Hate crime hearing postponed again

A defense attorney for the only stateside suspect charged in the hate-crime death of Satender Singh was called "incompetent" Tuesday by a Superior Court judge apparently agitated over the latest delay to start a preliminary hearing.

Judge Gerald S. Bakarich questioned attorney David K. Henderson's ability to singlehandedly represent his client, Aleksandr Shevchenko, 21, before a courtroom packed with Singh supporters and Shevchenko's parents.

Henderson had asked the judge to continue the preliminary hearing, which was scheduled to start Tuesday after an earlier delay, in order for co-counsel Kathryn Druliner to help prepare Shevchenko's defense.

Druliner, who was in court in Placer County, was not present at Tuesday's hearing.

Her name was first mentioned by Henderson in court just two weeks ago before another judge who had declined a similar motion to postpone the preliminary hearing.

But on Tuesday, the request resurfaced before Bakarich, who ordered that the record show that Henderson was "not competent to proceed on his own" and warned that the defense be prepared for the hearing to start on the rescheduled date of Dec.11.

"She'd better be ready," Bakarich said of Druliner. "I don't want her coming in here, clicking her heels...telling me there's too much discovery."

Immediately after the hearing, Henderson walked quickly with Shevchenko out of the courtroom. Druliner was not available for an interview Tuesday.

Deputy District Attorney Rod Norgaard said it was unusual for a judge to find an attorney incompetent on the record.

He said he had two witnesses at the courthouse awaiting the start of the preliminary hearing.

"We're ready to go," he said.

Over the summer, Shevchenko had pleaded not guilty to a felony count of intimidating and interfering with a person's rights - a hate crime - for his alleged role in the July 1 fracas at Lake Natoma that led to Singh's death.

He remains free on $25,000 bail as authorities continue to search for Andrey Vusik, 29, the lead suspect in the case.

The West Sacramento man, whom authorities say punched Singh, was believed to have fled to Russia after the Fijian man's death in early July.

Family members of Vusik and Shevchenko told The Bee in earlier interviews that the case has been exaggerated; they said it was Singh and his group of friends who instigated the ordeal by dancing provocatively and swearing at Vusik's wife - an account dismissed by Singh's friends with him that day at the park.

Witnesses with Singh told investigators that the "Russian-speaking" group hurled anti-gay expletives and racial taunts at them for hours before Singh was punched.

Singh, after he was struck, fell backward and hit his head. He died four days later.