By Hannah Poploskie
On Thursday afternoon a preliminary hearing for defendant Leonardo Galvan was conducted. The case against him includes felony charges for possession of a concealed dirk or dagger, with lesser misdemeanor charges of resisting a peace officer, possession of a controlled substance, and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Representing the People was Deputy District Attorney Ryan Couzens, who brought to the stand the West Sacramento police officer who arrested the defendant. He testified that he was in his marked West Sacramento police vehicle patrolling early on the morning of February 4, 2018. While driving down West Capitol Blvd., the officer saw the defendant riding his bicycle on the sidewalk against traffic.
The officer explained that it is an infraction in West Sacramento to ride your bicycle on the sidewalk so he turned his lights on and used his speaker to ask the defendant to “stop.” The defendant did appear to stop at first, but then he turned around and kept riding his bicycle. When the officer turned around he saw the defendant stand while riding which gave the officer the impression that the defendant was speeding up.
After pulling up to a car wash upon spotting the bicycle leaned up against a car, the officer saw the defendant behind a car. Exiting his vehicle and calling for backup, the officer held the 
defendant at gunpoint, subduing him until backup arrived. Upon the arrival of the backup, the defendant was patted down, and an eight-inch orange kitchen knife was discovered. The knife had a four-inch blade, came to a point and was sharp on one side. A black Airsoft BB gun was also found on his person. In a fanny pack that was with the bicycle was a bag of drugs and a clear pipe with residue on it.
The questioning shifted to the type of knife that was discovered. The officer said he did not handle it and that the other officer on the scene had put it in an evidence bag. He was not sure what the blade was made of, but said it looked like metal and he was also told it was metal. He did not know if the blade was able to be bent or if it was plastic.
Deputy Public Defender Dean Johansson began his cross-examination, asking again if the officer had held the knife, which he denied. He also confirmed that it had been photographed, however he had neither the knife nor the photographs in his possession, only having his narrative of the event. The officer did admit that the defendant did not fight or flee at the car wash and he obeyed the officer.
In his final questioning, Mr. Couzens asked if all of the events occurred in Yolo County, which the officer confirmed. He was also asked to further describe the bag of drugs, and the officer said there was about a gram of methamphetamine. The prosecution then submitted their case.
After a brief recess, Judge David Rosenberg said a plea form had been filled out in the case. The defendant plead no contest to an amended count one, of attempt to conceal a dirk or dagger. Due to previous cases, the sentence length would be doubled from eight months to 16 total months. The sentencing is scheduled for April 18.
