OAKLAND, CA — A superior court judge here in Alameda County Superior Court last week gave a man accused with a probation violation a second chance for not communicating with his parole officer.
Deputy District Attorney Chris Infante asked the court to proceed with the charge.
Reviewing the case, Judge Kimberly Colwell stated the accused had been in court last Dec. 6, and was supposed to see his parole officer five days later. But the accused, said the court, did not formally check in with his officer and instead called the probation office later.
Deputy Public Defender Song Ih Kim asked Judge Colwell to consider the accused’s position in the Forestry and Fire Recruitment Program and his hope to find a job through the program. DPD Kim said the accused was training hard and wanted an opportunity to continue.
However, DDA Infante adamantly proposed the warrant for the accused be carried out for not reporting as ordered.
After Judge Colwell reviewed the accused’s case, she noted the accused’s failure to report to his probation officer will not be tolerated again.
And DPD Kim requested a suspended sentence that would allow the accused to continue on probation instead of immediate arrest.
Judge Colwell agreed with the public defender, and said to the accused, “I’m giving you a second chance.”
After issuing a 45-day suspended sentence, Judge Colwell ordered the accused to complete his check-ins with his parole officer every five days, and to continue his upward trajectory and means to secure a job with this second chance.
Kaylynn Chang is an undergraduate student at UC Berkeley looking to major in Legal Studies with a strong interest in criminal justice and judicial law. Having years of experence with journalism and leading a publication, she loves to look for the stories of her community, focusing on the hidden voices and intriguing tales of people. She hopes to attend law school in the future, but for now she is looking to gain experience and experiment with her path. A passionate creator, a cafe connoisseur, and a library enthusiast, Kaylynn is always looking for small adventures along with accomplishing big goals.
Kyndall Dowell is a graduating student from the University of California, Berkeley where she began her long standing career in student organizing and activism, headlining campaigns, building coalitions, and chairing departments across the state of California. Many of her efforts included K-12 reform, school-to-prison pipeline, and police brutality, as well as efforts around supporting marginalized student groups and communities on campus with obtaining access to funding and other essential resources. She has earned her Bachelors in African American Studies with a double minor both in Education and Race and Law. She hails from Inglewood's East Hyde Park District where repeated exposure to the criminal justice system from an early age allowed her to find her place in social justice and advocacy work, where she knew she wanted to be on the right side of history making. Kyndall's career passions are greatly influenced by her South Los Angeles upbringing where she spent a great deal of her youth, living in West Adams, Baldwin Village also known as 'The Jungles', and Crenshaw's 59th and Slauson neighborhoods. In an attempt to avoid the troubles of street violence her mother moved her and her sisters to Hawthorne, where she attended Leuzinger High School off Rosecrans and Jefferson in an area less criminally active though heavily policed. She's a skilled facilitator in Restorative Justice and hopes to use her education and transformative Black Feminist philosophy to become an impactful Criminal Defense Attorney. At the current moment she is working as a Legal Assistant at a Law Firm in downtown Oakland and will be pursuing her Paralegal license through the UCLA Law Certificate program to obtain in-field experience before tackling Law school. In her free-time she enjoys shopping, cooking, reading, traveling and hanging out with friends.
