By Brandon Barnes
WOODLAND, CA – In Yolo County Superior Court morning session Tuesday, one man was given 15 days in the county jail plus four years of probation, while another woman remains on supervised probation and avoids jail time.
In the first hearing, the accused (not named because it is a misdemeanor) appeared in court in a pretrial conference, for driving under the influence (DUI) and drunk driving charges, with Deputy Public Defender Eric Arias.
PD Arias suggested that the accused agreed to plead no contest to the DUI and drunk driving charges, noting:
“Yes, the Count 2, to admit enhancement 2A…which is a high Blood Alcohol Concentration BAC and admit enhancement 2B for prior DUI conviction, with the understanding that he will be placed on four years (of) summary probation…15 days jail with one day credit, no alcohol for the term of probation…An 18-month alcohol education class a fine of $2,255…One year Id requirement and there was SCRAM(Secure Continuous Remote Alcohol Monitoring), but it’s my understanding that that has been completed today.”
The accused pleaded no contest to the three charges, the DUI, drunk driving, and admit to a previous DUI charge two years ago in Tehama County.
In the other case, a woman appeared in court on Zoom with her defense counsel, Deputy Public Defender Richard Van Zandt.
She appeared because there was a warrant against her for failing to show up on her last court date, and Judge Tom Dyer recalled the warrants against her.
The woman was previously convicted for DUI injury, and she is currently on supervised probation for three years plus she served 94 days at the Yolo County Jail.
PD Van Zandt pleaded to Judge Dyer to continue the hearing for two weeks from now. PD Van Zandt also asked his client to appear in court remotely.
However, Yolo County Deputy Probation Officer Arthur Arustamyan made a request to Judge Dyer for the accused to appear at the Yolo County Probation Office, either in Woodland or in West Sacramento.
The accused said she lives in Portland, OR, and that it would be difficult.
She said, “I took this plea under the assumption that you guys also understood that and I’ve been going to Woodland until all of this worked out. So obviously, there are still a couple of things that need to be finalized. So it’s really difficult for me to get down there but I can see if I can get there in the next couple of weeks.”
Because of this, PD Van Zandt requested that she could meet the Probation Officer virtually, and Deputy Probation Officer Arustamyan was unaware the accused was living out of state.
Her next court date will be an Admit or Deny hearing on May 31.
