The upcoming trial in a multi-million dollar lawsuit filed by the wife of Sheriff Gary Penrod against a High Desert newspaper publisher was delayed until next year because of scheduling conflicts.
The announcement came this morning during a trial readiness hearing in San Bernardino Superior Court.
Another readiness hearing was set for Jan. 8, and a jury trial is scheduled for Jan. 12. In the meantime, lawyers in the case will be preparing pretrial motions and responses. One such motion to bifurcate, or divide, the trial into three phases for liability, damages and punitive damages will be addressed in December.
Penrod's wife, Nancy Bohl, filed a libel suit against Valley Wide Newspapers, a collection of newspapers owned by Raymond Pryke that includes the Hesperia Resorter, in June 2000.
In various articles, the papers accused Bohl, a psychotherapist and owner of The Counseling Team International, of using her relationship with Penrod to win Sheriff's Department counseling contracts and leaking deputies' confidential psychiatric information to the sheriff.
Bohl denied the allegations while Pryke, in an earlier statement, has called the newspaper's articles "factually accurate."
A judge ruled in 2005 that the articles impugned the integrity of Bohl and The Counseling Team, and he ordered Pryke to pay $3 million. An appeal last year overturned the decision.
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