By Michael Wheeler
Monday—March 29
Contra Costa County Superior Court
Roselyn Poommai—Dept. 9: Roselyn observed many motions to waive time, the setting of trial dates, and various arraignments.
Fresno County Superior Court
Roseyln Poommai—Depts. 1, 31: In Dept. 1, the business consisted of defendants being arraigned and entering pleas. Dept. 31 also saw many arraignments, with some defendants failing to appear without cause, leading to an increase in their bail. One defendant expressed frustration that his case had not progressed after attempting to request documents for the previous 15 months, with the judge addressing those circumstances by moving the defendant’s next court date.
Sacramento County Superior Court
Ned Meiners—Dept. 9: A short schedule which was completed in 15 minutes, the most notable event was a motion to suppress which the district attorney needed time to respond to.
Roxanna Jarvis—Dept. 13: Roxanna only witnessed one preliminary hearing, for Dante Day. On Oct. 2, 2020, Day boarded a bus while saying “racist remarks about Donald Trump,” before pulling back the plexiglass protector between the driver and the passengers and punching him in a face a few stops later. 30 minutes after the incident, a suspect was arrested who matched the description of Day and was later positively identified by the driver. Although both police officers involved could not connect Day to the man they detained for the field lineup, Judge Matthew Gray issued a holding order on Day, with a trial to follow in May.
Michael Wheeler—Dept. 36: Michael observed the preliminary hearing of Richard Grimes, who is charged with three felony counts relating to a call to police for a domestic disturbance that turned into a brief confrontation with police. Upon arriving at the defendant’s house, officer Cody Spinelli made contact with the defendant, after which the defendant pushed the barrel of a shotgun through a crack in the door. A hunting dog owned by the defendant also escaped the house before being shot twice by another officer after charging. Defense attorney Mark Reichel argued that the defendant had no intent to assault the officers, which was countered by the prosecution. “There is no requirement that the defendant intend to assault peace officers, it’s just that he did so willfully.” Grimes faces trial on June 21.
Ankita Joshi—Dept. 60: Ankita witnessed a resolution hearing for defendant Amber Hong, accused of attacking and beating her husband while he slept. Although the victim managed to restrain Hong while the police were called, he suffered a head injury from the attack, and Hong pleaded no contest to the charges. She faces five years of formal probation, must complete the batterer treatment program, pay a to-be-determined amount in restitution, and stay away from the victim.
Derrick Pal—Dept. 61: Defendant Ralph Prescott was sentenced to five years of formal probation and had his driver’s license suspended for two years, or until he completed a multiple offender program, for multiple counts relating to a drunk driving incident on July 3, 2020. The judge expressed disbelief at Prescott’s BAC level of .30, saying, “Somebody doesn’t get to your level of blood alcohol unless they’ve had a lot of practice.” Prescott’s case will go to trial on May 3.
Dorrin Akbari—Dept. 62: On Monday, Dorrin observed two notable arguments over bail. In the first case, the defendant faced a bail of $350,000 for drug possession and assault. The defense argued that since the defendant’s previous felonies were nonviolent and the victim couldn’t positively identify the defendant, bail should be lowered. However, bail remained set as is and another hearing was scheduled to discuss bail further.
In the second case, the defendant’s bail had been set at $50,000 despite a recommended bail of $20,000 by the Sacramento bail schedule for their charges. Because the prosecution could not explain why the defendant’s bail had been set at the higher amount, Judge Timothy Frawley ordered bail reduced to $20,000.
Yolo County Superior Court
Kathryn Wood—Dept.s 4, 7: In Dept. 4, Kathryn witnessed two defendants be assigned to complete the Neighborhood Court Program for petty infractions, one for providing false evidence of vehicle registration and the other for trying to shoplift an iPhone. In Dept. 7, Judge Tom Dreyer shut down a defendant who asked to address the court, saying, “This is not a time for you to talk in court unless you’re really invited to and we didn’t invite you to give a long explanation of what has happened in your life.”
