By Sunny Zhou
WOODLAND, CA – Yolo County Superior Court Judge Daniel M. Wolk set bail at $10,000 for a man arraigned this week for two burglary cases, one of which involved a 2020 case prosecutors declined to file until recently.
The first case concerned a March 2023 incident alleging a felony 2nd degree burglary and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia. The second case concerned a Sept. 2020 incident alleging felony 2nd degree burglary.
Judge Wolk appointed Deputy Public Defender Monica Brushia for both cases. As Brushia read the accused’s supervised own recognizance release report, Wolk asked the prosecution about their position on whether he should be kept in custody.
Deputy District Attorney Carolyn Palumbo opposed an own recognizance release, charging the accused “has a significant history of theft. He is just recently off mandatory supervision for theft related offenses and he has two pending felony theft cases.”
Officer Ivan Lowry reaffirmed the SOR report, which recommended against release, noting, “He was on what looks like three mandatory supervision cases, recently just got released on Jan. 23 and is out allegedly committing the same offenses again, so we recommend against release as well.”
Brushia asked Officer Lowry where the accused served mandatory supervision. “He did it all in custody,” he replied.
Brushia questioned,”[W]hy wasn’t this 2020 case resolved when he did his mandatory supervision? What was the delay?”
“[I]t wasn’t filed until March 6 of 2023, probably because we were waiting for fingerprint analysis to come back and that takes a while,” Palumbo replied. “[W]e got that back and charged it. We didn’t have enough information to charge it before.”
DPD Brushia argued for a supervised own recognizance release, adding, “These are nonviolent property crimes. It looks like (accused) may have some sort of substance abuse issues, although it looks like he denied that.”
After hearing the arguments, Judge Wolk ruled against releasing the accused, explaining, “Based upon the court’s reading of the SOR report and the argument here, noting the criminal history, noting the high risk score of six points, and considering the multiple charges here, the Court does find that by clear and convincing evidence that nonfinancial conditions of release and a lesser amount of bail would not reasonably protect the public or reasonably assure the arrestee’s presence at trial.”
Judge Wolk set bail at $10,000 in each case. Both cases are set for prehearing conferences and preliminary hearings on March 29, 9 a.m. in Dept. 10.
