Court Watch

Let me be honest here and say that I am frustrated with the way our county’s law enforcement operates.  We have had an official investigation by the District Attorney’s Office in the case of the shooting Luis Gutierrez.  They report to us that they found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing.  However, the report that they released was a very obvious summary of facts rather than a complete report.  So we are left to either take their findings on faith or to doubt their findings because there are huge unexplained factors.

Requests for a disclosure of the full investigation have resulted in both claims of privilege and claims that it is an ongoing investigation.  When the DA wants to release information from ongoing investigations they do so.  They released a statement of probable cause and the coroner’s report within a week of the shooting.  Why?  Because they believe it showed justification from the shooting.

When the Yolo County Independent Civil Right’s Commission revealed allegations by Crystal Ochoa and her family, that Yolo County Sheriff’s Deputies as part of the Yolo County Gun Task Force put a gun to the then-nine-year old girl’s head, Sheriff Prieto expressed doubt that his deputies would do that but vowed to investigate the incident and have a report in 30 days.

That 30 days had extended to nearly two months, but finally in a letter dated April 19, 2010, the Sheriff’s Department released their findings.  They had three findings that were unfounded including Standards of Conduct, Display and Handling of a firearm, and DIsplay and Discharge of Firearm.

While a second round of hearings occurred on Sunday, without the committee receiving additional documents, Justice Cruz Reynoso indicated that this might be all they can do for some time.  As it was, two of the witnesses were reportedly too frightened to come forward and instead their testimony was read into the record Sunday afternoon in Woodland. (pictured above)  A third witness who apparently is the only witness to actually see the shooting has refused to come forward.

Meanwhile a toxologist told the Justice Reynoso that he needed to actually examine the blood  in order to make any definitive determinations about Luis Gutierrez’ level of intoxication.  Thus he did not come forward as a witness Sunday . The Justice indicated that while requests have been made for evidence, the County has informed them that the DA has partially re-opened the investigation.

When Chancellor Linda Katehi spoke out last month against recent hate crimes incidents on the UC Davis campus, she cited the UC Davis Principles of Community in hopes of encouraging and teaching the community to embrace understanding and acceptance.

She announced her intention to declare UC Davis a hate-free campus.  In announcing her proposal, she said, “It is time for our university and campus community to come together to confront head-on this sort of regrettable and reprehensible behavior, not only with words but with a coordinated set of actions.”

In last week’s Sacramento Bee, there was a good article that outlined new training that law enforcement in Woodland received about ways to defuse potentially volatile encounters with mentally ill and emotionally disturbed individuals by using words instead of force.

According to the story, “Nineteen officers, dispatchers and security guards from across the region took part in four days of seminars and an afternoon of role playing Thursday.”

The Yolo County Grand Jury is extending its deadline to look for applicants to the Grand Jury Pool.  The Grand Jury plays a crucial role both in determining who gets indicted for crimes and also in terms of investigating local agencies for possible wrong doing. 

It was the Yolo County Grand Jury that shined light on problems in the Davis Fire Stations including drunken firefighters sleeping off their inebriation as well as hostile work environment created by too close a relationship between the union and management.

In a county where many complain about disparate treatment in the Criminal Justice System between people who are white and of privilege and those who are minorities, the 8 month sentence that Brett Pedroia received for performing multiple sex acts with a minor has stuck out for quite some time.

The fact of the matter is that not only is Mr. Pedroia the brother of Red Sox second baseman and former MVP and Rookie of the Year Dustin Pedroia, but his family is a prominent and respected family in the business community of Woodland.

The Vanguard has received word that the District Attorney’s Office is re-opening the investigation into the shooting of Luis Gutierrez.  At this time, the Vanguard is uncertain what that entails.

Last week, the Vanguard ran a story that questioned the official version of events based on the location of several bullet strikes in relation to where Mr. Gutierrez was eventually killed on the street adjacent to the south sidewalk on the Gum Ave overpass over Highway 113.  Based on that story, the Vanguard requested additional information from the county assuming that the investigation of the Office of District Attorney was complete.

To read the accounts in the paper, taken almost verbatim from the Yolo County District Attorney Office’s press release, an 18-year-old Woodland gang member was sentenced to 55 years for a drive-by shooting that occurred in 2008, in Woodland’s Campbell Park.

Ramiro Leon was handed down the sentence for attempted murder along with enhancements for criminal street gang activity and firearms.

Protesters in Yolo County marched on Thursday and Friday in the first two legs of a three day planned march in honor of the late union organizer and civil rights leader Cesar Chavez.

