A Look At Yolo County’s Brady Policies
Yesterday’s story on Michael Morton and the story that emerged earlier this year. when the US Supreme Court ruled that the prosecutors in the John Thompson case could not be held liable for the destruction of evidence that was used to wrongfully convict Mr. Thompson, lead us once again onto the path of looking into ways to prevent wrongful convictions.
Since the 1963 US Supreme Court decision in Brady v. Maryland, the courts have held that prosecutors cannot withhold exculpatory evidence – evidence that could potentially exonerate a defendant – as it violates due process “where the evidence is material either to guilt or to punishment.”
Tani Cantil-Sakauye’s appointment to chief justice by then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger marked a huge moment locally, as she grew up in Sacramento and is a graduate of the UC Davis School of Law.
The Yolo County District Attorney’s office has just spent three and a half years and unknown quantities of money to get the death penalty in what should have been a slam dunk case.
It was a case that had all of the intrigue – a red-headed boy-next-door looking defendant, turned racist gun-nut, who shot a black man claiming self-defense. But ultimately the jury failed to buy the self-defense theory and convicted Christopher Smith, 31, of second degree murder with enhancements, that put the likely sentence to 45 to life.
Deputy District Attorney Sulaiman Tokhi argued that this is a case where “bad liars meet good evidence.” During these troubled economic times, crimes involving the stealing of metal pipes such as copper and turning them into recycling centers have increased in numbers.
Five young codefendants were facing nearly 20 years in prison for an attack on January 24, 2011. The co-defendants, four of whom were minors, faced charges of robbery, assault and gang enhancements.
In the recent multi-defendant case in which five youngsters were alleged to have jumped, assaulted and robbed an individual, the Yolo County District Attorney aggressively pursued gang charges despite very thin evidence of gang involvement for the youths.
In early 2010, the Vanguard reported on the case of Robert Ferguson, who faced life in prison for stealing a package of shredded cheese from the Nugget Market. Ultimately, after unfavorable press, the District Attorney dropped pursuit of the third strike and Mr. Ferguson for his minor crime, and he was instead was sentenced to nearly eight years in prison.
Lost in the melee of the pepper spraying incident is an interview of a juror by Davis Enterprise reporter Lauren Keene, whose interview now casts doubt on the dismissal of the other juror, ostensibly for language reasons.
Yolo County Judge Janet Gaard held Davis resident Paul Delgado to answer, in a preliminary hearing for two felony charges of attempting to sell meth, despite the fact that there is no evidence that he ever possessed the drug that he allegedly offered to sell to an undercover agent of YONET.
This Thursday at King Hall, John Thompson, who spent 14 years on death row before he was exonerated one month before his scheduled execution, based on the prosecution’s withholding of exculpatory evidence during trial, will speak at King Hall and discuss his experiences with the criminal justice system.
One of the most poignant parts of the recent county realignment discussion was when Debra Shelton, who works for CDCR (California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation) as an educator, talked about Marco Topete and the fact that we simply failed to provide him with the resources he needed to be able to survive on the outside.
