WOODLAND, CA – After testimony from two police officers, Yolo County Superior Court Judge Daniel Wolk this week denied the defense’s motion to reduce the accused’s felony vandalism charge—allegedly spray painting a dumpster with a hate crime message—to a misdemeanor.
The defense argued there were discrepancies concerning what was spray painted, how much it cost to clean, and whether a similar charge against the accused 20 years ago should be taken into account.
The accused was charged with felony vandalism for spraying graffiti on dumpsters and a misdemeanor for a terrorizing/hate crime.
Peace Officers Jeffery Beck and Leo Gonzales testified the alleged vandalism on the dumpsters included a Star of David, a swastika, and a quote along the lines of “Israel is ISIS.”
The unhoused accused was found when a Save Mart employee called the police when the accused was found sleeping in the parking lot.
Officer Beck said he found a can of blue spray paint, the same that was apparently used in the vandalism.
However, when Officer Gonzales took the stand he said the vandalism was done with black spray paint.
Neither of these officers actually saw the graffiti in person because it was cleaned up before they arrived. There were discrepancies with how much it had cost to clean up the graffiti, with Officer Beck noting the owner reported it took $250 to clean and Officer Gonzales reporting it took $600 to clean.
The officers said they only saw the graffiti through pictures taken after the incident. The officers also had access to security footage in which they said they saw a man who seemed to match the build of the accused, although the man in the footage had a face mask so they could not make out his face.
They also admitted they could not see what the man was actually spray painting from the angle of the security footage.
Deputy District Attorney Gustavo Figueroa argued this was not an isolated incident, alleging the accused had a petty theft conviction in 2004 with an additional charge of a hate crime. However, the Deputy Public Defender Rob Gorman pointed out that that charge was 20 years ago.
Judge Wolk stated that some of the factors that make something a felony are the cost of damages and if that vandalism was a hate crime.
DPD Gorman argued there were no clear answers about the cost of the vandalism due to the discrepancies in the officer’ statements.
He also argued the hateful graffiti could not be connected to the accused because the officers could not actually see what the person in the security camera footage was painting.
Due to the nature of the case involving an unhoused man being accused of spray painting behind dumpsters, defense attorney Gorman argued for the court to reduce the charge to a misdemeanor.
Judge Wolk denied this motion, citing the accused’s petty theft charge from 2004.
