A Santa Maria jury is set to begin deliberations Monday morning in the case of an attorney accused of defrauding three senior citizen clients in 2003 and 2004.

Attorneys gave closing arguments Friday in the trial of Alan Courtney, 53, whose law practice was based in Santa Ynez at the time the crimes allegedly happened. He has since moved his practice to Creston in northeastern San Luis Obispo County.

The trial began last month in Santa Barbara County Superior Court in Santa Maria.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Jerry Lulejian and Courtney's attorney Michael Scott agreed for the most part that the alleged victims in the case did not provide credible testimony.

However, Lulejian said this spoke to their vulnerability to Courtney taking advantage of them, while Scott said their lack of believability tore apart the prosecution's case at the core.

Courtney has been charged by the Santa Barbara County District Attorney's Office with: four felony false tax return counts, four felony perjury counts, two felony embezzlement counts, two felony elder abuse counts and one felony forgery count. In addition, he is charged with special allegations in connection with the embezzlement counts that more than $100,000 was taken.

Prosecutors alleged that Courtney stole about $113,000 from Rex Phillips of Solvang.

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Courtney represented Phillips, in his late 70s, and his wife during a home sale, according to court documents. The crimes are alleged to have happened between March 24 and Sept. 28, 2004.

Courtney is also accused of embezzling about $205,000 from Frank Cox, in his late 70s, and Betty Moran, in her late 90s, on July 23, 2003. Moran is Courtney's great-aunt and Cox is his cousin.

Prosecutors alleged the defendant, who represented Simi Valley residents Cox and Moran in a lawsuit related to a family trust, fabricated a fee agreement guaranteeing him 50 percent of any income from the case.

Cox and Moran said in video-taped interviews that Courtney said he would represent them in the case free of charge.

When the pair were awarded $410,000, Courtney claimed that a pre-existing agreement entitled him to half the money, according to court documents filed by the prosecution.

Lulejian said Friday in his closing argument the evidence showed that signatures from Cox and Moran were cut and pasted from a document onto the fee agreement with Courtney.

He pointed out the vulnerability of the victims in that Moran has eyesight difficulties and as for Cox, “he doesn't remember a lot of things, to say the least.”

Lulejian showed the jury video footage of Cox at first saying he didn't remember signing the contingency agreement, then saying he never signed it.

As for Phillips, Lulejian said he was greedy and would never give Courtney a gift or loan of his homestead money, as he said the defense has alleged.

The prosecutor said that Courtney then did not declare the embezzled funds from Phillips on his tax return.

During Scott's closing argument, the defense attorney cited several assertions of Phillips' dishonesty, including that he admitted to committing perjury in his debtor's exam.

Additionally, Scott alleged that Cox's daughter Ineta Kohler looted her father's and Moran's bank accounts.

Scott said he was not conceding that Courtney forged the fee agreement signatures for Cox and Moran.

“I don't think they remember much of anything in connection with these documents and what they signed or didn't sign,” he said.

Scott said that Courtney advised Cox and Moran for free, but wanted financial compensation when he became their attorney of record.

In the Phillips matter, Courtney did what Phillips asked him to do, Scott said.

He said his client committed no intentional defrauding on tax returns. Courtney simply followed the advice of his accountant, Scott said.

“He righteously believed he had a right to the money, and he took it and spent it. There's nothing criminal about that,” he said of the money Courtney got from Phillips.

During his rebuttal argument, Lulejian said Courtney had lined up numerous excuses for his actions.

“Mr. Courtney is trying to pull the wool over your eyes,” he said.

Samantha Yale can be reached at 739-2159 or syale@santamariatimes.com.

January 12, 2008