by Taite Trautwein
Department 11 of the Yolo County Superior Court reconvened Wednesday afternoon to hear testimony in regard to a theft that allegedly took place last November in Woodland. Jose Guillermo Villegas is being charged with car theft.
The first witness to take the stand was Corporal Lee of the Davis Police Department, who continued testimony he had begun in the morning session. Lee, who was one of the investigators of the crime, made the arrest of the defendant on November 8, 2017, and acquired warrants to search the defendant’s phone. Lee pulled over the stolen silver Ford Focus after following it for several minutes. Villegas was driving with a passenger also present.
Most of Lee’s testimony came in a line of questioning from Deputy Public Defender Jose Gonzalez-Vasquez, who went over a packet of text messages allegedly from the defendant’s phone with the witness. Lee testified that the defendant’s phone had pictures of golf clubs that were allegedly left in the stolen vehicle on the night it was taken.
Corporal Lee claimed that on the night the arrest was made, the golf clubs were not in the vehicle.
Lee and Gonzalez-Vasquez also went over a text message exchange between Mr. Villegas and a friend, in which the defendant sent, “I came to get the car, do you want me to bring it to your house?” while also mentioning golf clubs. The witness claimed it was his impression that this was referencing the stolen vehicle and golf clubs.
Lee also claimed to have later interviewed the friend to whom the texts were sent. The officer claimed that in the interview the friend stated Villegas had arrived in a silver Ford Focus matching the description of the stolen vehicle and had offered to sell him some golf clubs.
The second and final witness of the day was the owner of the stolen vehicle. The owner claimed that he left his car parked in front of his house on November 5, but failed to lock his front door. 
On the morning of November 6, the witness claimed his and his roommate’s keys were no longer in their house and his car had disappeared.
Under questioning from Deputy District Attorney Williams, the victim stated he did not loan his keys out to anyone or give anyone permission to enter his house. The witness estimated the value of the vehicle at the time he purchased it to be around $13,800 and claimed he kept the car in very good condition up until the theft.
After the owner of the vehicle finished his testimony, the jury was dismissed for their mid-afternoon break, but the two attorneys and Judge Timothy Fall stayed in the courtroom to sort out some matters.
The main issue raised came from Mr. Gonzalez-Vasquez, who brought to the attention of the court his wish to examine the friend with whom the defendant was texting according to previous testimony. The issue is that the friend lives in what the defense attorney identified as a “compound,” which his investigators found intimidating.
Gonzalez-Vasquez asked for more time to be able to subpoena the potential witness before the jury deliberates. Both Mr. Williams and Judge Fall agreed this would be appropriate.
Contingent upon a subpoena being successfully delivered, the final witness of the trial will be examined Thursday morning, with the jury set to enter deliberation immediately afterward.
