James Glenn Haskell

James Haskell Mormon Sex Crime Case Summary

According to FLOODLIT’s sources, James Haskell was once the LDS bishop of the Vacaville 2nd Ward.

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More charges filed against former Bay Area lawyer accused of child sex crimes

More charges filed against former Bay Area lawyer accused of child sex crimes
Judge orders James G. Haskell, 40, charged with four additional felonies and one new misdemeanor — among 18 allegations, most of them felonies involving his four adopted children— to return to Department 23 on Oct. 12 for a hearing on a DA motion to increase bail to $1.5 million

By Richard Bammer | Vacaville Reporter
PUBLISHED: September 21, 2022 at 4:33 a.m. | UPDATED: September 21, 2022 at 10:15 a.m.

The child sex assault case against former Vacaville attorney James Glenn Haskell has grown more complex in recent days, with the prosecutor filing several new serious felony charges and a motion to increase bail to $1.5 million.

Haskell, 40, who appeared Tuesday morning in Department 23 for the bail-increase motion and to set a preliminary hearing, heard Judge John B. Ellis, after conferring with the attorneys in the case, order him to return at 8:30 a.m. Oct. 12 for the bail motion and the new hearing-setting in the Justice Center in Fairfield.

Ellis also referred the matter to the Solano County Probation Department, which will issue a pretrial services report, and ordered Haskell, previously an associate attorney with the Reynolds Law firm in Vacaville, to submit to an interview with a probation officer.

Haskell, now unemployed and living in Southern California, has sold his home in north Vacaville and remains out of custody after posting initial bail amounts in May that totaled $240,000. He is represented by Fairfield criminal defense attorney Thomas Maas.

The latest developments in the case come after Deputy District Attorney Shelly L. Moore filed her amended criminal complaint on Sept. 15, adding five more counts, four felony charges alleging sexual abuse and one misdemeanor charge alleging physical abuse of a young victim, along with three of the victim’s siblings.

The new charges, based on an interview with one of the children, add to the original 13 counts, 10 felonies and three misdemeanors. The initial felony allegations span sexual penetration by a foreign object while the minor victim was unconscious to corporal injury to a child to assault likely to produce great bodily injury, including strangulation.

The five new charges include four counts of a lewd act on a child and one count of cruelty to a child by inflicting injury, by “physically assaulting the boy’s penis,” crimes that allegedly occurred between October 2018 and October 2019, according to wording in the amended complaint.

Moore’s revised complaint also indicated the children were “particularly vulnerable” and alleged three things: 1) The manner in which the crime was carried out “indicates planning, sophistication, or professionalism; 2) that Haskell “took advantage of a position of trust or confidence to commit the offense”; and 3) that the allegations “constitute additional aggravating factors.”

In court on Sept. 15, Haskell again pleaded not guilty to the new charges. If convicted at trial, he faces two life sentences, Moore told The Reporter after the Tuesday morning proceeding.

In his opposition to the bail increase motion, filed Monday, Maas argued that Haskell cannot raise an additional $1.1 million in bail, saying the amount “is tantamount to denial of bail,” therefore, a violation of the Eighth Amendment, a reference to excessive bail. Maas also asserted that the increased bail would violate the so-called “Humphrey decision,” a right in the state Constitution for a defendant to obtain release on bail from pretrial custody, except in certain cases of capital crimes, violent or sexual felonies, and serious threats of violence.

Additionally, Maas noted Haskell, who has no prior criminal record, has been fired from the Reynolds firm, is unable to get a job given the ongoing court proceedings, and has surrendered his passport to the court.

Maas suggested the defendant has had no contact with the victims since he was arrested and booked into Solano County Jail in May.

Notably, Maas added in his filing, one of the four children, the boy, was removed from temporary placement and was alleged to have committed sexual abuse against another minor, claiming during an interrogation that Haskell had “pulled and kicked his penis.” Another child alleged Haskell “years ago had repeatedly stroked her thigh.”

