The Davis Vanguard announces two new additions to our Board – Crescenzo Vellucci and Joshua Kaizuka.
With the Vanguard expansion into Sacramento for coverage of the courts, both new members are Sacramento County residents with a background in law. The board now consists of ten members and meets on a monthly basis.
“We are really excited to have two individuals who have long histories of important work in the community,” said Vanguard founder and CEO David Greenwald.
Cres Vellucci has been a longtime advocate for civil rights and has worked extensively with the National Lawyer’s Guild, helping activists who have legal clashes during protests.
“I met Josh Kaizuka when he and fellow attorney Mark Merin were challenging the gang injunction starting in 2009,” he added.
Cres Vellucci is a reporter for the Davis Vanguard for the Sacramento County region. He is a former longtime daily newspaper and wire service reporter/editor.
Vellucci has worked for a number of news publications, including the Sacramento Bee, Woodland Democrat and Fairfield Daily Republic. He was bureau chief of a political wire service that covered the State Capitol, and a war correspondent in Vietnam.
Vellucci has been a board member of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Sacramento, and is currently an officer and board member with the National Lawyers Guild of Sacramento.
With over 15 years of legal experience, Joshua Kaizuka started as a Deputy Public Defender in Yolo County, then for a few years was a civil rights attorney, and back to criminal defense as a private attorney. He has vigorously and successfully represented well over a 1000 clients in adult and juvenile criminal defense from the most minor to serious strike cases from start to finish, including jury trials over his 15 years of experience in criminal defense.
Kaizuka is also admitted to practice in the U.S. Federal Courts for the Eastern and Northern District Courts of California.
In addition to his legal work, Kaizuka is on the board of various non-profit organizations including Asian/Pacific Bar Association of Sacramento (ABAS), ABAS Law Foundation. He also volunteers time for the Pro Bono 1983 Panel for the U.S. Eastern District Court, judging law school competitions, guest speaking/lecturing at local colleges, mentoring law students, helping homeless organizations, and pro bono legal work involving First Amendment issues.
Kaizuka has been active in the current resistance movement to Trump’s immigration and detention push, representing the Japanese-American community at a variety of protests and rallies.
