, or at least stay present. Prosecutors will have to empanel a new jury, re-present their evidence, and ask a grieving family to endure the process all over again.
Courts exist to hold people accountable. When the officers of those courts cannot hold themselves accountable, the system fails the people who need it most, starting with a 12-year-old girl who never got to grow up.