Court records show that Haskell — a Brigham Young University graduate, member of the California and District of Columbia bar associations and an Eagle Scout, according to biographical information at the Reynolds office website prior to its deletion — was arrested by Solano County Sheriff’s deputies on a warrant issued May 3.

He posted $170,000 bail on May 4, but court records also show that he appeared to be arrested again, on May 5, when he posted additional bail of $70,000, bringing the total to $240,000.

On May 4, Haskell also was subject to a criminal protective order, to have no contact with four youths listed in the order.

The Solano County District Attorney’s Office filed its complaint on May 3, and the following day at arraignment Haskell — a Georgetown University Law Center graduate who, at one time, was active in the Vacaville Rotary, Chamber of Commerce, and a volunteer with the Boy Scouts of America — pleaded not guilty to all counts, denied all enhancements and the allegations, court documents indicate.

On the Reynolds Law website before it became known that he had been arrested, Haskell was deemed a certified specialist in estate planning, probate and trust law, authorized to advise on business formation matters, partnerships, nonprofits, corporations, drafting and reviewing contracts, wills, trusts, and durable powers of attorney. His clients, according to the website, included ranchers and farmers, local teachers, law enforcement officers, real estate developers and agents, manufacturers, professionals and retirees.

Haskell was raised in California but also lived in Alaska, Guadalajara, Mexico, and Washington, D.C. Before attending law school, he worked at the U.S. Senate and at his grandfather’s cattle and grain exporting business in Southern California.

While attending the California Western School of Law in San Diego, where he graduated in 2009, he worked at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, serving as a judicial extern, or researcher and writer, for Judge Anthony J. Battaglia and at the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

While volunteering for the Boys Scouts of America, Haskell served as a Scoutmaster and commissioner. Besides his memberships in Rotary and the Vacaville Chamber of Commerce, he was a member of Will C. Wood’s Pep Squad and the Play 4 All Park, among many other nonprofits.

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Bay Area attorney charged in child sex assaults case get another new prelim date

Bay Area attorney charged in child sex assaults case get another new prelim date
Judge orders James G. Haskell, 40, to return to Department 23 for the hearing at 10 a.m. Feb. 17 in the Justice Center in Fairfield

By Richard Bammer | Vacaville Reporter
PUBLISHED: December 22, 2022 at 4:49 a.m. | UPDATED: December 22, 2022 at 5:11 a.m.

A Solano County Superior Court Judge again has rescheduled a preliminary hearing date in the felony child sex assault case against former Vacaville attorney James Glenn Haskell.
James Glenn Haskell (Solano County Sheriff’s Office)
James Glenn Haskell (Solano County Sheriff’s Office)

Judge John B. Ellis previously scheduled Haskell, 40, for the hearing on Friday in Department 23, but a court-records search Wednesday showed the defendant, who was last in court on Nov. 9, instead will return at 10 a.m. Feb. 17 to the Justice Center in Fairfield.

The new court date follows a mid-September revelation that the case grew more complex not only with a motion to increase bail but also with Deputy District Attorney Shelly Moore filing several new serious felony charges.

As previously reported, Haskell, a former associate attorney with the Reynolds Law firm in Vacaville and now unemployed and living in Southern California, has sold his home in north Vacaville and remains out of custody after posting $240,000 bail in May. He is represented by Fairfield criminal defense attorney Thomas Maas.

Moore filed an amended criminal complaint on Sept. 15, adding five more counts, four felony charges alleging sexual abuse and one misdemeanor charge alleging physical abuse of a young victim and three of the victim’s siblings.

The new charges, based on an interview with one of the children, adds to the original 13 counts, 10 felonies and three misdemeanors. The initial felony allegations span sexual penetration by a foreign object while the minor victim was unconscious to corporal injury to a child to assault, including strangulation, likely to produce great bodily injury.

The five new charges include four counts of a lewd act on a child and one count of cruelty to a child by inflicting injury, crimes that allegedly occurred between October 2018 and October 2019, according to the amended complaint.

