By Nick Domenici
SACRAMENTO – Defendant Eric Giannini was bound over to stand trial for resisting a peace office here late last week by Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Kevin J. McCormick, after a preliminary hearing provided evidence that Giannini turned a domestic dispute call into a serious felony.
Apparently, at the residence of Giannini, there had been prior occurrences of domestic violence against his wife in the presence of children. Because of these proven incidents, the Elk Grove Police Department arrived on the scene on March 27, 2019. Alongside law enforcement was Child Protective Services to intervene and remove the children from the home.
According to an officer on the scene, Giannini was furious, and couldn’t believe someone had placed a call of a domestic dispute against him. The tip came from an anonymous source, not specified in court.
Soon after, in his front yard, Giannini became aggressive, according to the police report, flailing his arms at law enforcement while yelling expletives. He didn’t comply with orders, and, allegedly, it took two police officers to wrestle him down to the ground. After he was detained, he was charged with resisting arrest.
Giannini was charged with Penal Code section 69, using threats or violence to prevent an executive officer from performing their duties, or resisting executive officers in the performance of their duties. A conviction of such crime can carry a three-year sentence.
At the preliminary hearing, one witness, Ivory Jones, an experienced social worker with Child Protective Services who is also an emergency response social worker and handles child abuse or neglect cases, described what happened.
“There had been ongoing CPS intervention at Eric Giannini’s residence. I remember more than three different occasions having to send CPS service workers to the residence,” said Jones, adding that law enforcement instructed her not to approach the home without them present because Giannini was in possession of various firearms.
Deputy Pietrick testified he had received several calls to his department of domestic violence involving Giannini and his spouse. One child was experiencing night terrors from the abusive behavior of the defendant, he reported.
And, during his testimony, he mentioned his partner on the scene had sustained an injury to his finger. “My partner had blood leaking from his finger,” Deputy Pietrick said, adding that he had to confiscate five lethal firearms from the house.
A motion to suppress was presented by Assistant Public Defender Brendan Mcghee, but denied by the judge, who set the trial for October 1.
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