The first stage of the marches was held in Woodland on Friday where demonstrators numbering approximately 50 gathered at 9:30 am at the Woodland DMV, the site from which Luis Gutierrez would embark on what turned out to be his last minutes of his life.  Soon after, he was contacted by Yolo County Sheriff’s as part of the Yolo County Gang Task Force, and as he fled, a confrontation ensued and he was shot and killed.

Last August, the Vanguard reported that Yolo County District Attorney’s Office Investigator Randy Skaggs had filed suit against Yolo County and the District Attorney’s Office for among other things a violation of right to privacy and whistle-blower retaliation.

According to the suit, in 2008, Mr. Skaggs, a ten year veteran DA Investigator was placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an administrative inquiry into allegations of misconduct.  Details of the discipline case were then disclosed to Dave Markss, Chief DA Investigator for Colusa County’s DA’s Office who sent the details of the conversation to no less than thirteen other Chief District Attorney Investigators.

This past weekend, the Woodland Daily Democrat had a small story on Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig.  He had given a speech last week at the Woodland Chamber of Commerce laying out the fact that the DA’s office was facing budget cuts that will result in a reduction of services and prosecutions.

He told the audience that with the new budget cuts and the fact that staff has already been cut as much as possible, services will suffer.  At the same time he said that between 30 percent and 35 percent of the DA’s Office is funded by grants which are used to investigate and prosecute different areas of crime.

Last November, the Yolo County District Attorney’s office released their report on the Shooting of Luis Gutierrez Navarro by Yolo County Sheriff’s Deputies. That report concluded, “When considering all of the facts and circumstances known to them at the time, the use of deadly force by the deputies was objectively reasonable and justified and therefore does not warrant the filing of criminal charges against Sgt. Johnson, Deputy Oviedo or Deputy Bautista.”

At the time, the Vanguard raised some troubling questions about inconsistencies in the report. Those questions have grown with last month’s hearings by the Yolo County Independent Human Rights Commission, the testimony by several witnesses, and the report by investigator Frank Roman.

Good piece by Marcos Breton this morning in the Sacramento Bee on James Marchbanks.  Mr. Marchbanks if you recall was cleared in late January of wrongdoing in a case in which three students in his drama class claimed that he made a bomb threat.

He served four days in jail and faced an $150,000 bail.  At the time of his release, the DA’s office did not file charges pending further investigation.

Over 150 people gathered in Davis on Saturday morning and marched from the train station over to the Davis Farmer’s Market where they gathered in the park and addressed a large contingency and hoped that the nearby shoppers going about their business on a Saturday morning would be educated on what they see as a corruption in the Yolo County Judicial System.

Terry Easley, a family member and one of speakers, told the Vanguard that they had hoped to make the public aware of the way that the Judicial System in Yolo County is set up.  “The way that it works,” she said, “has actually been corrupted and compromised by what we term the cash for convictions program.”

The challenge to the Gang Injunction was originally to begin today (March 9), however last week, Judge David Reed suddenly recused himself citing a number of cases that he was involved in as a defense attorney that the District Attorney’s Office intends to use.  That move was likely a ploy by the District Attorney’s Office to remove Judge Reed who seemed to view their case more unfavorably than others.

The trial will now proceed in April with Judge Kathleen White presiding as she did over the preliminary injunction.  Yesterday, a three judge panel in the Third Court of Appeals issued a ruling on a challenge to that preliminary injunction.

What started out as a modest story on the Vanguard has now been featured in stories across the world.  Yes you read that correctly.  On Monday February 8, 2010, the Vanguard wrote a story called “Yolo County Man Faces Third Strike For Stealing Cheese.”

It will not go down as the most read story on the Vanguard however it is probably by far the most influential.  Because the Vanguard ran this story, the Sacramento Bee ran a follow up a few days later.  As we reported to you, by Thursday, the Yolo County District Attorney had pulled back the push for three strikes and only asked for 11 years.

California taxpayers, in a system that is so strapped they are releasing minor felons, will have to pay the bill for one more.  That was determined on Monday when Judge Thomas Warriner sentence Robert Ferguson to seven years and eight months in prison in part of the crime of stealing less than four dollars worth of cheese in addition to another petty theft that saw the theft of a woman’s wallet. 

It could have been a lot however, as originally, the District Attorney’s Office was arguing for conviction under the three strikes law.

Today Robert Ferguson will be sentenced to prison for among other things, stealing less than four dollars worth of cheese and also stealing a wallet from a lady at a convenience store.  While no one will argue that it is acceptable to do either of these things, given the state’s lack of resources and release of a variety of convicts, one has to wonder the wisdom of spending county time and resources on this sort of case.

It was just last week that Yolo County Superior Court Judge Rosenberg was praising the Yolo County judicial system for a high rate of disposition.