Judge Tosses Out the Case Against Thoryk

A federal judge Tuesday dismissed the government’s case against a noted San Diego architect, concluding eight days into Paul Thoryk’s trial that there was insufficient evidence for a jury to convict him on charges of tax fraud.

The surprising ruling by U. S. District Judge J. Lawrence Irving came shortly after the prosecution rested its case against Thoryk, who was indicted in June, 1987, and implicated in what federal officials described as one of the largest drug manufacturing and trafficking rings in the Southwest.

Thoryk, 46, of El Cajon, reacted to the judge’s action with elation, embracing his attorney, Raymond J. Coughlan Jr. Several of the architect’s eight relatives seated in the courtroom wept with relief.

“Obviously I feel great and I thank God and Jerry (Coughlan) for making this all happen,” Thoryk said in an interview. “I wasn’t nervous during the trial because I knew I was innocent. I think I went through this for a reason and believe I am a better person now because of it.”

Coughlan criticized the government for indicting Thoryk and said his client “deserves an apology from the government.”

“This is a case that the U. S. attorney should never have brought,” Coughlan said. “It was brought with no thought at all by people who just didn’t care. This prosecution was careless, vindictive and totally lacking in sensitivity to a person who had never been in trouble before.”

Prosecutors declined to respond to those charges and expressed surprise at Irving’s unusual ruling, which abruptly ended the complicated and widely publicized case.

“We felt we had a strong case and we’re disappointed that the jury did not have the opportunity to decide it,” Assistant U. S. Atty. Edward C. Weiner said.

U. S. Atty. William Braniff echoed those statements and praised the performance of Weiner and Hugh McManus, a San Diego County deputy district attorney who was on special assignment on the Thoryk case.

“Both counsel did an excellent job in presenting a complex case involving very subtle issues of law in a very understandable fashion,” Braniff said. “We are disappointed that the court did not sustain our theory of the prosecution.”

Thoryk was named along with 36 others on June 16, 1987, in federal indictments that capped a six-year investigation involving 15 local, state and federal agencies. The indictments alleged that Manuel Battaglia was the leader of an organization that produced methamphetamine at laboratories here for national distribution. Federal prosecutors claimed the arrests “should have made a substantial dent” in the methamphetamine trade.

Battaglia, 46, of El Cajon, is serving a 20-year sentence in federal prison after pleading guilty to maintaining a continuing criminal enterprise through his methamphetamine dealings. The remaining defendants have pleaded guilty or are awaiting trial.

Thoryk, a prominent architect and developer who was once a partner in the controversial commercial development at the Mission Beach Plunge, was accused of helping Battaglia launder drug funds through real estate and investments.

He was also charged with conspiracy to defraud the government of taxes and of filing a false tax return for 1983 that claimed the payment of $43,782 in consultant fees to Battaglia.

Thoryk’s trial began Nov. 15 with prosecutors claiming that the $43,782 was not for consulting work but represented Thoryk’s role in a money-laundering scheme run by Battaglia. Weiner and McManus presented 10 witnesses over eight days in an effort to persuade jurors that the architect was a knowing participant in the drug kingpin’s operations.

But things began to look shaky for the government when the judge granted a motion by Coughlan to exclude hearsay testimony from a key prosecution witness. Irving ruled that testimony from government informant Paul Charles Maltz about conversations between Battaglia and Maltz that occurred during trips to Las Vegas in 1985 and 1986 were inadmissible.

“We weren’t pleased that the judge excluded those conversations, but they weren’t crucial to our case,” Weiner said.

Next, however, Coughlan filed a written motion asking that the judge throw out the government’s case because of insufficient evidence.

“There was no proof whatsoever that Paul Thoryk knew anything about the drugs, and there was affirmative proof that he did not know about drugs,” Coughlan said. “The only evidence against him in any way was this second-hand hearsay from the government’s bought witness, and it wasn’t credible in any way.”

Prosecutors disagreed, arguing that, even without the Maltz testimony, many documents and other witnesses corroborated the government’s conspiracy case against Thoryk.

Although defense motions asking that a case be thrown out are routine, they are rarely granted because a judge must determine that a jury could not find a defendant guilty even if viewing the evidence in a light most favorable to the prosecution.

In this case, Irving apparently saw things the defense attorney’s way. After excusing the jurors for lunch, Irving concluded that the government’s evidence was not sufficient to persuade a jury beyond a reasonable doubt of Thoryk’s guilt.

“I believed all along that we should have won that motion, but I didn’t really believe it would happen until it did,” Coughlan said.

Despite the happy ending that unfolded Tuesday, Thoryk said his legal ordeal has caused him a good deal of financial hardship. He estimated that the indictment and trial have cost him $5 million to $6 million during the last 18 months, including one $4-million contract for the design of a Nevada gaming resort that was billed as one of the largest in the world.

Thoryk has kept busy, however, designing a shopping center in New York and assorted other projects in Portland, Ore.; Seattle, and Baltimore. And he is optimistic that he can rebuild his reputation in San Diego.

“I’m a very positive person,” Thoryk said. “It’s been like a nightmare. It’s been like swimming in a hurricane with big chunks of concrete tied to your legs and with your arms strapped behind you.

“I have lost a lot and suffered a lot, but I have managed, and I will move on.”