Shannon M. Mick and Michael Paul Alexander entered not guilty pleas to perjury charges at a recent arraignment.
While Mick has retained Defense Attorney William Conwell, Alexander has retained Defense Attorney John Hinely. Neither defendant is in custody, but both are facing multiple charges.
Mick is charged with four counts of Perjury and Alexander is charges with two counts of Perjury.
The charges are a result from a 10-month long investigation after the Lake County District Attorney’s Office arrested the couple facing multiple perjury charges related to a child custody case.
According to DA Don Anderson, Mick, 33, and Alexander, 46, both from Live Oak, were taken into custody in late September after the DA’s office Perjury Investigation Unit alleged the two lied to the Court in both written documents and oral testimony.
In a family law case over the custody of a 3-year-old child, the child’s father filed for custody after hearing claims the child was subjected to physical fighting and alcohol abuse between the mother, Mick, and her boyfriend, Alexander. In June 2015, Mick and Alexander filed declarations under the penalty of perjury that the allegations were false. Both stated there has never been physical or alcohol abuse in their household.
During a hearing in July of 2015 for temporary restraining orders, Mick testified before Judge Michael Lunas the allegations of the father were not true.
At the trial in November of 2015, again before Lunas, Mick testified there has not been any physical abuse between her and Alexander and they do not consume alcohol. Alexander also testified that there has been no abuse or alcohol consumption.
Yet, also testifying at the trial was Sutter County deputy sheriff who testified that he responded to the Mick/Alexander residence on January 21, 2015 and again on June 20, 2015. The deputy sheriff testified that Mick was intoxicated and had been in a physical fight with Alexander on both occasions.
Furthermore, during the trial Mick testified she had never seen the June 3, 2015 declaration and that she had not signed the document, claiming her then attorney wrote the document and forged her name. However, forgetting about her prior testimony, she later admitted to drafting and signing the document.
Mick and Alexander were both arrested last September by an investigator from the Lake County District Attorney’s Office and Sutter County Sheriff’s Department.
Judge Stephen Hedstrom presided over their Arraignment hearings with Deputy District Attorney Daniel Flesch present in court as well.
Both Mick and Alexander entered pleas of not guilty to all counts and both denied the special allegations. Their matter is set on January 24 at 8:15 a.m. for Setting of Preliminary Examination in Department 4.
Both defendants are ordered to be present, unless a PC977 waiver is on file. A PC977 is a waiver of the defendant’s personal presence, hereby agreeing that the defendant’s interest will be deemed represented by the presence of the defendant’s attorney.