Moore’s revised complaint also indicated the children were “particularly vulnerable” and alleged that the manner in which the crime was carried out “indicates planning, sophistication, or professionalism;” Haskell “took advantage of a position of trust or confidence to commit the offense;” and the allegations “constitute additional aggravating factors.”

In court on Sept. 15, Haskell again pleaded not guilty to the new charges. If convicted at trial, he faces two life sentences, Moore told The Reporter after the morning proceeding.

In his opposition to a bail increase motion, Maas argued that Haskell could not raise an additional $1.1 million in bail, saying the amount “is tantamount to denial of bail” and, therefore, a violation of the Eighth Amendment, a reference to excessive bail. Maas also asserted that the increased bail would violate the so-called “Humphrey decision,” a right in the state Constitution for a defendant to obtain release on bail from pretrial custody, except in certain cases of capital crimes, violent or sexual felonies, and serious threats of violence.

Additionally, Maas noted Haskell, who has no prior criminal record, has been fired from the Reynolds firm, is unable to get a job given the ongoing court proceedings and has surrendered his passport to the court.

On Nov. 7 the court received a pretrial services report from the Solano County Probation Department.

It is unclear from publicly available records if Ellis granted Moore’s motion for a boost in bail.

Maas suggested the defendant has had no contact with the victims since he was arrested and booked into Solano County Jail in May.

Maas added in his filing that one of the four children, a boy, was removed from temporary placement and was alleged to have committed sexual abuse against another minor, claiming during an interrogation that Haskell had “pulled and kicked his penis.” Another child alleged Haskell “years ago had repeatedly stroked her thigh.”

Court records show that Haskell — an Eagle Scout, a Brigham Young University graduate, and member of the California and District of Columbia bar associations, according to biographical information at the Reynolds office website prior to its deletion — was arrested by Solano County Sheriff’s deputies on a warrant issued May 3.

He posted $170,000 bail on May 4, but court records also show that he appeared to be arrested again, on May 5, when he posted additional bail of $70,000, bringing the total to $240,000.

On May 4, Haskell also was subject to a criminal protective order, prohibiting him from having any contact with four youths listed in the order.

The Solano County District Attorney’s Office filed its complaint on May 3 and, the following day at arraignment, Haskell pleaded not guilty to all counts, denied all enhancements and the allegations, court documents indicate.

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From the Vacaville Reporter on 2023-04-22:

“A 41-year-old former Vacaville attorney charged in a felony child sex assault case will face a trial in Solano County Superior Court in Fairfield.

After a two-day preliminary hearing that ended Friday afternoon, Judge John B. Ellis ordered James Glenn Haskell, accused of 16 counts, felonies and misdemeanors, to return to Department 23 for a held-to-answer arraignment at 8:30 a.m. May 3 in the Justice Center.

Haskell then left the courtroom with his defense attorney, Thomas Maas of Fairfield.

At the arraignment, Haskell again will enter a plea, and Ellis will set times and dates for other proceedings, including a jury trial.

Before Day 2 of the hearing resumed, Ellis met briefly in chambers with Maas, Deputy District Attorney Shelly Moore, who is prosecuting the case, and a social worker from Solano County Child Welfare Services.

Returning to the courtroom at the end of the meeting, Ellis said, “Given the nature of the case,” he would order the four victims, all minors when DA’s Office filed its criminal complaint in early May last year, to testify.

As testimony resumed for the second day, Sheriff’s Detective Daniel Schilling returned to the witness stand for more direct questioning by Moore.

He testified that one of the victims told him during an interview that Haskell allegedly had inserted his fingers into her vagina an estimated “20 or 30 times” while she was asleep, actions that started in January 2020 and occurred before her 16th birthday.

Upon cross-examination, however, Maas got Schilling to acknowledge that the girl was unsure if the crimes occurred before her 16th birthday.

