Drug-Smuggling Case Opens Against Jailhouse Lawyer’s Wife

Before the first witness had finished testifying, Gail Harrington’s lawyer Friday called the jail drug-smuggling case against her “a joke.”

Harrington is a 25-year-old law student who secretly married Willie Ray Wisely, the convicted murderer and jailhouse lawyer who avoided sentencing for years, largely by representing himself.

A hearing began Friday in which a judge will decide whether Harrington should stand trial on charges of smuggling drugs into Orange County Jail in Santa Ana.

The witness, jail guard Stan Blaszak, testified that a tip from a secret informant led to surveillance of contact between inmates and their lawyers and legal aides.

Guard Didn’t See Transfer

Blaszak testified that he did not see Harrington pass the drugs, hidden in a pen, to the inmate, but he said he did search the prisoner, Lance Warner, immediately before and after the 5- to 10-minute visit with Harrington on Aug. 10.

Before the meeting, he found nothing; after, he found the pen containing the drugs, Blaszak testified.

But Warner’s attorney, John Barnett, said that the “inference” that Harrington passed the drugs is “completely unsubstantiated.”

Under questioning from Barnett, Blaszak acknowledged that many prisoners had been in the area before Warner and that no one had cleaned the meeting room. Blaszak said papers, debris and pens are often left in the rooms.

Barnett said the deputy’s testimony “suggests” that Warner innocently picked up the pen containing the drugs, which had been left in the room before he or Harrington entered.

The charge against Harrington was denounced by the American Civil Liberties Union this summer. Harrington’s jail work was in affiliation with the ACLU, whose lawyers have said the arrest was a bid by jail officials to stop complaints about conditions in the jail from Wisely.

Prosecutor Declines Comment

Prosecutor James J. Mulgrew declined comment Friday. The Sheriff’s Department, which runs the jail, has flatly denied the allegation that the prosecution was politically motivated.

Harrington’s lawyer, G. David Haigh, denounced the prosecution: “This case has been from the beginning a travesty and a tragedy.”

Both Barnett and Haigh said they would take the unusual step of calling witnesses to testify at the preliminary. Both said they did not plan to call their clients.

Municipal Judge Jacquelyn Thomason continued the case at the request of the defense until Jan. 28.