Pure comedy courtesy of ASA Bill Kostrzewski.

We told our readers at the conclusion of yesterdays post that were were going to scour through Detective Jorge Baluja's deposition transcripts from the Bernardo Barrera mortgage fraud case in order to find out how the good detective investigated the role the impostor (if one really existed) who appeared at the closing and executed all the docs relating to the purchase of the home located on Oak Avenue.  So off we went with the depo transcripts in hand, ready to pour all over them in the hopes of making some sense out of how Detective Baluja conducted his investigation.  How far did we get?  We couldn't even make it past the first page without nearly $hitting our pants from laughing. 

We have to thank none other than Assistant State Attorney Bill Kostrzewski for the laughs, take a look for yourselves, from the first page where one of the defense attorneys is asking Detective Baluja a simple question to which ASA Kostrzewski objects...

Jorge Baluja Deposition With Bill Kostrzewski Telling Him Not to Answer Questions Page 1  

Simple question, but the prosecutor objects then clearly tells Detective Baluja not to answer the question...

Wait a minute!  The prosecutor can't do that!  This isn't the first time we've seen ASA Kostrzewski instruct a witness not to answer a question now is it?  Does everyone remember when he pulled the same stunt during the deposition of defendant Michael Martinez?  Let's keep going, onto page two where the defense attorney clearly objects to Mr. Kostrzewski's instructions to Detective Baluja not to answer the question...

Jorge Baluja Deposition With Bill Kostrzewski Telling Him Not to Answer Questions Page 2


WTF was that?!  Here the prosecutor tells us that he's not Detective Baluja's attorney and that indeed he can not instruct him not to answer a question!  Look for yourselves...

Huh?  Just two seconds ago you told Jorge not to answer!

So which is it Bill?  We're confused!  

Best of all, when the defense attorneys put some pressure on veteran economic crimes prosecutor Bill Kostrzewski (Francisco Alvarado's words not ours) he fires back with this...

BRILLIANT!  See a pattern here folks?  As with the Martinez deposition, it seems after these outbursts by ASA Kostrzewski that he's taking these questions a little too personally, almost as if the defense attorneys were deposing him rather than the witnesses.  See how agitated he gets when the attorneys ask sensitive questions or when the witnesses deviate from what ever script Kostrzewski wanted them to follow?  The question that begs to be asked though is with Kostrzewski yanked from the Barrera mortgage fraud prosecution, what are the witnesses going to say without him coaching them?  The next few depos should be real interesting.


We're going to really buckle down and take a close look at those depos again tomorrow, hopefully without having to put them down in a fit of laughter...