Nancy Garrido's former attorney, dismissed this month after a claim that he talked up a book or movie deal about the Jaycee Dugard case at a golf club bar, wants back on it — and Garrido supports the idea, court documents show. But a state appeals court has denied the plea.

El Dorado Superior Court Judge Douglas Phimister removed court-appointed attorney Gilbert Maines this month after a closed-door hearing. The appeals court denied the lawyer's appeal Wednesday, leaving the decision to the county court.

Garrido and her husband, Phillip, face 29 felony counts in the 1991 abduction and a series of rapes throughout Dugard's childhood at the couple's home near Antioch. Authorities say the couple snatched 11-year-old Jaycee off her South Lake Tahoe street and spirited her back to the house and a hidden backyard lair of sheds, tents and outbuildings, where Jaycee gave birth to two girls fathered by Phillip Garrido.

Sworn declarations in the appeal suggest what led the judge to dismiss Maines.

Eduardo Bartolome, a bartender at Cold Springs Golf and Country Club, near Placerville, declared that Maines had two drinks after lunch there Oct. 30, never acting drunk. Bartolome understood that the court had heard testimony that Maines "was discussing the case in detail," at the bar that day, and that "he was talking to me about a book deal or making money through some kind of book or movie arrangement following the trial in this matter,"


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his statement says.

"No such conversation ever took place."

A fellow club member, Sam Cooper, signed a similar declaration. Maines dismisses conversation about the case, Cooper declared, telling members "he comes to the club to get away from all of that."

Nancy Garrido also signed a declaration, saying she "did not really understand what was going on" at a Nov. 5 hearing on the issue.

"I have a relationship with Mr. Maines and I know and I trust him," she declared.

Police arrested the Garridos Aug. 26. Both remain held without bail. Nancy Garrido is scheduled to appear in court Monday in Placerville.

Bay Area News Group reporter Denis Theriault contributed to this story.