By Roselyn Poommai and Natasha Feuerstein
SACRAMENTO, CA – Judge Ernest W. Sawtelle displayed visible frustration in Sacramento County Superior Court here when Deputy District Attorney Rainey Jacobson attempted to call a fourth officer witness in a probable cause hearing regarding an alleged stabbing.
The defendant in custody for the alleged stabbing was Ricky Miech. The incident took place at around 3:30 p.m. on Oct. 28, 2020.
The first witness the prosecution called was Sacramento Police Dept. Officer Alyssa Littlefield, who testified she initially responded to a 911 dispatch describing a Black male suspect wearing all-black clothing.
Shortly after contacting the suspect, she received an updated dispatch notifying her that the initial suspect was related to a different incident. The new description was of a male dressed in a red t-shirt and a white head wrap.
Despite the description mismatch, Officer Littlefield quickly located the correct suspect—it was Miech—inside of the General Dollar store behind her, and found a kitchen knife in his pocket.
Littlefield noted that the defendant was cooperative and was arrested without further incident.
Officer Travis Boyer saw the victim lying on the sidewalk of a parking lot in pain, and Boyer said he observed a visible “approximately inch-long laceration on the left side of his torso below his ribs.”
The victim produced brief answers for the officer, but he had reportedly been looking for his wallet in the parking lot before “someone had come up and hit him.” Boyer remained with the victim when escorted to the hospital and confirmed that the victim had no additional injuries.
Boyer further testified that the doctors were worried about the victim upon his arrival at the hospital and indicated to Boyer that the victim would be staying there for awhile.
Assistant Public Defender Jennifer Cerri cross-examined Boyer, stating that he did not seem to get much information out of the victim upon his arrival at the alleged crime scene.
“When I first got on the scene, I was dealing with a stabbing victim, so my first priorities are medical care…I treated his wound, and I got the medics and the fire department on scene to assist him,” Officer Boyer testified. “In between all that, I tried to get as much information from him as I could, but it was not much at the time,” he finished.
After the cross-examination concluded, Jacobson called her third witness, officer Mustafa Mohammad.
Mohammad reported his interaction with another witness at the scene, who initially thought the assault was merely a punch to the stomach. The witness told Mohammad he soon realized that the suspect had a knife in his hand. Then the witness heard the victim shout, “He stabbed me!” and recognized the three- to four-inch-long blade in the suspect’s hand.
Mohammad confirmed that the stabbed victim was the same individual hospitalized for injuries.
Amid the lengthy direct examinations, Judge Sawtelle asked, “All Right, anything else, Ms. Jacobson?” to which she responded, “Yes, I had one more witness that will be very brief, your honor. That would be [name]. ”
“Why are you calling so many witnesses, exactly? It’s just a probable clause hearing,” Judge Sawtelle hastily replied, adding, “Is there something you have not yet proved?”
Jacobson explained her intention of bringing in a fourth witness to prove the defendant did not commit the felony in self-defense but that she can submit if he wished.
“Well, I can’t tell you how to do your case, you know. I just have more preliminary hearings to do…if you feel like you haven’t proven your case, I’m not telling you that you can’t call somebody,” Judge Sawtelle asserted.
Jacobson submitted and decided to forgo calling in the fourth witness.
Cerri then addressed the court and insisted that the prosecution failed to provide compelling evidence establishing the harm the injury caused.
Though not disagreeing that the evidence could have been more compelling, Judge Sawtelle confirmed there was still sufficient evidence to establish probable cause and set the case for further proceedings.
Roselyn is a second-year undergraduate double-majoring in Psychological Science and Criminology, Law and Society at the University of California, Irvine. A native of Los Angeles, California, she is passionate about the role of human behavior in the criminal justice system.
Natasha Feuerstein is a senior at UC Davis majoring in Political Science and minoring in Global Disease Biology. She is originally from Camden, Delaware.
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