By Mianna Muscat
SACRAMENTO – Defense attorney Susannah Martin did her best here in Sacramento County Superior Court, appealing to the judge to remove a prior conviction from Manuel Vasquez’s record to help him get drug treatment he, in desperation, begged the judge to help him obtain.
The defendant pleaded for drug rehabilitation, noting. “I do have a bad drug problem, I take full responsibility for everything I’ve done—it’s always drugs your honor, it’s always the drugs … you guys can send me back to prison … I’m gonna do the same thing when I get out … I’m gonna be honest with you … I need help … I need a drug program.”
But Judge Timothy Frawley unapologetically denied the motion.
“It’s not impossible that a judge would dismiss your strike conviction in the case of justice, but, based on what’s in front of me right now, I can’t in good conscience do that,” the judge told Vasquez.
The defendant was previously convicted of a felony for possession of meth with a firearm. Vasquez brandished a gun on his bicycle. He evaded an officer on his bicycle then collided into the officer’s car. A loaded 9 millimeter handgun was found in his backpack along with 1.24 grams of meth.
Prior to this possession of meth conviction, the defendant had two previous felony strikes convictions. In 2014 he was convicted for threatening bodily injury or death, and in 2018 he was convicted for theft.
Defense Attorney Martin justified her request for a Romero motion (to remove a prior strike conviction for purposes of sentencing) based upon her client’s claimed need for drug rehabilitation.
She told the court, “It’s kind of a similar pattern of him having meth on him and being on his bicycle, and he just desperately needs drug treatment. I believe Mr. Vasquez would take as much time as the court deems necessary—suspended for him to complete such a drug program.”
The judge’s denial was in part due to Vasquez’s lengthy, nearly 20-year criminal record stretching back to juvenile charges in 2002.
The defendant’s background includes a robbery conviction in 2007 where he threatened to stab the owner of a car if he did not hand over the vehicle, and a criminal threat conviction in 2014 when he threatened to kill his ex-girlfriend’s father and blow up his house.
Following Judge Frawley’s denial of the motion, a hearing was set for March 4 at 8:30 a.m. in Dept. 9 for a not guilty plea.
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