Ned Meiners—Dept. 8: Ned witnessed several defendants be sentenced. It was unclear whether or not Chelsi Lynn Coulter had served enough time to be freed or whether she would need to serve part of a two-year sentence for a parole violation, with another hearing to follow on April 26. Meanwhile, Jose Carlos Vazquez’s attorney successfully got the judge to take 224 days off of his own two-year sentence, arguing that time Vazquez had served in Stanislaus County jail should be taken into consideration.
Later in the schedule, one defendant had a settlement conference set for April 30, after having five separate charges for violating a protective order consolidated. Another defendant failed to appear. His attorney possessed only a home address and had been unable to get in touch with him.
Derek Chauvin Trial
Will McCurry: Will saw the opening arguments in the Derek Chauvin trial. The prosecution emphasized that Chauvin had had his knee on George Floyd’s neck for 9:29, stating that figure would be “the most important numbers they’ll hear in the case.” Meanwhile, the defense focused upon the role of doubt in the case, explaining what “beyond a reasonable doubt” meant to the jury, before later explaining medical terms that will be used later on in the trial.
Roselyn Poommai: Three witnesses were called in the afternoon of Chauvin’s trial. Jenna Scurry, a police dispatcher, testified that the dispatch had originated with a call about a drunk driver. Because she could hear unusual commotion in the background, she dispatched additional police to the scene.
Alisha Oyler recorded some of the incident on her phone after noticing that police were “messing with someone” from her job in a nearby store. She saw the duration of the disturbance, from George Floyd’s initial handcuffing to him leaving in an ambulance, although she struggled to recall some details.
The third witness, Donald Williams, observed the incident when he tried to enter a grocery store nearby. Because of his experience with mixed martial arts, the prosecution questioned Williams extensively about his own experience with using physical force, such as chokeholds. He discussed Chauvin’s chokehold and testified about the duration of the incident, including seeing Floyd’s death.
Tuesday—March 30
Sacramento County Superior Court
Natasha Feuerstein—Dept. 36: Defendant Celeste Perez was charged with a felony count of identity theft and two misdemeanor drug charges. During a traffic stop, police found drug paraphernalia, methamphetamine, and a notebook containing the personal information, social security numbers, and other confidential information for 18 people.
Although the defense asked for the felony charge to be downgraded to a misdemeanor, Judge Laurie Earl upheld the felony, agreeing with the prosecution that it was warranted given Perez’s long criminal history of drug and theft charges, as well as the sheer number of potential victims. The case is set to go to trial in May.
Michael Wheeler—Dept. 36: Two child molestation cases were set for trial after their preliminary hearings. Mario Martinez pleaded not guilty to one count of child molestation, abusing his daughter while they were sleeping together. During a pretext call recorded by the victim’s mother, Martinez both admitted to and denied molesting the victim, and “frequently asked if he was going to see his daughter again.”
In the second case, prosecution charged Emilio Lopez with seven counts relating to the molestation of his stepdaughter. The defense largely did not contest that the events in question had taken place, instead focusing on whether one charge of false imprisonment actually met the standard. This argument was rebuked by prosecutor Nancy Cochrane, saying, “That is a kidnapping, a potential kidnapping charge.” Lopez will face trial on May 29.
Yolo County Superior Court
Derrick Pal—Dept. 1: Derrick observed defendant Alton Bruner take a plea deal in a drunk driving case, in which he had been facing charges for driving under the influence, committing a hit and run, and driving without a license. In July 2020, Bruner drove off a freeway ramp and fell 40 feet with a BAC of .06. The charges were slashed to one wet reckless charge. Bruner will instead serve a year of informal probation, pay a fine, abstain from alcohol for six months, and take an alcohol education class.
