Court Watch

In 2006, embroiled in an ugly and polarizing controversy, Police Chief Jim Hyde abruptly left for greener pastures but not before firing some parting shots at the City of Davis and the Human Relations Commission, chaired at the time by my wife, Cecilia Escamilla-Greenwald.

One of the big problems facing the AB 109 budgeting process, at the county level, is that it takes a 4/5th’s vote of the Board of Supervisors to block the implementation of budget and recommendations put forth by the Community Corrections Partnership, made up of the various stakeholders in the process.

Over the weekend, Tyrone Smith, 32 was arrested after being suspected of shooting a Twin Rivers Unified School District Officer multiple times during an attempted traffic stop.

On November 3, Yolo Judicial Watch will focus its attention, at its annual Fundraiser and Awards Ceremony Event, on the issue of preventing wrongful convictions.

The real question, as we are now moving toward a month into realignment, is how California counties will decide to deal with realignment – do they change the way they handle a number of cases or do they simply try to add jail space?

After a morning of good discussions and reasoned discourse at last week’s realignment dialogue, Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley became unhinged.  Mr. Cooley had actually been an innovator, someone who pushed for change in the charging of third strikes to avoid sending the pizza thieves and cheese bandits to prison for the rest of their lives.

On November 3, Yolo Judicial Watch will focus its attention, at its annual Fundraiser and Awards Ceremony Event, on the issue of preventing wrongful convictions. This event will feature, among others, Linda Starr, the Legal Director of the Northern California Innocence Project, which has played a strong role in a number of recent exonerations.

As we discussed on Thursday in the first installment of this series on the UC Davis School of Law Program on “Crime and Punishment Revisited,” the application of AB 109, commonly known as realignment, figures to change the nature of the criminal justice system, but no one knows for sure just how.

Public Officials Explain Realignment, Why We Need It, and Express Concerns About How It Will Be Implemented –

The application of AB 109, commonly known as realignment, figures to change the nature of the criminal justice system, but no one knows for sure just how.  On Wednesday, UC Davis School of Law had a program featuring policymakers, prosecutors, academics and other experts who discussed and debated just what AB 109 will mean and what will happen going forward.

On November 3, Yolo Judicial Watch will focus its attention, at its annual Fundraiser and Awards Ceremony Event, squarely on the issue of Preventing Wrongful Convictions. This event will feature, among others, Linda Starr, the Legal Director of the Northern California Innocence Project, and Maurice Caldwell, a man who was wrongfully convicted of a 1990 murder and who had his verdict overturned last December after spending over 20 years in prison. He was finally released this year around the first of April.

Death penalty critics, many of them recent converts to the cause precisely because of the length of stay and prohibitive cost, quickly jumped on a study released this summer from U.S. Ninth Circuit Judge Arthur L. Alarcon and Loyola Law School professor Paula M. Mitchell, which found that the death penalty adds $184 million to the budget over what it would cost to imprison people for life.

Everyone believes that AB 109, the prison realignment bill, will be a game changer, but as we have noted in previous articles and columns, no one knows just how it will play out.

The Vanguard has received additional statements about the tasering that occurred in West Sacramento on September 8, 2009.

“Norteño gangs” were the first words that Deputy DA Garrett Hamilton uttered in the opening statement for the prosecution – that was no accident, as Defense Attorney Hayes Gable noted in his closing arguments.

To the surprise of no one, the Yolo County jury charged with deciding the guilt phase of the Marco Topete case came back in less than a day and convicted Mr. Topete on all charges, special circumstances and enhancements.

Analysis of Closing Arguments Part One: Prosecution and Defense’s Discrediting the Gang Charges

After over three years of waiting, and months of trial, the case of Marco Topete accused of the shooting death of Yolo County Sheriff’s Deputy, Tony Diaz, finally went to the jury.  And while the odds may be clearly stacked against the defendant in this case, his defense made a surprisingly strong case for second degree murder.

The Topete trial’s guilt phase will likely end today as both the prosecution and defense are expected to give their closing statements.

There is just something not right about an election involving judicial candidates.  Part of the problem is that judges by their nature should not exercise their opinions, they should be listeners and they should take steps to make sure that the law is being followed and that all sides are given a fair chance to present their perspective.

The Field Poll conducted earlier this month and released yesterday shows consistent and substantial public support in California for keeping the death penalty as a form of punishment for capital crimes.

The case of Troy Davis and his execution amid serious doubts about his actual guilt focused the nation on the death penalty last week, but the truth is the focus has been on the death penalty for a lot longer than that.