Felony Grand Theft Codefendant Case Finds Accused Treated Differently at Arraignment

By Ramneet Singh

WOODLAND, CA– Yolo County Superior Court Judge David Reed late last week agreed to release without bail one codefendant in a felony grand theft case, but set $10,000 bail on the other codefendant.

In arraignment, Judge Reed read the charges that accused Cory Burlew and Thomas Walker of felony “attempted grand theft” and “attempted auto theft.”

Burlew was also charged with misdemeanors related to “burglary tool” and “drugs.” Walker was charged with a misdemeanor related to “drug paraphernalia.”

Conflict panel attorney Rodney Beede represented Burlew, while Deputy Public Defender Dave Muller represented Walker. Deputy District Attorney Deanna Hays prosecuted.

The two appeared sitting in custody and one of them was shaking one leg throughout the proceedings.

Before the proceedings, Reed addressed the courtroom and went over arraignments for those who had never had one.

From the probation report, Reed noted that only Burlew would be the one to be given a “supervised OR release.”

When directed, for Walker, Muller “would submit upon the probation report’s recommendation” and wanted “further examination” when eligible. There was a discussion about when to have the preliminary hearing.

Also submitting on the report, Beede responded that probation sought to keep track of Burlew who “apparently has obligations, perhaps in this county also, but in Placer County.”

Beede noted that these offenses were nonviolent. From the report, he discussed that probation knew of Burlew’s “significant criminal history.”

Despite this, Beede understood that they were able to determine that release was sufficient.

DDA Hays stated she was “perplexed by the recommendation” because Burlew was “such a high risk to reoffend.” She referenced a Placer County warrant, indicating he does not attend court. In checking the DMV records, she also noted “a minimum of five failures to appear” for citations.

Hays brought up that he “is pending a felony” from Sacramento. She noted that both had a court date on Jan. 10 and the offenses happened Jan. 12. With felony theft crimes in Sacramento, she considered Burlew “a public safety risk.” Their next court date in Sacramento is Jan. 24.

Probation Officer Whitten was not aware of the Sacramento County case. Going through their decision, she stated that “he wasn’t supervised prior to some of his court hearings, where now this author of this report wants to supervise him in order to get him to appear in court.”

Whitten stated that “part of his risk is high risk to return to court, not to reoffend…he does risk high not to return to court.” She noted that probation would be able to help him.

Beede stated “they’re (probation) obviously willing to really interact with this defendant.”

He noted that Burlew may be eligible “for addiction intervention court or mental health court.” Burlew was also on disability.

Burlew began to speak up at this point and Attorney Beede told him not to, stating, “You have me, for whatever that’s worth.”

Hays defined the cases in Sacramento as separate, non-codefendant cases.

Judge Reed would grant Burlew the release and told him the stipulations, and set Walker’s bail at $10,000.

A separate attorney from the panel was established for Burlew to replace Beede.

The preliminary hearing for the two of them is Jan. 31.

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