Jury convicts Orange County attorney of sexually assaulting client

An Orange County Superior Court jury has convicted an attorney of sexually assaulting a client.

Adam R. Stull, a sole practitioner in Laguna Hills, was found guilty Wednesday of two misdemeanor charges of touching an intimate part of another person after a one-week trial that included testimony from the victim, whom he represented in a driving under the influence of intoxicants case.

The charges related to Stull touching the woman's buttocks as he massaged her in his office. The jury acquitted him of a third count that related to Stull allegedly touching the woman's vagina. His character witnesses included Superior Court Judge Debra D. Carrillo, but jurors were not told she is a judge.

Stull's attorney, Dana M. Cole, said Stull offered to give the woman a massage after she arrived at his office concerned about possible jail time after being arrested for a third DUI. He said Stull's contact with the woman wasn't sexual.

"The detective testified that the victim said it was voluntary, and she consented to being massaged, but she didn't consent to the touching of her buttocks," said Cole, a partner with the Law Offices of Cole & Loeterman in Los Angeles.

The incident occurred Nov. 7, 2017, and the woman reported it to the sheriff's department on Nov. 20, according to the district attorney's office. People v. Stull, 18HF0174 (O.C. Super. Ct., filed Jan. 30 2018).

Under the jury's verdict, Stull faces up to a year in jail and must register as a sex offender. His sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 22, but Cole said he plans to appeal. He cited several issues, including that the trial judge, Michael J. Strickroth, didn't allow Stull to serve as co-counsel.

Cole also took issue with the fact that Stull's accuser had a bench warrant for her arrest but was allowed to stay in a hotel during the trial. She was arrested after the trial ended Tuesday and has been in jail since, according to the Orange County sheriff's department.

"I find that very unusual and curious," Cole said.

The prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Michael Carroll, said jurors were "made fully aware" of the victim's warrant.

"I think the jurors did a good job of looking carefully at the evidence," Carroll said. "The victim was, I think, and the jury believed, very believable and credible."

Cole also questioned why Strickroth allowed testimony about a decades-old sex assault charge for which Stull wasn't convicted. The charge was part of a 1992 statutory rape case in Kern County that occurred when Stull was a deputy district attorney there. Stull's original charges involved two women, but he was convicted of assaulting only one. Stull later had his convictions expunged.

Strickroth allowed testimony from the alleged victim in the charge for which Stull was acquitted, Cole said.

"The judge had a complicated case to try to figure out. It was like a Gordian knot," Cole said. "But I think mistakes were made, and there are significant appealable issues."

However, Carroll said jurors also were told Stull had been acquitted of the Kern County charge about which his previous accuser testified. So long as jurors are informed of the acquittal, case law is clear that it's admissible under California Code of Evidence 1108, he said.

"Defense attorneys, I think they see appealable issues in a lot of things," Carroll said. "The trial judge that we had, I thought, did a really good job with putting everything on the record and making his rationale clear."

Cole expects a State Bar investigation to commence after the appeal is adjudicated.

"People think extremely highly of Adam Stull, and I know he has a lot of support in the legal community," Cole said. "It's very unfortunate that something like this can really wreak havoc on somebody's career."