Yolo County

Attorney For Gutierrez Family Says Tragedy Occurred Due to Baseless Hunch and Aggressive Police Tactics

img_3299.jpgLong-Awaited Civil Rights Trial Opened Wednesday, Nearly Three and a Half Years After Deadly Shooting on Gum Ave in Woodland –

Nearly three and a half years after the April 30, 2009 tragedy that saw Luis Gutierrez, a 26-year-old farm worker, shot and killed by three plain-clothed sheriff’s deputies working with the Yolo County Gang Task Force, the civil rights trial opened on Wednesday.

The start of the trial was delayed after attorneys for the defense alerted the judge to the planned protest and demonstration outside of the Federal Court Building.  Defense attorney Bruce Kilday told the court that this was a highly unusual situation and he, along with attorneys for the plaintiff, were concerned about the potential for prejudicial impacts on the jury.

Commentary: Troubled By Case of Angelique Topete

Topete-A-face-1The news story that the Vanguard ran on Tuesday regarding the knife-slashing attack on Angelique Topete raised a number of questions.  Unfortunately, the public remains ill-served by a District Attorney’s office that refuses to communicate with a media entity  because that media entity has leveled criticism toward them.

In fact, that very issue is at the core of the questions regarding what would have appeared to have been a relatively routine case in which an individual attacked and slashed the face of Ms. Topete in late July.

DA Declines To Charge Man Who Slashed Face of Topete’s Wife

Topete-A-face-1In late July, the Woodland Daily Democrat reported that Woodland police had arrested a husband and wife who were suspected of slashing the face of Angelique Topete.  Ms. Topete is the wife of Marco Topete, who was sentenced to be executed earlier this year for the 2008 killing of Sheriff’s Deputy Tony Diaz.

At the time, authorities argued that the attack had nothing to do with Mr. Topete or his crime.

Poll Finds Stunning Shift on Death Penalty Views; Voters Now Split

death-penaltyFor years the overwhelming majority of voters favored the death penalty, to the point where it became a bit of a political third rail that Democratic politicians would not touch.  They would either proclaim their support for the death penalty, or, such was the case with Attorney Generals Jerry Brown and Kamala Harris, both pledged to uphold the law despite personal opposition to the death penalty.

But that has all changed in recent years.  This morning’s release of the Field Poll shows Proposition 34, which would repeal the state’s existing death penalty law and make life in prison the ultimate penalty for a capital crime, is very narrowly trailing in the polls 45 percent opposed, 42 percent in favor, with a sizable 13 percent still undecided.

DA’s Office Reluctant to Charge Law Enforcement with Crimes for On-Duty Transgressions

reisigLast fall, when a Woodland police lieutenant took money from the Woodland Police Supervisors Association funds, the DA’s office was quick to charge him with embezzlement even though the defendant believed no crime occurred, as the money was re-paid through payroll deductions.

Similarly, in 2009, when a former Yolo County sheriff’s deputy sergeant got drunk and shot his dog, he was charged with illegal discharge of a firearm in a grossly negligent manner that could result in injury or death of a person, and wounding an animal.  He quickly pled to the former charge.

Getting Rid of the Death Penalty Means Getting Rid of Plea Bargains?

san-quentinResearch Inconclusive and Claim Ignores Problems with Coercive Plea Bargaining and Wrongful Convictions –

Political campaigns, unfortunately, are times when exaggerated political claims trump the need for truthful and honest discussions.  Such is the case in the recent column by Debra Saunders, dubbed the “Token Conservative,” in the San Francisco Chronicle.

After her account of Marc Klaas, she notes, “Thanks to a highly successful defense lobby and federal judges who have stalled the enforcement of California law, only 13 of the state’s death row inmates have been executed since 1992.”

Vanguard Analysis: DA’s Political Masterstroke on Pepper Spray Charges

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This was the case that Yolo County DA Jeff Reisig and the District Attorney’s Office did not want – it put them into a no-win situation of having to anger a substantial portion of the public no matter how they proceeded.  At first they tried to punt on the issue, but when the California Attorney General’s Office declined to investigate, the matter was dropped right back into their lap.

It was obvious from the start that the police – no matter what the other investigations found – would not be prosecuted criminally in this case.  The question was how to do so in a politically expedient matter.  They got their first break when the internal investigation was significantly divergent from the public Kroll Report.

DA Reisig Declines to File Charges Against UCD Police in Pepper Spray Case

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Ten months and a day after the November 18, 2011, incident that brought world-wide scrutiny, the Yolo County District Attorney’s office did what everyone figured they would do and declined to file charges against Lt. John Pike and other officers who pepper sprayed seated protesters on the UC Davis Quad.

In a letter to UC Davis Police Chief Matt Carmichael, Assistant Chief Deputy DA Michael Cabral wrote, “Civil liability, tactics, and departmental policies and procedures were not considered. We address only whether or not there is sufficient evidence to support the filing of criminal charges in connection with the use of pepper spray by police personnel on November 18, 2011.”

Commentary: Chief Deputy DA Unimpressed by Crime of Protestors November 18

Raven-JonDA’s Comment Ironic and Telling at the Same Time –

Every so often in a public records request for emails, you get a nugget that is priceless beyond the scope of your immediate inquiry.  The Sacramento Bee reporters who uncovered and reported on UC Davis Campus Counsel communications with the Yolo County DA’s office probably had no idea what they had just uncovered and reported.

The Bee reported yesterday that Senior Campus Counsel Michael Sweeney sought input from Yolo County’s Chief Deputy DA Jonathan Raven.

