Retrial Set for Tarzana Man Charged With Kidnaping Judge

A new trial date was set Tuesday for a man accused of attacking a Van Nuys municipal judge while she was jogging near her home in January, 1986.

Stephen Andrew Weible’s first trial ended in a mistrial earlier this month when the jury reported it was hopelessly deadlocked. After more then 10 hours of deliberation, jurors said they were split 9 to 3, with the majority in favor of acquittal.

Weible, 28, of Tarzana is charged with kidnaping and attempted rape in the Jan. 4, 1986, attack on Judge Leslie A. Dunn.

“We believe he is the person who committed the offense,” David R. Disco, head deputy district attorney in Van Nuys, said on Tuesday, explaining why he sought a new trial.

“There was no jury verdict in the case,” Disco said. “It’s a serious matter.”

Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Alan B. Haber, who presided over the first trial, scheduled the new trial to begin March 31.

Defense attorney Barry Levin said the prosecution’s decision to try the case again was disappointing, but not surprising since the victim is a judge.

“The political realities are such that the judge will have an impact on a prosecutorial agency,” Levin maintained. “It’s because of who she is. I think she’ll get as many trials as she wants.”

Disco said Dunn’s judicial position had no bearing on his decision to ask for another trial. “Absolutely none,” he said.

Dunn, 38, testified during the first trial that she was jogging near her Tarzana home when a man grabbed her, pulled her into his car and drove to the service entrance of Collier Street Elementary School in Woodland Hills.

Dunn said she struggled and eventually opened the car door and fled. She said her assailant pursued her at first, then ran back to his car and drove off.

The jury foreman in the first trial said the lack of physical evidence linking Weible to the crime had the greatest influence on jurors who voted for acquittal.

But one of three jurors voting for conviction said she was swayed by Dunn’s identification of Weible as her assailant from a photo lineup.

In 1982, Dunn had sentenced Weible to probation and counseling after he pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of disturbing the peace. He had been charged with misdemeanor battery.

Dunn testified that she did not recognize Weible from that incident, and authorities said the two cases are unrelated.

Dunn declined Tuesday to comment on the case.