By Samuel Van Blaricom
WOODLAND, CA – William Queen, appearing out of custody, changed his plea at a trial-setting conference to no contest in a case with four counts of felony burglary charges in front of Judge Stephen Mock at the Yolo County Superior Court.
As a part of a plea deal, Queen admitted to a strike enhancement and all other charges have been dropped or considered as time-served. The sentencing is deferred for two years, during which time he is expected to complete a treatment program at Walter’s House Rehab Center in Woodland.
“I would sentence the defendant to 30 days consecutive to the other 30 days [for violation of probation]. Again, I would find that the defendant has served that jail term,” explained Judge Mock, going through how he was alleviating the charges on Queen.
According to Judge Mock, if he completes the program and has no further legal incidents, then the sentencing will be dropped altogether.
“Presumably, if he does [the treatment program] and if he doesn’t get into any other trouble during that two-year period, then judgment will never be entered,” he said.
If Queen were sentenced for all four burglary charges and the prior strike enhancement resulting from a conviction in 2012 for attempted robbery, he would receive a minimum of 10 years in state prison.
One of the other charges, a misdemeanor robbery, was discharged with a Harvey waiver, meaning that it could still be considered during sentencing when evaluating restitution fees.
Queen’s case has had a long road to what is hopefully its conclusion. According to the case history, Queen was initially arrested in July 2020 for alleged robberies in that June.
While released on his own recognizance to await his trial date, Queen was arrested on misdemeanor petty theft and trespassing charges. He had a trial date set for March, but according to the case history it was vacated after the prosecution filed a motion to consolidate the original case and the new charges he picked up in Jan. He was then released again on supervised own recognizance.
In May, he was arrested again, this time for a felony burglary charge that was eventually reduced to a misdemeanor. This time, he was held on a $50,000 bail.
The following month, it was determined that he was mentally incompetent to stand trial. Queen was committed and received medical treatment until late July, where he was transferred back into the sheriff’s custody, retaining the $50,000 bail.
Judge Mock set a date for review on Jan. 12.
