By Julian Navarro
WOODLAND – Half of the morning hearings here in Yolo County Superior Court Tuesday were cancelled when defendants didn’t show, leading to 15 bench warrants issued for a grand total of $56,000 in bail.
For example, Michael Joseph Garcia failed to show up to the court and was issued a bench warrant of $1,000.
He wasn’t the only one, as over the course of Tuesday’s morning proceedings multiple defendants missed their court hearings. Bench warrants were issued, in average amounts of $3,000.
Since the beginning of Garcia’s court hearing for his probation violation, he failed to be present for his court hearing, which led to Judge Peter M. Williams ruling to hand out a bench warrant. Once this warrant was issued, another 14 other bench warrants followed.
The initial case that amounted to more than the average $3,000 amount was given to Daniel Roa in the amount of $10,000 because the defendant had four charges. In fact, Roa, when he does come to court, will discover there are new 2nd-degree robbery charges filed against him.
Not one of the defendants who missed their court date had a reasonable excuse not to be present.
However, the large number of bench warrants can also exacerbate the overcrowd jail population because people only make it back for hearings if they are picked up on the streets, and jailed. Jails are incubators for diseases due to the number of people who are placed in each cell—they can’t socially distance.
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