By Adam Solorzano
WOODLAND, CA – Here Friday in Yolo County Superior Court, Judge Roy Hashimoto had a change of mind in an in-custody arraignment on a post-release violation of supervision when the accused appeared to take a few seconds to respond to a question.
The accused was allegedly in a shelter while under the influence of alcohol. At that time, the accused was placed under arrest and taken into custody.
During the arraignment, Judge Hashimoto agreed to give the accused a 10-day jail sentence for the alleged violation of supervision, which the judge deemed fair.
However, when the accused decided to pause during a time when he would be asked if he understood his punishment, the Judge Hashimoto decided to revoke his decision and give the accused a longer stay in county jail.
Deputy Public Defender Aram Davtyan said he was counseling the accused, moments before, on what this decision of 10 days or set a trial date meant at the time of confusion and silence.
In addition to the 10-day custody hold in jail, when released pretrial, the accused would be made to wear an alcohol-monitoring device, and a GPS tracking device. Both devices would be placed on the accused for an undisclosed amount of time.
After a few moments, Judge Hashimoto appeared agitated and decided to change his mind. He stated, “Do you want to accept or set for a hearing?”
Again, a pause from the accused took a moment of Judge Hashimoto’s time.
“Yes. He wants the 10 days, your Honor,” stated DPD Davtyan.
When Judge Hashimoto began to ask if the accused understood his decision, the accused fell silent again. Then, the accused asked the judge, “Is there anything else I can do for you, sir?”
Judge Hashimoto stated, “I asked you if you understand the disposition of the case. Did anybody promise you anything other than that stated in court?”
The accused responded, “No.”
“Has anybody threatened to make this decision?” asked Judge Hashimoto.
Another pause took place by the accused and then he responded, “Yes, no one has threatened me.”
Judge Hashimoto gave a lengthy response, “I try to do right by every case. This case didn’t seem that big to me; that’s why I kept the probation offer off from 30 days to 10, so you could get this over with and then move on with your life, but I’m getting real bad vibes from you, so I’m thinking I should not accept this plea and we should just set this for a hearing. I am going to set this for a violation hearing.”
The accused tried to get some words in, but the judge asserted that it was too late.
Judge Hashimoto repeated, “I really want to do good in every case, but I’m old. I’ve handled the big cases, so why should I take this from you over 20 days or 30 days or 10 days. It’s not right.”
The accused was remanded to the custody of the sheriff to be jailed with no bail. The accused was set for a violation of community supervision hearing later this month.
