Friend of Bay Area lawyer on trial for child sex assault recalls witnessing troubling ‘father-daughter dynamic’

A friend of former Vacaville attorney James Glenn Haskell, charged with several child sexual assaults and on trial in Solano County Superior Court, said he witnessed several instances of close physical contact between the defendant and his oldest adopted daughter, saying the “father-daughter dynamic was not natural.”

Calling himself a “family friend,” Trevor McKenzie, testifying Wednesday morning in Department 25, told Deputy District Attorney Shelly Moore that he saw Haskell and the daughter, a minor at the time several years ago, “snuggling” in the defendant’s Vacaville home.

When he visited Haskell and his wife, Emily, Haskell and the daughter were sitting side by side on a couch, he said, adding, “There was a lot of that.” The defendant, he said, often would have his arms around the daughter, one of three the couple had adopted. (The Reporter typically does not identify sexual abuse or sexual assault victims).

Responding to other questions from Moore, he said, “She would be hip to hip with James” or “on his lap” when he visited the Haskells’ Solar Hills home, the second of two the family lived in during past several years.

At least one time, McKenzie saw Haskell, 42, stroke the daughter’s shoulder with a middle finger, then down her arm and also scratched her back.

Haskell faces 16 counts, felonies and misdemeanors, alleged crimes that occurred between October 2018 and up until early February 2022, according to court documents and testimony. The children eventually were removed from the Haskell home.

Additionally, allegations filed later in the case included four felony counts of sexual penetration with a foreign object while the victim was unaware. Among the other counts are two felony charges for inflicting injury on a child. Haskell, who remains out of custody on bail, has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.

Another witness for the prosecution, Dawn French, said she knew Haskell “through the Mormon church,” where, in one ward, he served as bishop, that is, as leader of a ward, or local congregation, with duties similar to those of a pastor, priest or rabbi.

She recalled an instance involving Haskell that made her “uncomfortable,” an encounter between the defendant and a foreign exchange student.

French said that at social gathering she witnessed Haskell settling his hand on the girl’s “upper thigh.”

She was unsure how long Haskell had his hand on the girl’s thigh, but she said she “made eye contact” with him and he removed his hand.

“I thought it was inappropriate,” said French, who said she also witnessed Haskell, while at a backyard pool party, approach the foreign exchange student, who was sitting poolside, her legs in the water. While in the water, Haskell ended up between her legs and spoke to her.

Haskell’s lawyer, well-known Fairfield criminal defense attorney Thomas Maas, objected to Moore’s line of questioning, and Judge Janice M. Williams asked the jury to leave the courtroom for a time.

Maas, objecting to not knowing about the foreign exchange student matter before the trial began, asked the judge to order a striking of portions of French’s testimony and called for a mistrial.

Clearly frustrated, his voice rising, he said to Williams, “Do I have to call in a Spanish foreign exchange student” in order to cross-examine her?

Earlier in the trial, Maas also had objected to Moore’s introducing other evidence of uncharged sexual offenses. However, under Section 1108 of the Evidence Code, a court can admit evidence of uncharged sexual offenses to show a defendant’s propensity, or tendency, to commit sexual crimes.

Williams denied Maas’ request for a mistrial and called for the jury to re-enter the courtroom.

Maas briefly cross-examined French, who confirmed what she witnessed at the pool party.

The morning third’s prosecution witness, Todd Berry, also knew Haskell through the Mormon church and had first met him during a mission in Alaska some 20 years ago.

Moore then asked him if he recalled some instance involving Haskell “that made you uncomfortable?”

That instance, Berry said, was his seeing Haskell at a 2019 pool party grab his oldest daughter’s leg, “on the front part of her leg” while she was in the pool.

“You could see she was really uncomfortable about it,” he recalled.

There was another time when Berry witnessed Haskell lying with the oldest daughter on the grass in backyard. He was on his side, she on hers, his front torso against her backside, with his arm around her. She was “trying to get away,” but Haskell pulled her back at least once, he said.

Throughout the morning session, Haskell, expressionless and dressed in a brown-and-tan sweater over a white shirt and beige slacks, took notes constantly during the morning session.

The day’s first witness was continued testimony from Jaclyn Roubenes, an employee at Solano County Child Welfare Services, which intervenes on behalf of children who need protection from abuse and neglect.

Upon cross-examination, she told Maas that she visited the Haskell home on Feb. 3, 2022, when she conducted interviews with two of the four Haskell children. They were later taken from the home for medical evaluation. Roubenes also said she had asked the oldest daughter if she felt safe at home and the girl said she did.

The adopted boy told Roubenes that he had been forced to sleep on the bathroom floor, but Maas got her to admit that she did not get the boy and the second-oldest daughter to agree they had both been required to sleep on the bathroom floor of Haskell home.

Some days later, Roubenes said she became aware that the oldest daughter had told an investigator that Haskell had sexually abused her. Sheriff’s deputies were notified.

If convicted, Haskell faces two life prison terms and will be required to register as a sex offender.

The 12th day of the trial resumes at 9:30 a.m. Monday in the Justice Center in Fairfield.