From time to time, Maas requested that some of the testimony be stricken from the record, but Ellis tended to overrule the requests.

To counter Moore’s allegations of child abuse, Maas called two county child welfare employees, one of them testifying that, during supervised visits in February 2022, the children “appeared to be happy” when meeting with Haskell and his wife, Emily.

A third defense witness, also an employee from Solano County Child Welfare Services, said she took the children to a hospital for medical check-ups but did not discuss allegations of sexual abuse.

In her final remarks shortly afterward, Moore enumerated the allegations, 18 in all, among them sexual penetration by a foreign object while the minor victim was unconscious; corporeal injury to a child; assault, including strangulation, likely to produce great bodily injury, and strikes with belt; forcing two of the children to sleep on a bathroom floor, one of them for bed-wetting; four counts of lewd acts on a child; and cruelty to a child by inflicting injury, including pushing a child to the ground, then kicking the child, felonies and misdemeanors that allegedly occurred between October 2018 and up until early 2022, according to court documents and testimony.

Maas noted that one of the older victims delayed reporting sexual abuse, that some of the allegations were “suspect,” and that the four felony sexual assault claims were “the most overtly suspect set of claims.”

In the end, Ellis discharged two of the counts, leaving 16, including the four felony sexual assault charges.

As previously reported, on the first day of the preliminary hearing, April 12, Moore called as her first witness Solano County Sheriff’s Deputy Wes Simpson. He said he responded to a Vacaville high school on a report that Haskell, a former attorney with the Reynolds Law firm, had injured a child by striking her with a belt.

Interviewed on Feb. 3, 2020, the child told Simpson that she had been spanked “about 20 times” during the previous nine months, bruising her buttocks and upper thighs.

Simpson testified that he left the school campus to speak with Haskell’s wife, Emily, about the child’s statements and those of another child who heard the corporeal punishment.

Schilling, who also testified the first day, said he learned from a family friend the allegations of “sexual touching” by Haskell, that Haskell reportedly placed his fingers inside her vagina several times during an 18-month time period.

During the afternoon session, Schilling remained on the stand and Maas cross-examined him, with Schilling stating that the girl didn’t report the sexual assaults at the time because she was afraid she’d “be disciplined” like the other children.

Besides using video recordings of interview with the children, Maas also repeatedly referred to investigator reports, specifically what the children said, in an effort to weaken Moore’s case.

Schilling admitted Maas was correct that, in the case of one child, she did not report the sexual abuse for fear of being returned to foster care.

Haskell’s most recent court dates follow a mid-September revelation that the case grew more complex not only with a motion to increase bail but also with Moore’s filing several new serious felony charges.

Haskell, a former associate attorney with the Reynolds firm and reportedly now unemployed and living in Southern California, remains out of custody after posting $240,000 bail in May.

Moore filed an amended criminal complaint on Sept. 15, adding five more counts, including the four felony charges alleging sexual abuse and one misdemeanor charge alleging physical abuse of a young victim and three of the victim’s siblings.

Moore’s revised complaint also indicated the children were “particularly vulnerable” and alleged that the manner in which the crime was carried out “indicates planning, sophistication, or professionalism”: Haskell “took advantage of a position of trust or confidence to commit the offense”; and the allegations “constitute additional aggravating factors.”

In court on Sept. 15, Haskell again pleaded not guilty to the new charges. If convicted at trial, he faces two life sentences, Moore told The Reporter after the morning proceeding.

Court records show that Haskell was arrested by Solano County Sheriff’s deputies on a warrant issued May 3, 2022.

He posted $170,000 bail on May 4, but court records also show that he was arrested again, on May 5, when he posted additional bail of $70,000, bringing the total to $240,000.

On May 4, Haskell also was subject to a criminal protective order, prohibiting him from having any contact with four youths listed in the order.

The Solano County District Attorney’s Office filed its complaint on May 3 and, the following day at arraignment, Haskell pleaded not guilty to all counts, denied all enhancements and the allegations, court documents indicate.”