Bonnie Dumanis Subpoenaed in Michael Pines Case

On Wednesday, August 24, a superior court judge declined to quash a subpoena that was served on San Diego County district attorney Bonnie Dumanis.The subpoena reportedly demands her as a witness in the case against renegade attorney Michael Pines.

An attorney representing the D.A.’s office asked judge Timothy Casserly to withdraw (or make ineffectual) the subpoena, saying Dumanis would have no value as a witness. Defendant Pines, who is acting as his own attorney, said Dumanis “...knowingly and purposely aided and abetted the banks in stealing people’s homes.”

Pines told the judge, “The reason that she is doing it is that she is getting contributions from the banks.” Five felonies and 20 misdemeanors are now charged against former Carlsbad attorney Pines. An amended complaint was filed today by prosecutor James Romo.

The prosecutor alleges felony stalking and harassment of two persons who moved into a home they purchased after Pines’s clients were forced out of the same home in a foreclosure.

Seventeen of the misdemeanors allege that Pines continued to practice law after the California State Bar declared him “not eligible to practice law” in May of this year.

Bonnie Dumanis may or may not appear in the Vista courthouse for Pines’s preliminary hearing, now scheduled for Friday, August 26.

The subject of this piece, Michael T. Pines, is not to be confused with Michael Pines, a San Diego attorney.

Pictured: Michael Pines

Photographer: Nick Morris