HAWTHORNE : Warwick’s Retrial in Missing Dog Case Is Set

A judge appointed an attorney to represent former Planning Commissioner Edie Warwick at a hearing Tuesday in preparation for her second trial in connection with the disappearance of a mixed chow dog.

Judge Dudley W. Gray told Warwick that she would have to reimburse the county for some or all of the costs of defending her because her income was not low enough to qualify her for a public defender, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Ted Lamb.

Another hearing will be held May 25. A trial date may be set at that time, Lamb said.

The first trial ended Feb. 17 when jurors deadlocked 10 to 2. The majority voted to convict Warwick of taking lost property and interfering with a police investigation.

The dog is still missing; Warwick said she has no idea where it is and has denied she has hidden it.

Joseph and Vicky French lost their 2-year-old black chow mix in September at the same time Warwick found a dog wandering in her Lawndale neighborhood. Warwick took the dog home, called it Lady, and placed a “lost dog” ad in a local newspaper.

When French and his family, who lost a dog named Cassie, responded to the ad, Warwick was not convinced that French was the owner. She refused to give the dog up.

On Sept. 26 Warwick said she went shopping in the evening, and when she returned, only her own two dogs were in the back yard--not the controversial black chow mix.

The uproar over Warwick’s involvement in the case led to her losing her seat on the city Planning Commission and landed her husband, Ervin Ladon Warwick, in jail for allegedly intimidating a witness during the trial. He is out on bail and awaiting arraignment on that charge.