By Dalia Bautista Rodriguez
SACRAMENTO – It didn’t take much to bind two defendants—Dante Miller and Darrel Hodges—over for trial on possession of ammunition and firearms at their preliminary hearing last week here in Sacramento County Superior Court.
The testimony of one witness did the trick.
On June 20, Det. James Rouson from the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Dept. gang unit, said he arrived at the residence of defendant Darrel Hodges with a search warrant and saw an opened garage door 
with several subjects on site.
While other deputies went inside, Rouson told the court he remained outside and made contact with defendant Miller.
When Miller was detained, Detective Rouson noticed he kept moving his hands toward his right pocket. He searched the defendant. He found several knives, a glass pipe, and a loaded .22 caliber handgun. Two knives were on his belt and one was in his pocket.
Once Miller noticed the handgun in Rouson’s hands, he acted surprised and asked, “Is that a gun?” Miller also claimed Rouson was not allowed to search him, that he was not on probation and that the detective planted the firearm on him.
When the residence was being searched, a .22 caliber rifle was found in the bedroom and ammunition was found in the south side of the residence, adjacent to the bedroom. Detective Rouson noted that they were in plain sight, by a tree. The shotgun ammunition was for a 12-gauge, but one was not found on site.
In the master bathroom, deputies found an identification of Hodges, who Rouson recognized from a previous search warrant, noting Hodges was the main target. But Hodges was seen leaving the premises but was eventually detained a block away.
A safe, Det. Rouson said, was also found against the wall with shotgun conversion barrels, and three were for various shotguns. There were also two to three children present at the time of the arrests of the subjects in the garage. In total, with the people in the garage, there were around 10-15 people in the residence.
Judge Kristina B. Lindquist ruled there was sufficient evidence for charges in the case of both Miller and Hodges to move forward. The jury trial is to take place on Jan. 25, 2021.
Dalia Bautista Rodriguez is a third year- transfer at UC Davis and majoring in Community & Regional Development. She is originally from Guadalupe, CA.
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