Court Watch

Friday marked the six month anniversary of the death of Luis Gutierrez who was shot down by plain clothes Sheriff’s Deputies after a foot pursuit in Woodland on April 30, 2009.  The case is still under review following a full investigation by the Woodland Police Department who turned it over to the District Attorney’s Office.  The District Attorney’s office has forwarded it to the Attorney General’s Office and the FBI for a third party review of the investigation.

On Friday a modest crowd of 100 people, many of them friends and family of Mr. Gutierrez gathered at the Woodland DMV.  After a brief address by organizer Al Rojas and a few words by Jose Santos Gutierrez, the father of Luis, the crowd clan with candles and flashlights solemnly marched down Gum Avenue to the Highway 113 overpass where Mr. Gutierrez was pursued and shot.  They stopped at the top to kneel in prayer and remembrance.

On October 21, the Woodland Daily Democrat ran a story entitled “Alternative to Prison Offers a Second Chance.”  It was a story that chronicled the Yolo County Drug Court, which offers non-violent drug offenders treatment rather than jail time.  According to the article, Yolo county has one of the most rigorous programs in the state, even granting eligibility to people who commit crimes to feed a drug addiction such as multiple DUIs, grand theft auto, petty theft and drug possession.

A day later, by chance, the Davis Enterprise also ran a story on drug court entitled “A Second Chance: Drug Court Offers Alternative to Prison.”  It was different story, written by Lauren Keene, which chronicled a 44 year old alcoholic.

Around 30 protesters carrying signs and braving a light but steady rain gathered in front of the Sacramento District Attorney’s Office and then marched to the Matsui Courthouse in order to deliver a letter to US Attorney General Eric Holder asking for an investigation into the District Attorneys–Jeff Reisig of Yolo County and Jan Scully of Sacramento County.

Organizer Rev. Ashiya Odeye from the Justice Reform Coalition told the Vanguard late Monday:

On August 7, 2009, Yolo County Superior Court Judge Timothy L. Fall sentenced Ajay Kumar Dev, 42, for his multiple count conviction of the serial molest and rape of his adopted daughter, which allegedly occurred between January 1999 and December 2004.  It is one of the longest sentences in Yolo County history.

In June, a jury convicted Dev of 76 felony counts including 23 counts of forcible rape; 23 counts of forcible sexual assault; 27 counts of lewd acts with a minor; and 3 counts of attempting to dissuade a witness. The jury hung on three of the counts and returned not guilty verdicts on 13 others.

While I have often defended Supervisor Matt Rexroad, even as I frequently disagree with him, I find his comments posted yesterday to be out of line and out of character for him.  Some will say that they told me so, that this represents the real Matt Rexroad.  Maybe so, but it is not the Matt Rexroad that I have come to know over the last few years.

He writes:

It has been over four months since the April 30, 2009 shooting death of Luis Gutierrez at the hands of deputies from the Yolo County Sheriff’s Department in an encounter on Gum Avenue in Woodland as Mr. Gutierrez walked home from an appointment at the DMV.

Yesterday, the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office announced that they have completed their investigation and that the completed investigation will now be forwarded to the Office of the California Attorney General where it will be further analyzed and reviewed before any conclusions are announced. At this time, it is unknown how long this process will take for the Attorney General.

There is enough confusion in the public as to what happened in the Gore case that it seems worthwhile to at least attempt to put together a timeline of events that are in the public record.  The concern here goes back again to the article the Vanguard printed on Monday about the bias of local media.  The local media was willing to print a story that was 90 to 95 percent straight out of the District Attorney’s press release.

Credit should go to the Daily Democrat who at least attempted to balance the story on Wednesday with quotes from the statement I sent.  The Davis Enterprise refused to print from my statement and also refused to print my letter to the editor.  Apparently, the Enterprise did not even know that this was part of settlement agreement, which Debbie Davis, the editor, called “speculative.”  The Enterprise printed a very short follow up yesterday using information confirmed by both Mr. Gore’s lawyer and the county.

The Yolo County District Attorney’s Office on Tuesday released a statement claiming that former Investigator Rick Gore, has resigned, apologized, and retracted a letter that was leaked to the Vanguard in March of 2008.

“In March 2008, The People’s Vanguard of Davis blog published Mr. Gore’s March 5, 2008 letter in which Mr. Gore made allegations of unethical legal practices and the creation of a hostile work environment for employees.”

On March 7, 2008, the Vanguard published the article “Senior Investigator For Yolo County District Attorney’s Office Accuses Reisig of Ethical Malfeasance And Much More.”

