By Stacie Guevara
WOODLAND, CA – After being accused of stealing catalytic converters and committing a misdemeanor, three defendants were released on their own recognizance pretrial by Judge Tom Dyer in Yolo County Superior Court Dept. 1 Wednesday afternoon.
But they’re under court orders not to talk to each other.
The three defendants were Adrian Lujan, Carlos Manzano Reyes and David Coyt Aguilar. There were a total of six counts, four of which Lujan was allegedly involved in, said the court. All were accused of possession of burglary tools.
Including the count all three of them were charged with, Lujan was accused of grand theft, evading a peace officer with reckless driving and a misdemeanor of possession of controlled substance paraphernalia all around April 3.
In addition to the joint count, Coyt Aguilar was accused of committing a misdemeanor – being in possession of a controlled substance. Manzano Reyes was also accused of committing a misdemeanor ¬– possession of a switchblade knife – also on April 3.
All three defendants had the judge appoint different public defenders to represent them.
Lujan wanted to speak up and say something, but was stopped by Judge Dyer.
“I have to tell you, anything you say can be used against you. You got a district attorney; you got a courtroom full of people here. But if you want to address the court, you can,” Judge Dyer said.
Lujan told the judge she was currently in quarantine, reporting symptoms of COVID-19, and this fact later contributed to the scheduling of the trio’s next court date.
Judge Dyer said the court was inclined to have all three defendants released on their own recognizance until the next court date but asked deputy district attorney if she had any objection to that.
She said she didn’t have any objection since they appeared via Zoom, but she said the people asked for conditions based on the nature of the charges, including drug tests, searches for stolen property and a non-association clause, enforcing no contact with the other co-defendants.
Lujan was asked if it would be difficult for her not to have contact with her co-defendants, and Lujan struggled with answering the question.
Lujan said it would be sort of difficult, but said, “That’ll be fine. I don’t understand the reasons behind it. We’re not conspiring.”
It was then noted that it appeared the defendants had at least a friendship, so Judge Dyer was asked that the court not impose that condition, at least at this time.
The DDA responded by asking it to be a condition during the pendency of this case, to which the judge responded, “It’s alleged at this point, but the court’s got to take what’s being charged as true. And at this time, the court’s going to grant own recognizance release. However, there’s going to be conditions.”
Judge Dyer said each defendant is going to be searchable and testable for drugs or stolen property and in light of what is in the probable cause declaration, the court ordered a condition of no contact among co-defendants.
Lujan’s attorney told her she has a right to have a preliminary hearing within 10 court days, but given she was being released on her own recognizance and given the fact she is quarantined for COVID-19, it was recommended they waive the 10-day period and push the date further.
The co-defendants said putting the next court date out four to six weeks was agreeable, and their next two court dates will be on Sept. 9. The pre-hearing conference will be at 9 a.m. and the preliminary hearing will be at 1:30 p.m.
