By Kelly Moran
SACRAMENTO – Defendant Vyjon Huggins late last week was sentenced to jail for two years after years of misdemeanors and felonies, ranging from arson and battery on a peace officers to resisting arrest and providing false information.
Judge Stacy Boulware Eurie in Sacramento County Superior Court – more or less noting it was about time Huggins was put away for public safety reasons – resisted the four year recommendation from the prosecution, on one end, and just probation as requested by the defense.
“The court is quite concerned that he was on a grant of formal felony probation for a strike offense,” the judge said, “ and subsequently he picked up a separate misdemeanor grant of probation.”
She also expressed worry for Huggins “in terms of rehabilitation ability to comply with the terms and conditions,” as well as the fact that he had failed to “abide by all laws and conditions of probation both at the time of sentencing in January, reiterated after March, picking up the April offense, and the allegation for the October offense.”
Huggins, who was on three grants of misdemeanor probation for resisting an officer at the time, and has a prior felony conviction from January for arson, is alleged to have verbally attacked a volunteer at a food bank, as well as throwing a can at a child’s head. 
Sheriff’s Deputy John Cumberland told the court that it took four officers to detain Huggins after he attempted to run away. They placed a spit mask on the defendant, because, according to Cumberland, “he spat on the ground and he used his body to wrestle away from our position to keep us from getting his hands behind his back.”
Huggins’ defense attorney, Ben Williams, questioned the level of force used by the officers to detain his client, asking “he didn’t swing at you or any of the other officers that day, is that correct? And he didn’t try to kick you or any of the officers or anything like that?”
Cumberland admitted that Huggins “didn’t try to kick us but was kicking his feet.”
In regards to the spit hood placed on his client, Williams asked with the officer, “he was spitting but not at you or the other officers that were arresting him?” Cumberland again admitted no spit was directed at them.
While defense counsel Williams confirmed that Huggins attempted to run, he told Judge Eurie, “however, Mr. Huggins did not threaten the officers, there’s no evidence of that,” and that his resistance was more “passive than active.”
Deputy District Attorney Brandon Jack, who represented The People in Huggins’ matter, pushed for a prison sentence of four years, which he considered to be the mid-term for the charges against Huggins.
“In his history, which is long,” said Jack, “he has an additional six misdemeanor (resisting arrest) convictions as well as a number of other convictions including drug offenses,” include providing an officer with false identification, and battery upon a peace officer.
“Mr. Huggins has a very long history, a lot of it has to do with resisting police, and resisting officers,” he continued.
“The court understands that there are significant offenses, like the one that he was placed on felony probation for originally, and that the resisting arrest, while significant to our law enforcement officers, is of a different character of nature, than the (arson) which he was sentenced for in January,” said Judge Eurie.
“I appreciate that that is a significant event given that Mr. Huggins has not previously been sentenced for prison for any of his offenses,” she continued.
According to Judge Eurie, time in prison for Huggins aligns with “the general objectives in sentencing…which include protecting society, punishment, deterring future crimes, and achieving uniformity in sentencing.”
Kelly Moran is currently a senior at Santa Clara University, though originally from Connecticut. She is majoring in English, with a focus on British Literature and Professional Writing, and is also minoring in Journalism.
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