PHOTO CREDIT: In this file photo, Phillip Garrido sits in court with his attorney and wife at his side. Plea negotiations in the kidnapping case continue today. Randy Pench, Sacramento Bee.
By Sam Stanton
sstanton@sacbee.com
PLACERVILLE -- The wrangling continues over how best to resolve the Jaycee Lee Dugard kidnap case, but it appears increasingly likely that accused kidnappers Phillip and Nancy Garrido may end up pleading before the case goes to trial.
Phillip Garrido faces 563 years in prison under an offer from the El Dorado County District Attorney, one lawyer in the case said today, while his wife faces 180 years, up from the 140-year offer made earlier.
The pair appeared in court briefly today and are set to return for a new hearing April 7, when it is possible that the case may be resolved.
But there are clear indications of impatience over how slow events are progressing and signs of animosity between Nancy Garrido's attorney, Stephen Tapson, and District Attorney Vern Pierson.
Pierson complained in court at his frustration over the "glacial-like pace" of the case after Phillip Garrido's attorney, Susan Gellman, asked for a slight delay before her client enters a plea on the indictment issued six months ago.
Pierson also said outside court that he would be issuing a written statement later today addressing comments Tapson made at the last hearing indicating Pierson had no compassion for Nancy Garrido.
Both Garridos have confessed to their involvement in the abduction of Dugard in 1991 when she was 11, Tapson has said, and Phillip Garrido will spend the rest of his life incarcerated regardless of how this case plays out because of parole violations pending in a previous Nevada case.
Tapson has been holding out in hopes that Nancy Garrido could someday win release from prison, but conceded today that would take heavenly intervention.
He had made a public plea after the last hearing for Dugard to issue a signal that she wanted Nancy Garrido to someday win release, but said today he had not heard any such message from her. Tapson has said Nancy Garrido, who grabbed Dugard off the street for her husband, was like a mother to Dugard and the two daughters she had as a result of the sexual assaults by Garrido.
But that comment offended Pierson, as well as the husband of former Garrido victim Katie Callaway-Hall.
Jim Hall pointedly noted after court that Jaycee's mother is Terry Probyn, and that she missed 18 years of her daugther's life while Jaycee was being held hostage in Antioch, much of that time in tents in the Garridos' backyard.
Call The Bee's Sam Stanton, (916) 321-1091.
Previous coverage:
Lawyer: Garridos confess to win leniency for Nancy; 'she was their mother' - Feb. 28, 2011
Phillip Garrido declared competent to stand trial in kidnap case - Feb. 3, 2011
Court bars coverage of jury selection in Dugard kidnap case - Jan. 28, 2011
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