Murrieta City Councilman Warnie Enochs will be waiving his right to a hearing Monday at which a judge would have heard testimony about the 14 felony counts he faces, his attorney confirmed Friday.

A preliminary hearing is held so a judge can determine if there is enough evidence for a person to stand trial. It also is often a way for defense attorneys to get a glimpse into the prosecution's case against their clients.

"I already have all the information I could possibly get, so there is no reason for the (preliminary hearing)," defense attorney Virginia Blumenthal said.

When the defense waives its right to a preliminary hearing, the case then proceeds to the next step of pre-trial motions and then to trial. It is unusual for defense attorneys to waive such hearings.

Ingrid Wyatt, spokeswoman for the district attorney's office, said Friday that prosecutors had not received formal notification of Blumenthal's intent.

"As far as we are concerned, the prelim is proceeding on Monday," Wyatt said.

Enochs, 56, faces 14 felony counts including extortion, forgery and conspiracy. None of the charges filed against him involve his duties as a city councilman, a position he has held since 1995.

If he is convicted as now charged, Enochs faces up to eight years in state prison.

Court documents detail the criminal acts prosecutors allege Enochs, an electrical contractor, has committed over the last three years, much of which seems to have happened while Enochs was involved in a bitter divorce.

Some of that stems from a fire that destroyed a Lake Elsinore church under construction in July 2003. Enochs' company, A to Z Lighting, was contracted to do the electrical work while another Murrieta company owned by Dan Williams was contracted for the roofing job.

On July 3, 2003, a fire broke out at the partially constructed building, ultimately burning it to the ground. Prosecutors have charged Enochs with a number of criminal counts involving his interaction with Williams after the fire, such as Enochs procuring a false mechanic's lien from Williams, as well as extorting money from him.

Enochs also is alleged by prosecutors to have threatened another contractor, George Osmond, who did some tile work at Enochs' Murrieta home. Enochs demanded that Osmond write and sign a declaration that included derogatory remarks about Julia Enochs which he was going to include in his divorce proceedings, prosecutors said.

Osmond, however, didn't write up the declaration to Enochs' expectations -- including something about Julia having an affair with one of Osmond's workers -- so Enochs threatened to break his leg if he didn't do it the way he wanted, according to court documents.

Enochs is accused by prosecutors of ultimately adding details Osmond says he didn't write in the declaration and then forging Osmond's name.

Enochs has also been charged with three felony counts that allege he forged the name and badge number of a nonexistent Murrieta police officer on a "fix-it" ticket he received in August 2002, while on his boat on Big Bear Lake.

Blumenthal has previously said she believes there could be an issue with the statute of limitations on those counts having passed and that she was going to see at the preliminary hearing what evidence prosecutors had to back up those counts before deciding whether to ask a judge to dismiss them.

Friday, she said she's not going to worry about those counts now, instead deciding to wait until closer to a trial to decide how to proceed with them.

Contact staff writer John Hall at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2628, or jhall@californian.com.