Court appeal

Deepa Bharath

It’s hard to miss Charles Roman if you’re walking down the long,

narrow corridors of the Orange County Courthouse in Santa Ana.

“Did you know there are seven homicide cases going on today, just on

this floor?” he asks in earnest, stepping out of the elevator, flipping

through stapled pages of the Superior Court schedule.

Roman, an avid court watcher, has traveled from his Newport Beach home

to Santa Ana for weeks to watch the murder trial of Eric Bechler.

What’s fascinating about the case?

“It’s about the beach and boats and Newport,” he said. “It’s close to

home.”

Bechler, 33, is accused of murdering his wife, Pegye, during a boating

trip in 1997. At the time, the Bechlers and their three children lived in

a luxurious Cliff Drive home.

“I even remember before they built those homes on Cliff,” said Roman,

who has lived in the area for more than 40 years. For most of that time,

he worked at Westinghouse, until he retired 15 years ago.

Roman said he drives off to the court whenever “things get dull at

home.”

“I started doing this many, many years ago,” he said. “I always wanted

to be an attorney. I felt like that was my calling.”

And he never really cared for soaps.

“This is much better than TV,” he said.

Over the years, he’s seen hardened criminals, hung juries, whimsical

judges and feisty attorneys. His current favorite, though, is Deputy

Dist. Atty. Debora Lloyd, prosecutor in the Bechler case.

“Debbie is a cool girl,” he said. “She presents herself well, doesn’t

get riled up.”

He normally tends to root for the prosecution.

“They’re on the right side -- my side,” he said with a laugh. “I can’t

understand defense attorneys, why they would want to take the side of

someone” who’s been accused of a horrible crime.

He’s seen some funny courtroom moments too. He recalls a day in

Suzanne Shaw’s courtroom in the Harbor Justice Center, when famous

attorney F. Lee Bailey was arguing his case.

“He was walking up and down with loose change jingling in his pocket,”

Roman recalled. “I guess it annoyed Suzanne Shaw, and she asked him to

put the change aside. She sounded like that woman on TV, Judge Judy? It

was funny.”

The legal action keeps him entertained, he said.

“It’s a good way to kill some time. . . . I mean waste time. I hate to

use the word ‘kill’ here,” he added with a chuckle.