Court Watch

On Friday, we went to the court expecting to find out how many hundreds of years Bennie Moses would received after a Yolo County Jury convicted him of 62 counts for the molestation and rape of his daughter from the time she was 12 until she turned 21. 

Instead, we learned that a juror had possibly violated the very tenet of a fair and impartial trial.

This past week we ended up covering a very interesting trial that frankly should never have gone to trial.  In his opening statement, the defense attorney acknowledged that they were conceding the basic charges and only disputing the top end charges.

We will have a full report on this case when the jury comes back from deliberations, but we are pretty comfortable, given the facts of this case, in suggesting the individual will be facing a good amount of time in prison and faces an exposure of life.

Back in early March, a Yolo County Jury convicted Bennie Moses of 62 counts for the molestation and rape of his daughter from the time she was 12 until she turned 21. 

On Friday, as Mr. Moses was to be sentenced, Public Defender Emily Fisher announced to Judge Stephen Mock that she would be moving for a new trial based on jury misconduct.

A few weeks ago, Judge Kathleen White issued a seven-year permanent injunction on the safety zone in West Sacramento.  As we have written a number of times, there just does not seem to be a nuisance in West Sacramento that necessitates such a move, that infringes on the fundamental right that one is innocent until proven guilty.

The injunction reverses that claim and forces individuals who have been served with the injunction or will be served with the injunction to do the opposite – prove they are not gang members.

The trial of Marco Topete has been delayed yet again, this time due to the stroke suffered by Attorney Tom Purtell on Friday, according to sources close to the situation.

In a hearing on Monday morning, Judge Paul Richardson was informed by co-Counsel Hayes Gable that Mr. Purtell, who is in his 80s, will not make any decisions about his role in the case for at least a week.

On a day when the victim in a shooting of an elderly Sikh man in Elk Grove saw the victim lose his life, six week after being shot, the scene in Judge Fall’s courtroom was unusual.  A cameraman from News 10 had set up to shoot footage while the back of the courtroom as stacked with family members of the victim of a November attack on a Sikh taxi driver in West Sacramento.

Two weeks previously, it appeared the case was over as Pedro Ramirez and Johnny Morales were set to be sentenced after taking plea agreements.  Mr. Morales went through with his no contest plea, despite denying taking part in the attack.  He’ll receive probation and a small amount of jail time.

Close Relationship to the DA’s Office or a More General Double Standard For White Collar Crime in Yolo?

On Thursday, Jennifer Beeman, who had admitted to falsifying grant documents that exaggerated the reported number of UC Davis campus sexual assaults, pled no contest to two felony charges of embezzlement and falsifying accounts.

It is expected that she will face probation plus having to pay restitution of around $10,525, the amount she embezzled.

A few months ago, the Vanguard reported on Yolo County Superior Court Presiding Judge David Rosenberg’s October 2010 announcement that the court would be assigning a second judge to hear juvenile dependency and delinquency cases.  According to Judge Rosenberg, the result will be a decrease in judges on the criminal side and an increase of judges on the juvenile side of the court.  Among other acknowledgements, Judge Rosenberg said this change “recognizes our steady commitment that children in our juvenile system continue to receive adequate time and attention by our Judges.”

The Vanguard article expressed concerns regarding the negative impact and potential backlog associated with removing a felony criminal judge without filling the vacancy.  Skepticism as to whether or not a second full-time judge was necessary was also touched on in the article.

There was a good piece by Rich Rifkin in the Davis Enterprise this week, talking about the 172.9 million dollar courthouse that has been approved by the California Judicial Council.

Wrote Rich Rifkin, “One area where the state might save some money without too much pain is with its ambitious plan to build 35 new courthouses and to renovate six old ones. In 2008, Gov. Schwarzenegger signed into law SB 1407. It provides five billion dollars for these 41 projects.”

Two weeks ago, the Board of Supervisors heard about the current budget problems and spoke of closing down the the Leinberger Memorial Detention Center.  In the last three years, the Yolo County Sheriff’s Department has cut forty-two positions, through layoffs and declining to rehire vacant positions.

Most devastatingly, early this year, ten deputies were laid off.  There is a good amount of research emerging about how costs can be contained within the system.  Some ideas that have come out have been to reduce sentences for drug offenses, shift the death penalty convictions to life without parole, and move inmates from state prison to county jails.