Hardly a day or week goes by without hearing about a complaint of media bias, generally from the nation’s right.  To the right wing, there is little doubt that the nation’s media appear to be biased in one direction.  What is perhaps not as well publicized, perhaps due to the fact that the left do not have their own FOX Noise to response, but to the left, the nation’s mainstream media appear biased in the other direction.

The truth as usual is probably found somewhere in between.  However, from my perspective one of the most interesting observations made by leftist critic Noam Chomsky in his book “Manufacturing Consent” was the reliance on the media for official government sources.  At a national level depending on the regime, that may taint news coverage, although these days media attempt to balance most reports by covering the views of the opposition.

Last week the Vanguard broke the news that a Yolo County District Attorney Investigator Randy Skaggs has filed a lawsuit against Yolo County, the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office, DA Jeff Reisig and Chief District Attorney Investigator Pete Martin for among other things a violation of right to privacy and whistle-blower retaliation.

The key charge was a breach of privacy related to a personnel investigation and the allegation that the DA’s office had initiated this investigation in retaliation for Mr. Skaggs’ involvement in whistle-blowing in a case where he believed the DA’s office had failed to turn over exculpatory evidence.

A new newspaper entity is needed in Woodland for the sake of upholding the honor of journalism. If this opinion piece is even printed in the Daily Democrat, the first new service to which I would have submitted this piece, it can be said that our lone Woodland newspaper still upholds some of the sacred duties that come with the territory.

It is very clear that local politicians can easily become interconnected with other politicians for the sake of re-elections. This process becomes rather vulgar when convictions and ideals are ignored for the sake of political endorsements and alliances. This is already evident in Woodland. Political parties are blurred, almost indistinguishable-only one political party really exists, the party of the opportunist. It is no surprise that this sacred covenant has attracted much attention. Recently, the Yolo District Attorney was sued for obstruction of justice; a multi-layer allegation. What this means is that corruption, if at the highest point of Yolo County authority, is most likely also in small areas within the subordinate ranks. Sheriff Ed Prieto is no rookie to allegations of mismanagement, just recently he fired a sheriffs deputy for killing a dog.

What was billed as a mass demonstration on Saturday evening starting at Freeman Park and culminating at the County Court house, spilled into a general protest against District Attorney Jeff Reisig’s abuse of power.

At least 200 people and as many as 300 showed up on a Saturday night in Woodland with the County Fair in full swing.  They boisterously but peacefully exercised their First Amendment rights to protest against their government.

It seems like not long ago, I was sitting down and handicapping the races for 2010 and the general conclusion was that District Attorney Jeff Reisig would probably escape without serious challenge.  It seemed he built up enough protection and that no one would be particularly eager to challenge him.  The sense is at this point however that Mr. Reisig is much more vulnerable than one might think and a credible challenger could emerge with a good shot of knocking him off.

In 2006, Jeff Reisig earned the support of the outgoing District Attorney David Henderson and along with him nearly the entire DA’s office, the entire law enforcement establishment, and most of the political establishment.  Indeed, if you looked at the list of endorsements alone, you would assume that Reisig would win in a landslide.  And yet, it was a hard and at times bitterly fought race against fellow Deputy DA Pat Lenzi.  It was a race marked by outright lies and distortions of Ms. Lenzi’s record.  But it was a race that came down to a very narrow victory for Mr. Reisig.

Yolo County District Attorney’s Office Investigator Randy Skaggs has filed a lawsuit against Yolo County, the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office, DA Jeff Reisig and Chief District Attorney Investigator Pete Martin for among other things a violation of right to privacy and whistle-blower retaliation.

In September of 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.

The Vanguard began in July of 2006, a little over a month after District Attorney Jeff Reisig was elected in a tightly battled and hotly contested race with fellow Deputy DA Pat Lenzi.  He took office in January of 2007.  Both before and since that time rarely a week or month does not go by without hearing a complaint about Yolo County justice and the legal system.  And yet, clearly that sentiment does not go very deep because of right now the smart money is that Mr. Reisig will not face a serious challenger in 2010.

A lot can change between now and the end of the year when someone would have to file to run against him.  Indeed there are some surprise bombshells that are being held just beneath the surface at this point, that if they saw the light of day could change entire calculations.  But that will depend on many factors outside of anyone’s control and it’s not even clear that anyone is waiting in the wings to take advantage, should such an opportunity arise.

A crowd nearing 100 people, mainly family and friends of Ajay Dev, a Davis man who was sentenced to 378 years last week for the rape and sexual assault of his adopted teenage daughter.

Superior Court Judge Timothy L. Fall sentenced Ajay Kumar Dev, 42, for his multiple count conviction of the serial molest and rape of his adopted daughter, which allegedly occurred between January 1999 and December 2004.