By Zahra Abbas
SACRAMENTO – Domestic violence defendant Daniel Farajifar—a new lawyer—asked that his bail not be raised after the judge here in Sacramento County Superior Court said he was a danger because of all his “weaponry.”
He lost that motion and his bail was set at Wednesday’s bail hearing at $50,000.
Supervising Public Defender Joe Cress explained to the court that Farajifar is a law school graduate who has passed the bar and lives with his parents in Davis.
He added that only an hour before the hearing, he had spoken to the complaining witness, who indicated that she is fine if the defendant is released from jail as long as she is granted a no contact order.
Cress said the defendant, with the help of his parents, is able to make the bail amount that was previously set to “preserve the defendant’s career.”
Defendant Farajifar and the victim were in a previous “dating relationship” that lasted three months, with no children. They broke up a day before the incident occurred, according to the facts presented in court.
According to the police report, there was a landlord-tenant issue, causing a conflict of some kind and at 6 p.m. the defendant was seen “banging on the front door” of the victim, and “demanding to speak to the victim.”
The victim was fearful and hid in her bedroom, where “the defendant went to the back door of the house and tried to come in,” according to the prosecution.
When the victim saw the defendant through the window, she saw an AK-47 held to his chest and, according to her, “the defendant threatened the victim with the gun, and stated he was going to kill her” even when he couldn’t physically see her.
The defendant proceeded to keep yelling and broke through her window, grabbed a knife from the kitchen and “tucked it in his waistband”—the victim said she ran outside the door.
When officers came to the scene, the defendant ran out of the apartment and “hid behind a car,” but eventually came out to the police.
At the scene, police found glass with blood all around the floor, an AK-47 lying on top of the furniture and a semi-automatic handgun lying under the bed of the truck, parked nearby. Both guns were unloaded and registered to the defendant.
Nearby, there was a witness who heard threats from the defendant stating that he said “I’m gonna shoot in there,” and she also heard the defendant call out for the victim, and shouts from the victim repeatedly saying, “Stop.”
The prosecution said it wanted the bail amount raised because of the multiple firearms and weapons with “threats of violence” based on this police report, suggesting there is concern for public safety.
PD Cress argued that none of those facts were new, and all the facts were present when bail was set the first time. He added that there was no effort to raise bail at the time, and the defendant appeared for court as requested.
Cress said he spoke to the victim and she clarified that she does not want the defendant to be in jail any longer, but does not want contact with the defendant. Cress added: “Let’s listen to the victim.”
Judge Laurie Earl noted that “they’ve only been dating for three months” and the defendant appears to be a danger with “access to so much weaponry and threats,” and she decided to agree to the prosecution’s request for a bail increase to $50,000. A no contact order/restraining order was served on the defendant.
A hearing is scheduled for Feb. 10.
Zahra Abbas is a 3rd year Political Science major and Film minor at UC Davis. She is from San Jose, California.
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:
