By Taric Mansour
SACRAMENTO – When Citrus Heights police officers responded to a disturbance phone call they found a woman inside pleading for her life.
It was the mother of the defendant, who is now in jail on $1 million bail.
Hugh Henley was arrested for assault on a police officer and for resisting arrest after Citrus Heights officers said they knocked on the door of the house, asked Henley to come out and he responded with “f*** no,” slamming the door on the officers.
The officers reported that they heard a woman screaming behind the door, yelling “Let me out, let me out,” but she was prevented from leaving by the defendant. As two police officers attempted to enter the 
home from the front door, a few other officers attempted to enter the home from the backside.
At the back, officers saw the victim trying to jump over a fence. As Henley saw the victim leaving, he threw a glass bottle at the police officers. The officers ordered him to the ground at gunpoint and the defendant responded “f*** no!”
Two of the officers were unable to secure the defendant, and finally a police dog joined the officers before the defendant was finally wrestled to the ground and in custody.
The victim turned out to be Henley’s mother, with whom he was staying at the time.
Deputy District Attorney Mitch Miller used these facts to argue that the defendant’s bail should remain set at $1,000,000.
But Henley’s Assistant Public Defender Paul Gomez requested that bail be reduced to $100,000, claiming that Henley was off of his psychiatric medications at the time of the accident, and has not gotten into any similar altercations since.
Furthermore, Henley has a job waiting for him and has another place to stay, added Gomez, noting that the two prior strikes against the defendant were only alleged, and that he was able to successfully discharge parole in 2014.
Gomez argued that although his client may have thrown a glass bottle at an officer, which is technically an assault, nobody was harmed, and that setting a $1 million bail amount for this offense is too harsh of a penalty.
Judge James Arguelles ruled that bail would remain at $1 million, which will likely keep the defendant behind bars until the next hearing which is set for September 23.
To sign up for our new newsletter – Everyday Injustice – https://tinyurl.com/yyultcf9