As Yolo County continues to prosecute and imprison individuals for possession of less than a gram of meth, polling released on Monday shows that voters increasingly are favoring reduced sentences and penalties for drug possession.

The March 21-24 survey of 800 California general election voters was conducted statewide by Lake Research Partner. It was released on Monday and  shows that nearly three-quarters (72%) of California voters support reducing the penalty for possession of a small amount of illegal drugs for personal use from a felony to a misdemeanor, including a solid majority who support this reform strongly.

Last April we reported that UC Davis had used anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) legislation as a means to quash lawsuits, and invariably civil rights protections for employees. 

One of the cases that we focused on was the case of Professor Branner, a 74-year-old African-American professor who in August of 2008 filed a lawsuit against the UC Regents and Vice Provost Horwitz, alleging that their actions violated his rights and protections under California law.

The Third District Court of Appeals has tossed out another conviction in Yolo County, this time overturning a plea agreement after Judge Kathleen White erred in denying the defendant’s motion to suppress evidence illegally obtained.

The appellate court ruled this week, that “the patdown search was unjustified because the officer did not have reasonable suspicion defendant was armed and dangerous” and “the search exceeded the scope of determining if defendant had weapons.”

It should have been a routine preliminary hearing.  Three youths, accused of being members of the Norteno criminal street gang in Woodland, were involved in a January incident in which a 40-ounce beer bottle was thrown at an alleged member of the rival Sureno criminal gang, but missed and broke the window of the 7-11 store.

However, with Deputy DA Ryan Couzens on the job, there is no such think as a routine preliminary hearing.  The defense attorneys in the case during the break were overheard complaining that this had become a “typical Ryan Couzens three-day prelim.”

Earlier this week, Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill that will send thousands of state prisoners to local jails.  The idea behind the plan was to reform the criminal justice system and save money.

Many have calculated that the state could save huge amounts of money through such a shift, as counties are better equipped to handle inmates for a much lower cost.

Last week, during the Yolo County Board of Supervisors meeting, representatives from the Yolo County Sheriff’s Department, District Attorney’s Office, and Public Defender’s Office gave presentations on their cost cutting techniques employed in the past and proposed plans for the future.

Up until recently there was hope that Governor Jerry Brown’s previous budged cut proposal would allow the Yolo County Leinberger Memorial center, a minimum security facility in Woodland, to remain partially open. However, due to the increased likelihood that an agreement will not be made by June and the impact of a lack of any agreement even as early as July 1st, new measures must be taken.

My brother, Robert James Kerr, was murdered in 2003. Today, I am one of thousands of murder victim family members who oppose the death penalty.  I actively work for alternatives to execution to honor my brother’s memory.

This month Governor Quinn of Illinois signed legislation ending the death penalty.  The Illinois legislature follows New Jersey and New Mexico in replacing the death penalty with alternatives.  Sixteen states across the country now embrace an alternative criminal justice policy that recognizes the needs of murder victim family members while leaving funds on the table for effective public safety programs.  They have acknowledged the reality of an inherently human and imperfect criminal justice system.  At least six other states may follow the lead of Illinois and repeal their death penalty statues, including Connecticut.

In December, Woodland resident Jose Valenzuela faced trial in Yolo County. He was accused of attempted murder of two individuals at a notorious Woodland night club, La Finca, home to numerous homicide and assaults over the last few years including this year’s first murder in Woodland.

Mr. Valenzuela was acquitted of attempting to kill one man and he was nearly acquitted of attempting to kill the other man, but the jury hung 11-1 for acquittal.

At the core of the Yolo County judicial problem is the gang case.  Time after time, I see these young, relatively innocent, sometimes even harmless looking kids being accused of being gang members and committing some other crime.

As I sit there in the courtroom I cannot help but believe that we as a society have failed these kids, allowing them to get this to point.  The term gang and gang member inspires fear more than compassion.  It conjures visions of hardened criminal street gang members brazenly shooting and killing helpless and innocent victims.

There was an interesting discussion at the Board of Supervisors meeting last Tuesday on the number of jury trials in Yolo County, which have soared in the last few years.