James Glenn Haskell, 41 (Solano County Sheriff’s Office)
A Solano County Superior Court judge has again postponed a preliminary hearing in the child molestation case against former Vacaville attorney James Glenn Haskell.
Judge John B. Ellis had previously scheduled Haskell, 41, for Wednesday’s hearing in Division 23, but a search of court records found the defendant will instead return to the Fairfield Justice Center at 9 a.m. on April 12.
Assistant District Attorney Shelly Moore told The Reporter the postponement is necessary to satisfy or complete “discovery,” the formal process of information-sharing between prosecutors and defense attorneys about the witnesses and evidence they will present in court.
As previously reported, the new court date follows a revelation in mid-September that the case was compounded not only by a request for an increase in bail but also by Moore’s filing of multiple new counts of serious crimes.
Haskell, a former associate attorney with the Reynolds law firm in Vacaville who is now reportedly unemployed and lives in Southern California, has sold his home in North Vacaville and is out of custody after posting $240,000 bail in May . He is represented by Fairfield criminal defense attorney Thomas Maas.
Moore filed an amended criminal complaint on September 15, adding five additional counts, four allegations of sexual abuse and one allegation of physical abuse of a young victim and three of the victim’s siblings.
The new charges, based on an investigator’s interview with one of the children, add to the original 13 counts, 10 felonies and three misdemeanors. The initial felony allegations involve sexual penetration by a foreign object while the underage victim was unconscious to physically harm a child, including strangulation, which would likely result in serious bodily harm.
The five new charges include four counts of indecent assault on a child and one count of cruelty to a child by inflicting injury, crimes allegedly committed between October 2018 and October 2019, according to the amended complaint.
Moore’s revised complaint also noted that the children were “particularly vulnerable” and claimed that the manner in which the crime was carried out “suggests planning, sophistication or professionalism”: Haskell “exercised a position of trust.” or lack of confidence to commit the offence”. ; and the allegations “constitute additional aggravating factors.”
In court on September 15, Haskell again pleaded not guilty to the new charges. If convicted in court, he faces two life sentences, Moore told The Reporter after the morning’s trial.
Court records show that Haskell was arrested by Solano County Sheriff’s deputies on a May 3 warrant.
He posted $170,000 in bail on May 4, but court records also show he was arrested again on May 5 when he posted an additional $70,000 bail, bringing the total to Raised $240,000.
On May 4, Haskell was also issued a criminal protection order barring him from any contact with four youths named in the order.
The Solano County Attorney’s Office filed its complaint on May 3, and Haskell pleaded not guilty to all charges the following day at indictment, denied all pleas and denied the allegations, court documents show.
