Batterham did scam, says jury

Sara Batterham (Photo: Mono County Sheriff’s Department)

Sara Thiel Batterham was convicted on Wednesday afternoon on three out of five of the major criminal charges against her. The jury was given the case on Tuesday after rebuttal witnesses and closing arguments, and returned a verdict at approximately 3:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Jurors found Batterham guilty of embezzlement, one of two forgery counts, and preparing and submitting false documents for trial. The jury was, however, deadlocked on the other two major counts, one count of forgery and another count of intimidating a witness. The Jury Foreman told the court that there was no hope of obtaining a unanimous decision on those two counts.

Batterham was also found guilty on a Special Allegation that she committed the crimes for which she was found guilty while on bail from other cases. A largely emotionless Batterham sat silently as the verdicts were read.

Presiding over the matter was Santa Clara County-based Judge John T. Ball, who was appointed to take the case by the Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court, Tani Cantil-Sakauye, who presides over the Judicial Council. Ball was assigned to the case when Mono County Judges Stan Eller and the now retired Ed Forstenzer had to recuse themselves for various reasons, and new Mono County Judge Mark Magit hadn’t yet been elected.

Judge Ball declared a mistrial in the two deadlocked charges, and remanded Batterham into custody. Ball, who is now retired, has 30 years of experience on the bench, and specializes in criminal trials. He has tried 100 homicides, as well as 12 death penalty cases.

Also known by her maiden name of Wisesmiller, Batterham was arrested on Aug. 30, 2007, along with her husband, Colin Batterham. At the time, the Batterhams were employed by Surat Singh, owner-operator of the the Mammoth Econo Lodge, Sara (then 30) as a manager, and Colin in hotel maintenance. The arrests followed what was called “a lengthy investigation” conducted by Detective Doug Hornbeck.

In 2008, the Batterhams were charged with creating a fictitious merchant account under Singh’s name, and routed almost $11,000 in transactions to another account registered to the Batterhams. Batterham maintained she had an employment agreement with Singh for her and Colin to receive 5% each of the Econo Lodge’s gross monthly revenue, which Singh said had never happened.

Singh further said he had never opened a credit card processing account with Innovative Merchant Solutions, and only dealt with Chase Merchant Services. Evidence showed that the IMS account was linked to a local bank account registered to Colin Batterham.

Mono County Deputy District Attorney Jeremy Ibrahim, who tried the case representing the People, said the original case, which he took over from Kyle Graham in early 2010, consisted of roughly 15 counts. Ibrahim decided it was best to consolidate the case, and narrow the focus to the five main charges leveled during the final trial.

During his closing remarks, Ibrahim characterized Batterham as an “opportunistic thief,” who is a “liar, malevolent and deceptive.” Batterham, he added, hated Singh and “felt cheated,” and waited for the perfect opportunity to implement her scheme: when her employer, Singh, was on vacation in India between July 2 and July 21, 2007. Batterham, he indicated, believed she had a right to the money, but invalidated any defense she could have mounted by trying to cover up her plan.

He further asserted that she stole the identity of an old family friend, Oklahoma-based attorney Christian Zeaman, when sending fake subpoenas for fake evidence and trying to pass those off as genuine. Ibrahim also outlined how Batterham was involved with sending threatening emails to Zeaman, in what he suggested was a blatant attempt to prevent him from testifying against her.

As part of her closing arguments, Batterham said she was “flattered … the DA wants you to believe I’m a criminal mastermind,” she told the jury. Batterham maintained that Singh’s testimony regarding the date of her hiring was inconsistent. She insisted that not only had the prosecution failed to prove she forged any of the documents in question, but also that the Mammoth Lakes Police Department had unexplained discrepancies in its record keeping methods and the chain of custody with regards to where, when and how evidence was obtained.

Batterham also argued that the total amount she was accused of stealing actually did amount to 10% of sales, and was proof she had such an actual deal, suggested by Singh, for that money. “Why not take the entire $111,000?” she asked rhetorically.

“Why take just the 10% and not the entire $111,000?” Ibrahim asked in rebuttal. “It sets up her defense.” He went on to add that there was no evidence of payments for such a commission, and that the route the so-called submissions took was itself highly suspicious, in that the money went from customer credit cards to the IMS account.

In post-verdict discussion, jurors said the deadlocks resulted at least in part due to a basic disagreement as to the accuracy of the MLPD chain of evidence on one of the forgery counts, and an inability to conclusively tie Batterham to the emails sent to Zeaman regarding the witness intimidation count.

Several of the jurors said they weren’t “prejudiced” by that fact that Batterham chose to represent herself, but at the same time found her lack of legal know-how “frustrating,” labeling it “a disservice.” Ibrahim said afterward that he thinks that, had she been properly represented by counsel, “we probably would have seen a very different trial.”

In a statement to The Sheet, Ibrahim said, “I would like to thank the Mono County jurors who judged this case, gave up their time to listen and analyze two weeks worth of evidence, and dutifully performed their civic duty. A special thank you to Judge Ball … his patience set the tone, and he masterfully controlled the tempo and feel of this trial. I would also like to thank Surat Singh, Det. Doug Hornbeck, Crystal Schaefer and the staff at the Mammoth Lakes Police Department, Tamara Donnelly, Frank Smith and Wade McCammond of the Mono County DA’s Office, and all the witnesses and support staff.  It took a team effort to present this case.”

Judge Ball is set to return for Batterham’s sentencing, which is scheduled for Dec. 19 at 10 a.m. She reportedly faces up to six years and four months, if given the maximum sentence on all convictions. “I will be waiting for the Probation Department’s sentencing recommendation and will file a statement regarding sentencing in this case,” Ibrahim told The Sheet.

Also on Dec. 19, Colin Batterham will stand trial on charges of embezzlement and conspiracy to commit embezzlement.