Son of ex-‘Real Housewife’ wins legal battle on jail housing

SANTA ANA — An Orange County Superior Court judge ruled Tuesday that the son of a former “Real Housewives of Orange County” cast member can remain in Santa Ana’s jail until his trial, blocking the city’s efforts to hand the defendant back to the custody of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

Santa Ana jail officials sought to evict Joshua Waring and return him to the Orange County Jail system, but Orange County Superior Court Judge Jonathan Fish denied the request. Santa Ana officials had argued they had a right to do it based on its contract with the county.

However, Waring argued that he knew nothing about those terms and that he feared going back to the county’s jail, saying he might be attacked again by an inmate or targeted for abuse by sheriff’s deputies.

Fish also ordered that Waring’s dental and medical needs to be addressed immediately.

Waring has an exposed nerve on his gums and needs five crowns, his attorney, Joel Garson, said.

Garson said officials with the city and the county have been resisting paying for the dentistry. Waring has not been receiving his proper dosage for anti-addiction prescription medication, which he has previously complained about, Garson said.

Waring claimed the city wanted to boot him from its jail because he has filed multiple grievances related to dental care and the medication as well as a lack of time out of solitary confinement, where he was placed for his protection.

The deal to house Waring in the city’s jail came after he was attacked by another inmate in October. Waring has also alleged a sheriff’s deputy in June 2018 opened fire with a pepper ball gun in the unit where Waring was housed.

“There was absolutely nothing that precipitated those shots, and a deputy shot at least half a dozen pepper balls at defendant’s and other inmates’ locked cells,” Garson wrote in a court brief. “Several deputies were called as witnesses in a bail hearing (for Waring), and all asserted their 5th Amendment privilege.”

Garson also raised questions about how committed deputies were to Waring’s safety because his client was let out with another inmate when they were in a protective custody area where two inmates should not be out at the same time.

Waring is also part of a federal class action lawsuit alleging a variety of issues at the county jails. Waring’s case also brought to light a scandal involving the improper recording of phone calls between attorneys and their clients from the jails.

Waring is charged with three counts of attempted murder for allegedly shooting then-35-year-old Daniel Lopez outside a home in Costa Mesa on June 20, 2016. Two other people escaped injury in the drive-by attack.

Waring is the son of Lauri Waring Peterson, who has appeared on 50 episodes of the alternative Bravo cable series “Real Housewives of Orange County,” mostly between 2006 and 2008. Her last two appearances on the show were in 2016.