The Vanguard Court Watch Fifth Annual Event this year will be “Preventing Wrongful Convictions,” on November 14 at 5 pm at the Galleria in West Sacramento. This streamlined event will feature three speakers and a panel discussion on Wrongful Convictions.
The keynote speaker will be Justin Brooks, Professor at California Western School of Law and Director and Co-Founder of the California Innocence Project. He has been recognized several times by the Los Angeles Daily Transcript as one of the Top 100 Lawyers in California. In 2010 and 2012, California Lawyer recognized him with an “Attorneys of the Year” award.
Justin Brooks co-founded the California Innocence Project 16 years ago. He has exonerated several high profile clients, including football player Brian Banks.
Another client, Michael Ray Hanline, had served 36 years in prison for a murder he did not commit. He was freed from prison in November and the DA announced in April that he would not be retried.
The LA Times reported, “Prosecutors believed Hanline became jealous after learning that he and McGarry were romantically involved with the same woman. They alleged Hanline and an accomplice killed McGarry in 1978. Hanline was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Years later, officials discovered that DNA evidence collected at the crime scene did not match Hanline’s or that of his alleged accomplice, according to court documents. A key witness was also under the influence of drugs when she testified against him.”
The Times noted that when Justin Brooks started the California Innocence Project 16 years ago, Mr. Hanline’s letter was one of the first he received.
The program will also feature Rick Walker, an exonerated inmate and a board member of the Northern California Innocence Project. In 1991, Rick Walker was
convicted of murder in the grisly death of a young California woman. He was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
After 12 years in California’s toughest prisons, from San Quentin to Pelican Bay, Rick Walker was at last exonerated in 2003.
Finally, Advocates for Ajay Dev will do a presentation on the case of Ajay Dev who was convicted in 2009 in Yolo County for the rape of his adopted daughter. The case is currently on appeal, but the Vanguard and many supporters have come to believe that Mr. Dev is wrongly convicted.
For Vanguard coverage of that case see the analysis of the appeal part 1 and part II.
The speeches will be followed by a panel discussion on the issue of wrongful convictions.
The event will feature dinner and drinks. Due to time considerations and by request, the Vanguard has omitted the awards portion of the evening.
The event will take place on Saturday, November 14, 2015, from 5 to 8 pm. It will be held at the West Sacramento Civic Center Galleria located at 1100 West Capitol Ave, West Sacramento, CA 95691.
Vanguard Court Watch Annual Dinner: Preventing Wrongful Convictions
This is the Vanguard Court Watch’s fifth annual dinner. This year we will be at the Galleria in West Sacramento. Our topic is Wrongful Convictions.
Speakers:
Justin Brooks, California Innocence Project
Rick Walker, Enonerated Inmate, Board Member NCIP
Advocates For Ajay, Advocates for Wrongfully Convicted Yolo County Man
Doors open at 5 pm. Speachers at 5:30. Panel discussion at 6:30. Question and answer to follow.
Tickets $50 in advance, $55 at the door.
Sponsorships start at $100. Tables for $350 (eight seats).
To purchase tickets or sponsorships please go here.
People should attend. Gang zones lead to over charging and over convicting.
OMG, get over it. Stop defending gangs.
I am questioning public policy, lowering the standards for gangs. Officially lowing the standard for gangs. What are the implications? More gang members officially. Mr. Reyes sounded like Alice in Wonderland, but by in large, he was telling the truth. It was not gang authorized, it was not a gang hit. It was spur of the moment, stop the car, let me out. Not something that was given much thought. It was an act of cowardance and stupidity, by a poser. The Jury had made up their minds, based on tatoos, not based on eye witness testimony. Tatoos, like keys, are easily duplicated.
Lowell, I hate to tell you this, but your daughter drove a gang member to shoot someone, she then drove him away, she then took him to buy lottery tickets and meth pipes, and then she went to rite aid and bought him toiletries. Then she had sex with him, then she went to jail where she proceeded to write him love letters as well as act like a giddy school girl towards him in court. THESE ARE FACTS.
I also want to tell you that she DID work as a prostitute, its a fact, not an opinion. If she was paid enough, she did have sex for money. FACT.
