By Gwynneth Redemann
WOODLAND, CA – If the authorities are correct, a man may have learned, while attending his hearing in Yolo County Superior Court this week, that he can run but can’t hide from an alcohol monitoring device.
Guilty or not, both the public defender and judge seemed surprised he was still in jail.
The man—the Vanguard doesn’t usually identify people charged with misdemeanors—was in court, charged with violating community supervision after testing positive for alcohol consumption on two different occasions according to the SCRAM device.
At the start of the hearing Deputy Public Defender Jose Gonzales and Judge Peter Williams were made aware that the accused was in custody instead of out on bail.
PD Gonzales asked if he could “inquire from probation how that came to be?”
The probation officer present responded, “That’s a good question. I just know that he’s in custody because he spoke to an officer right before court.”
After some confusion, the man appeared in custody on Zoom.
Probation explained that on Feb. 4 the court had ordered the accused to obtain a SCRAM alcohol monitoring device. On Feb. 18 and 21, he tested positive for alcohol consumption.
Later, on Feb. 28, the accused was arrested by probation and put back in custody.
According to the court, a second addendum was filed just yesterday.
PD Gonzales entered a denial of the charges and requested a hearing as soon as possible, noting he did not receive the discovery of the case or any of the allegations.
Deputy District Attorney Jesse Richardson explained that the reports from the other DUIs that the man is charged with need to be obtained from the other counties in which they took place.
DDA Richardson requested to come back in four weeks for a pre-hearing conference. PD Gonzales requested an earlier court date of March 15.
The accused, still in custody, will appear in court on March 15.
