By Özge Terzioğlu
WOODLAND – Confusion plagued Yolo County Superior Court Judge Peter Williams’ court Friday—he had one defendant who should have been released days earlier, and another one who was there only because he said he didn’t have bus fare money after his release from a Sacramento jail.
It all worked out, but only after court and other county staff sorted it out.
In the first case, defendant Allen Charles Foster was not released on his set release date of Nov. 10 because of some “alarming statements” he made about his victim while in custody.
When defendant Foster’s case was called, Deputy District Attorney Robin Johnson said, “I have no idea what’s going on with this case.”
Judge Peter Williams echoed her sentiment, saying, “If you find anything let me know because my knowledge is zero, too.”
Stan Tupou with the Probation Office stepped in and said the defendant was supposed to be released on Nov. 10.
However, an incident report was filed about comments the defendant made while he was in custody, noting that officers in charge of his release thought it was necessary to revoke the defendant’s supervised own recognizance (SOR) release for the sake of the public’s and the victim’s safety.
The details of his comments were not given. The other judge, Judge Dan Maguire, who ordered defendant Foster’s release for Nov. 10, signed off on the officer’s request to not grant Foster his SOR release.
Judge Williams said the judge from the morning session continued this case to next Wednesday Nov. 18, at 1:30 p.m. because of the allegations made by the officers. He told the defendant that, next week, they’ll discuss whether he should be released for supervised own recognizance release or if he should stay in custody.
DDA Johnson and Judge Williams were not sure which department the case would be in. Judge Williams said the minute order required this case to be heard in Dept. 1, and for the trial to be in early December.
DDA Johnson called the other DDA who was on this case, and he said the case needs to be heard in Dept. 14.
Judge Williams said he would talk to the other judge, but for now, he scheduled the case to be heard next November 18 at 1:30 p.m. in Dept. 1.
In another case in Dept. 1, defendant Eric Loyden asked the court to consider that he was “released from Sacramento County Jail with no bus fare, no nothing,” which is why he failed report to his probation officer.
Deputy Public Defender Ron Johnson substantiated his frustrations. He said Loyden was released from custody on the 29th of October, and he was supposed to report on the 30th. He was released on his own recognizance while waiting for placement into an outpatient program.
Jennifer Martinez of the probation office chimed in from her car, explaining the defendant must now serve a mandatory 18 days for his failure to report. She also said he had plenty of time after his release, one week, to report.
The defendant disagreed and said he only had a couple of days.
PD Johnson corrected Martinez and said “if [the defendant] was found in violation, it’s 180 days, but he hasn’t been found in violation by the court.”
Judge Williams intervened and said Loyden needs to be in a program, and he should be kept in custody until he can get placement.
Agitated, defendant Loyden shook his head and laughed in disbelief: “But that’s what I just went through.”
Judge Williams set the defendant’s bail at $20,000.
Defendant Loyden’s next hearing is Nov. 30 in Dept. 7 at 1:30 p.m., but if he’s in an outpatient program at this time he will not need to appear.
Özge Terzioğlu is from San Diego and she is a sophomore at UC Berkeley majoring in Rhetoric and minoring in Turkish.
To sign up for our new newsletter – Everyday Injustice – https://tinyurl.com/yyultcf9
Support our work – to become a sustaining at $5 – $10- $25 per month hit the link:
Kafka is laughing so hard he is crying while these guys are suffering in jail.