It’s like you are in denial, trying to protect Michael Reyes for some reason. Let me say this, he used your daughter, he got her to drive him around, he had sex with her, he got her to get hotel rooms for him, he got her to drive him to shoot Ernie, then he got her to take him to buy more meth, and meth pipes, and lotto tickets, and hide her car, and take your car, and then have sex with him, and then stay at the motel room until the police showed up. These are proven facts, admitted to by the defense attorneys,…..
I am questioning public policy, lowering the standards for gangs. Officially lowing the standard for gangs. What are the implications? More gang members officially. Mr. Reyes sounded like Alice in Wonderland, but by in large, he was telling the truth. It was not gang authorized, it was not a gang hit. It was spur of the moment, stop the car, and let me out. Not something that was given much thought. It was an act of cowardice and stupidity, by a poser. The Jury had made up their minds, based on tattoos, not based on eye witness testimony. Tattoos, like keys, are easily duplicated.
So what? He committed a crime, it benefited the gang. That’s all it takes.
[moderater] I have removed most of your post. Please stop the name-calling and the derogatory personal comments.
Seriously? How much sympathy should we have for you? You keep crying that it was “A different world” “A middle class world”. It’s the same world! A crime is a crime! Murder is murder.
[moderator] Again.
Really? Damn… It’s reality……
It’s nt name calling, it’s fact. Damn,.. how about you just point out the words you don’t like? instead of deleting the whole post
[moderator] I will continue to remove or edit your posts until you abide by the Vanguard comments policy.
Go ahead, remove everything I say, apparently I can’t have an opinion. I can’t speak. Even if I self moderate and don’t use vulgar language, or try not to make “personal attacks” you delete. Unfortunately, some times its about personal attacks.
You guys are the biggest pussies I have ever seen. I mean really? Are you about free speech? or are you pussies?
How about stop moderating everything I say! You guys are really weak. You really are. You are full of crap. You are weak. You should just shut this site down. Cause you edit everything. You are a bunch of pussies.
You guys are the biggest pussies I have ever seen. I mean really? Are you about free speech? or are you pussies? I wrote a 5 paragrah story and you deleted it because you did not like it. You are crap.
Moderater….. go ahead and remove it. NOTHING I SAID WAS BAD. You are an idiot.
So what? He committed a crime, it benefited the gang. That’s all it takes.
[moderator] Ok, I’m not going to do this again, but here is your previous post edited to redact the words and phrases that caused me to pull it.
You can click here to see it bigger: http://davismerchants.org/vanguard/NoneYaBidness%20edited2.jpg
Look at all the black outs….. Censorship at it finest…..
It’s the truth though, like it or not. Just the way it is.
Finally, you you post and don’t edit. ………………
What did I say that deserved censorship? Cowards.
NoneYaBidness, I’d like you to apply a reasonability test to your posts. Specifically, would you be posting with the same content and language if you were posting using your real name?
[moderator] edited
In closing, although I am not a lawyer so this is opinion, I believe that many, if not all, of the things you have asserted are facts are not actually facts, but rather they are allegations. Have any of the things you have discussed been corroborated as facts?
“I believe that many, if not all, of the things you have asserted are facts are not actually facts, but rather they are allegations”
In one breathe you state that you believe, much of what I said are not facts, then in the next breathe you ask me if they are facts or not. I don’t care what you believe. If you went to all the court sessions like I did, then you could speak. Well, we will never know. but I can say this. It was testified in court under oath. So….. In reality, unless you have a video of all of them that day, ( And a video could always be edited now can’t it) I guess NOTHING is fact now is it. Someone could always say a witness lied, or prosecution lied, etc…. But in this situation, almost everything I said, could be proven as fact. Like it or not.
If you question it, I guess you need to do some research now don’t you.
“I believe that many, if not all, of the things you have asserted are facts are not actually facts, but rather they are allegations”
Why do you believe this? I mean, what rock did you crawl out from? Did you even follow this case? I mean really? 90% of what I said was testified in court. There was video, receipts, witness testimony, transcripts….. What are you even talking about? How do you “believe that its not fact”? [moderator] edited
Matt, let me say this. I know Liberty personally, and I have talked with her many times through all this. Unfortunately of course I can no longer be her friend. But i can tell you this, she said alot. And my opinions are not based on crap. And she is guilty of what they said. It hurts, but its true. It’s FACT.
Don (as moderator)… you need a pen that is more opaque. I was able to read every word. You were right in moderating on this one.