Wednesday—March 31
Derek Chauvin Trial
Will McCurry: During his shift, witness Charles McMillian broke into tears while testifying. He had been driving past the incident when he saw George Floyd being led to a squad car by officers when he decided to pull over and find out what was happening. During his testimony, the prosecution showed a video clip of Floyd crying out for his mother while Chauvin placed pressure on his neck. McMillian, whose own mother died last year, related strongly to Floyd’s desire to see his mother in that moment and could not control his emotions.
Thursday—April 1
Derek Chauvin Trial
Natasha Feuerstein: Natasha observed paramedic Seth Bravander testify to his treatment of George Floyd after he arrived on the scene. Upon arrival, he found Floyd on the ground pinned beneath multiple officers and attempted to take emergency action to resuscitate Floyd. Floyd was already “limp” and unresponsive when the EMTs were able to move Floyd into the ambulance. While Bravander and his colleagues followed protocol and brough Floyd to the hospital, he testified that Floyd’s condition never improved.
Friday—April 2
Sacramento County Superior Court
Will McCurry—Dept. 36: Nicholas Cafferty was charged with four counts relating to vehicle theft and his subsequent evasion of a police officer, which included a hit and run. Officer John Cumberland, seeing that it did not appear that Cafferty knew where he was going at 3 a.m. on Dec. 21, 2019, noticed that Cafferty’s vehicle’s registration had expired in 2012. After Cumberland tried to make a traffic stop, Cafferty accelerated through a fence to try and escape the officer. He will face trial in July.
Ramneet Singh—Dept. 61: A significant portion of the cases Ramneet observed had to be continued due to outstanding circumstances. However, he did observe two cases of note. In one, a motion to suppress information regarding substance possession was entered, and in the other the motion related to illegal possession of a firearm.
Yolo County Superior Court
Alexander Ramirez—Dept. 1: Despite a relatively slow day, Alexander saw two more notable cases. In the first case, a criminal protective order was issued for a brother, the brother’s wife, and the mother of the defendant, but the mother had had it requested on her behalf without her consultation. After debate, the CPO was ordered.
In the second case, a parole representative asked the judge to order a defendant to be physically present in the courtroom for further proceedings, but, because of the special proceedings in the courtroom as a result of COVID-19, the judge stated that Zoom would be sufficient if the defendant had a good Wi-Fi connection.
Hongyi Wen and Sophia Berberini—Dept. 9: Hongyi and Sophia witnessed Antonio Amador’s defense attorney move to suppress evidence relating to a traffic stop. A police officer ran a check of the license plate of Amador’s car, and after the software did not work, the officer tailed Amador until they pulled him over for a traffic stop. The defense argued that this was not a proper traffic stop and thus the evidence relating to it should be thrown out. The prosecution argued that the officer had made a reasonable mistake and that a traffic violation was sufficient to pull Amador over, which the judge concurred with.
Esha Kher—Dept. 10: Esha observed a prima facie detention re-hearing for a minor convicted of a double shooting. The judge upheld the prosecution’s argument and ordered a stay on detention, but did provide conditions for the release of the defendant which will be further outlined in another hearing.
Sophia Barberini—Dept. 11: Judge Timothy Fall proceeded quickly through the schedule and was quick to reprimand any lawyer who misnamed Dept.s or did not provide sufficient cause to reschedule a court date.
Derek Chauvin Trial
Lovepreet Dhinsa: Lovepreet observed two witnesses testify in the Chauvin trial, both police officers. Sgt. John Edwards described the steps he took to secure the crime scene, including asking two officers to stay as an escort and canvassing the neighborhood for 
potential witnesses. Lt. Richard Zimmerman described his previous experience as a patrol officer as well as his current role in the homicide Dept.. He helped oversee the securing of the crime scene, especially with regards to making sure that proper protocols were being followed. He also was in charge of reviewing all body camera footage from the incident, determining that Chauvin had used unnecessary force.
Michael Wheeler is a junior at UC Davis, where he studies History and Economics. He is from Walnut Creek, California.
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