Court Watch

The spectacle of the Topete trial has often distracted from the incident and brutal murder itself.  This has proved to be a huge disservice to the magnitude of human tragedy that occurred here.

Judge Richardson Denies Defense Motion For Mistrial –

Given the twists and turns in the now three-year-old murder case involving Marco Topete, who faces the death penalty for shooting and killing Sheriff Deputy Tony Diaz in June of 2008, it should be no surprise that the first day of opening arguments would not run smoothly.

Suit alleges a very different string of events than the one detailed by the Sacramento District Attorney’s office

Attorney Stewart Katz, representing John Hesselbein, filed a federal civil rights suit on Monday stemming from an action on January 30, 2011 where Mr. Hesselbein was shot “at point-blank range in the head with a high-powered round fired from an assault rifle while Hesselbein was seated handcuffed in the back of a patrol car.”

On August 1, the Yolo Judicial Watch Editorial Board wrote, “A recent study, by Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Arthur Alarcon and Loyola Law School Professor Paula Mitchell, of correctional records reveals the stunning toll that legal proceedings take on the financial resources of our state.  In the face of the staggering cost of capital punishment, California can no longer afford the legal proceedings required, by law, to put a person to death.”

On Friday a reader commenting on the Judicial Watch article about a man convicted of first degree murder of his wife wrote, “The guy is guilty of first degree murder for the public murder of his wife and you are complaining about the 5 digit cost of his trial! Have you totally lost it? When the cost of trying capital cases is more important then [sic] justice we have completely lost our bearings as a society.”

As if to answer that question, on Saturday, the New York Times published an article that shows a reversal in the trend of “tough on crime” polices, even in conservative states.

A Yolo County jury convicted 78-year-old Donna McClure of West Sacramento of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence. Ms. McClure had driven her vehicle without a valid license and had failed to yield to a pedestrian in the parking lot of a West Sacramento Raley’s store on October 1, 2009.

Deputy DA Sanctioned For Asking Improper Questions –

It was as straightforward a murder case as you will find.  There were just two days of evidence in which three witnesses came forward to say that Ignacio Mendoza walked up to his wife in an orchard outside of Zamora and shot and killed her.  The closing statements actually took less time in their entirety than the jury instructions.

A Yolo County jury convicted 27-year-old Noelle Warren for her role in a 2007 accident which seriously injured Jonathan Pinkerton.  She was convicted of felony hit and run, causing serious permanent injury.   The jury hung on the verdict for her father, 52 years old, for being an accessory to a felony for his alleged role in attempting to conceal the crime.

by Alex Clark 
Special to the Vanguard –

On July 30^th, the Vanguard reported on a case that originated out of Davis.  On May 5^th, 2010 law enforcement officers executed a search warrant at a home located on the 1500 block of Cypress Lane in Davis. The search produced multiple bags of marijuana, scales and US currency. Consequently, one resident, a minor, was arrested.

In the course of their duties, law enforcement intercepted a text message sent to the minor from “Chico,” a moniker law enforcement recognized as being associated with an individual by the name of Israel Covarrubias. Mr. Covarrubias, a defendant in the aforementioned case, had allegedly offered marijuana for sale. Law enforcement, unbeknownst to Mr Covarrubias, arranged a meeting between himself and the minor in which the former would sell one ounce of marijuana.  Mr. Covarrubias is alleged to have agreed to meet the minor for this purpose.

Vanguard Court Watch has analyzed newly available data on the number of prison inmates by county, and determined that Yolo County has a disproportionately high number of prison inmates compared to its size and crime rate.

In mid-July, the Sacramento County District Attorney’s office announced it would shut down the unit in Sacramento that had independently monitored police shootings to determine whether the officers’ actions were justified and whether the investigations into them were conducted thoroughly.

The First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco has struck down a 2004 voter initiative that took effect in 2009 that required anyone arrested on suspicion of a felony to be swabbed on an inner cheek for genetic material, which would then be forwarded to a database accessible to state and local police and the FBI.

On Monday, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law a measure that would help prevent wrongful convictions.  The legislation, authored by Senator Mark Leno, ensures that no judge or jury convicts a defendant, or approves an aggravating factor in a crime that allows for a stricter penalty, based solely on the uncorroborated testimony of an in-custody informant.

In a press release issued on Tuesday, Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig attempted to take full credit for a reduction in court delays that, over three years, have been reduced by nearly 20 percent according to his office.  The local media dutifully reported on this, doing little to no checking with the other key players.

Pop culture brings us the classic moment at the end of Star Wars, where the aging protagonist is about to turn over the reins to his protégé.  Looking at his former pupil, Obi Wan says, “You can’t win, Darth. If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.”

What should have been a simple case involving the sale of a single ounce of marijuana and the possession of another ounce of marijuana, has been blown into a case where the defendants are facing 13 years in prison, due to gang enhancements and gang charges.

Last week, five people in Yolo County were acquitted by juries, another person the jury hung on, and a seventh person was convicted but only after acquittal on the most serious charge.