By Max Kennedy
OAKLAND – Emanual Gonzalez had already spent 196 days in jail awaiting trial for charges related to an alleged assault Tuesday when Alameda County Superior Court Judge Barbara Dickinson denied his motion for release—now he will have to wait in jail even longer before his so-called “day in court.”
As of Saturday, it’s now 200 days.
Gonzalez, who is homeless, was arrested in July for an alleged assault in a public park. Despite only one prior conviction for a misdemeanor offense and one failure to appear, he has remained in Santa Rita Jail since his arrest.
“He has simply been languishing in Santa Rita,” said Ali Rad, the defense attorney. “Regardless of how and when this case resolves, I believe he has served more than enough time to satisfy any likely custody disposition.”
Rad pointed out that Gonzalez has only one prior conviction and said the defendant would be supported by his sister upon release.
“I have been assured by his sister that he will have a place to stay and will make all future court dates,” said Rad. Rad also pointed out that there are no allegations of weapons being used.
“I did not attack anyone. They attacked me first,” offered Gonzalez, through a Spanish interpreter.
Prosecutor Andrew Ross objected to any bail reduction, arguing that the request for release had already been made and denied twice. Andrew Ross also pointed to Gonzalez’ past incidents with law enforcement, including an alleged assault with a handgun.
“You have an individual who is working out of the park and unprovoked is physically attacked by this defendant, unprovoked, and ends up in the hospital,” said Ross, referring to the alleged assault last July.
“We have an individual here who is dangerous. He has demonstrated that he is unstable. He engages in aggressive violence on other people,” said Ross about the defendant. “The reason he has no great failures to appear is because in all the cases he’s had in Alameda County since he started assaulting people, he’s been in custody.”
The defense retorted that prior incidents with law enforcement had generally led to dismissals or non-arrests. “The fact of arrest by itself should not be held against him when the case was dismissed. What I see is a person with a single misdemeanor conviction and one failure to appear who has been in custody for six months.”
Judge Dickinson immediately rejected the motion upon submission, citing another pending misdemeanor case and “a history of violence.” Judge Dickinson set a preliminary hearing for March 4.
Max Kennedy graduated from Harvard in 2016 with a degree in History. He is an intern with the San Francisco Public Defender and most recently worked as a digital organizer with Joe Biden for President.
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