Canada-Squatting Quaids Skip Court in Santa Barbara-Squatting Case

Dynamic duo just can't seem to keep their appointments as they miss yet another court date stemming from their squatting case

By Josh Grossberg, Soo Youn Nov 02, 2010 7:20 PMTags
Randy Quaid, Evi QuaidAP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jonathan Hayward

Looks like the California "star whackers" won't be getting a shot at Randy and Evi Quaid anytime soon.

The paranoid pair, who insist  they are on a short list of celebs to be murdered, skipped out on a supposedly mandatory court date today in Santa Barbara for allegedly squatting in an upscale suburban home they once owned.

"Quaids are not present," Santa Barbara Senior Deputy District Attorney Lee Carter wrote in an email to E! News, adding that their attorney Robert Sanger reported the dynamic duo was "still in Canada."

The Quaids were due to enter formal pleas to charges of vandalism, misdemeanor trespass and (for Evi) resisting arrest stemming from the September break-in where they were found at the guest house of a Montecito property they had sold years ago.

Sanger submitted a request to excuse the Quaids' failure to appear because of their current legal imbroglio in Canada.

After blowing off an Oct. 18 arraignment, resulting in the judge handing down yet another warrant for their arrest, the conspiracy-loving couple made their way north, where they were nabbed by immigration authorities in Vancouver trying to pass through customs.

The Quaids subsequently applied for asylum, seeking refugee status on the grounds that their lives are being threatened by "star whackers" whom they allege killed Heath Ledger and David Carradine, set up Robert Blake, and might even be out to get Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears.

The situation north of the border prevented them from appearing at today's hearing. Randy has a Nov. 8 court date before the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada he's required to attend before he can make it back to California. As for Evi, she has claimed she is a Canadian citizen because her father was born there.

Still, today's nonappearance by the Vacation star and his missus, who's on probation for last year's bill-dodging antics at a local hotel, didn't exactly thrill the court.

Santa Barbara Superior Court Judge Barbara Geck cut Randy a break, agreeing not to issue a bench warrant for his arrest and not forfeit his $500,000 bond since he has no choice but to go before Canadian authorities. However, Geck wasn't as kind to Evi, slapping her with an arrest warrant while prosecutors suggested they may seek to extradite her.

So how did the kooky couple's attorney explain this fiasco?

Sanger believes the Quaids mistakenly assumed they were staying at a residence they still owned, suggesting that a deed transferring the property to the new owner party may have been forged. He told the court he would spend the next two weeks investigating and trying to confirm his theory.

That still didn't address the matter why the Quaids were AWOL however, prosecutors countered.

"This is now the third court appearance where they've promised to be here," Deputy D.A. Anthony Harris told the judge. "There's no guarantee they're going to be here in two weeks if the bonds aren't forfeited."

And the saga continues...

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