By Taylor Smith
WOODLAND, CA – In an attempt to sort out confusion over his court date, a man reported to the probation office at Yolo County Superior Court on Dec. 20, only to be arrested on the spot for having missed his court date which was set for one day prior.
After initially being denied, the accused was able to make a plea to get let back out on supervised release.
Defense Attorney Rob Gorman urged the court to place his client back on supervised release, where he would have remained if only he had not missed his court date given that his charges did not warrant an arrest.
DPD Gorman argued the accused is not a threat to public safety and does not need to be kept in custody. He reminded the court that every time the man missed a court date, he was found either in the park across the street from the courthouse or at Jack in the Box next to the park.
Initially, Judge Raoul Thorbourne denied this request. He based most of his reasoning for this decision on the fact that he was not the primary judge on this case; he insisted the judge before him set the terms as they were for a reason, thus he should not be changing them.
About an hour after the judge denied the defense release request and sent the accused back to jail, Gorman and Deputy District Attorney Jesse Richardson asked to bring the case back to the court.
They informed Judge Thorbourne the accused was willing to make a plea and admit his violation.
The accused pleaded no contest to his charges in front of the court, and suddenly Judge Thorbourne had a change of heart, releasing the accused back on supervised probation with the terms as previously, and reminded him of the consequences of any further offenses.