Civil Trial for Luis Gutierrez, Shot by Sheriff’s Deputies, To Begin on September 25

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By now, most know the story of Luis Gutierrez-Navarro, who on April 30, 2009, was walking home from the DMV on East Gum Avenue in Woodland, when he encountered what turned out to be three plain-clothed officers, Dale Johnson, Herman Oviedo and Hector Bautista in an unmarked Yolo County Sheriff’s Department vehicle.

What happened next is subject to dispute.  However, there seems to have been an attempt to contact Mr. Gutierrez, who had no real criminal record aside from some vehicle code violations. Mr. Gutierrez, for reasons that are unclear, fled the scene, the officers pursued him, and eventually at the top of the overpass there was a final confrontation in which the officers claim he pulled a knife and he was shot and killed.

Civil Case of Police Beating Still Pending in Galvan Matter

galvan-press-02.jpgPlaintiffs Allege Police Intentionally Inflicted Serious Bodily Injury on Brothers in 2005 Confrontation –

It has been over seven years since Ernesto Galvan’s life was changed dramatically with a beating in the early morning hours in June 14,  2005 at approximately 3:20 a.m. or shortly after.  Police beat Mr. Galvan, and to a lesser extent his brother Fermin, after they claim he resisted arrest near a West Sacramento Park.

Three jury trials later, the district attorney, apparently reluctantly, dropped the resisting and battery charges when it became clear they were unlikely to get 12 jurors to convict.  In the first two trials, it was a single hold-out, but the third trial was different – Fermin Galvan would be acquitted on one charge, and the split on the other charges shifted to the brothers’ favor.

Executions Remain on Hold in California According to Ruling by LA County Judge

death-penaltyUpdated Study Indicates Five Billion Dollars in Costs if System Maintained

Monday’s ruling by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Larry Fidler simply acknowledged the current state of affairs, as he was asked by LA County prosecutors to allow the execution of two longtime death row inmates, both of whom exhausted their legal appeals.

Judge Fidler agreed with the prosecution who argued that the “state is going as slow as they can and calling it progress.”   However, he said that as a trial judge, he lacked “the authority to override a civil court order in Marin County or the California State Legislature’s direction that a long administrative process is necessary to vet any lethal injection method.”

Sacramento Bee Ends 150-Year Support of Death Penalty

san-quentinThe Sacramento Bee on Sunday wrote: “For most of its 162 years as a state, California has had laws on the books authorizing the death penalty. And for nearly all of its 155 years as a newspaper, The Bee has lent its support to those laws and use of capital punishment to deter violence and punish those convicted of the most horrible of crimes.”

“That changes today,” they wrote and they apparently mean it.  Not content to issue a single editorial they have a week-long series of editorials.  They argue: “The death penalty in California has become an illusion, and we need to end the fiction – the sooner the better. The state’s death penalty is an outdated, flawed and expensive system of punishment that needs to be replaced with a rock-solid sentence of life imprisonment with no chance of parole.”

Commentary: Good Decision by DA Not to Charge Murder in Horrific Accident

crash-vehicle-pursuitWest Sacramento and Other Local Jurisdictions Need to Revisit Vehicle Pursuit Policies –

Imagine, a 17-year-old juvenile steals a car and leads the police on a high speed chase in one end of town, and on the other end of town, a police car turns on its lights and heads off to join the chase.  But just as it does so, it strikes a man crossing the street and hits him so hard that it severs the man’s body at the torso.

This is what happened this week in West Sacramento.  The Yolo County DA’s office would charge the teen, who was arrested after crashing into a parked car, with vehicle theft, felony possession of stolen property, and misdemeanor allegations of evading a police officer, resisting arrest and driving without a license.

Thinking Outside of the Box on Prosecuting Cases and Preventing Crime

prison-reformMany locales have used money from realignment to hire more prosecutors, more law enforcement officers, and even build more local capacity for the county jails.  Reports the San Francisco Chronicle this week, “The state gave San Francisco $5.8 million for the first nine months of the program. While some district attorneys around the state hired more prosecutors, [San Francisco District Attorney George] Gascón hired Luis Aroche with a portion of his office’s $91,000 share.”

Luis Aroche is a 34-year-old former gang member, who was hired by DA Gascón in February as an “alternative sentencing planner.”

Vanguard Court News: Update on Juvenile LWOP, Death Sentence Overturn and a Potential Alford Plea Withdrawn

prosecutorial-misconductSenator Leland Yee has been pushing for the end of life without parole sentences for juveniles for several years now and his legislation, SB 9, awaits the governor’s signature.  In the meantime, the State Supreme Court has overturned a death sentence based on prosecutorial misconduct by a former DA, now a Santa Clara judge.

Meanwhile, in Ohio, a potential exoneree has balked at taking an Alford Plea that would have resulted in his release from prison after 24 years.  At issue is Brady Material, exculpatory information that must be released to the defense by the prosecution, and now a deceased witness.

Commentary: Law Enforcement Use of Social Networking Sites Needs Judicial Oversight

Surveillance-KeyholeIt is relatively easy to gauge the impact of social media on some levels of law enforcement.  Simply watch expert testimony at gang trials as they cull incriminating photos of youths dressed in particular colors, adorning specific tattoos or slashing specific hand signs, and you can see how the advent and proliferation of social network sites, first MySpace and now Facebook and Instagram, have impacted law enforcement.

But while we may have particularized questions about such techniques, the use of photos to link defendants to gang activity is relatively straightforward, and even mundane, in most respects.  After all, social network sites act more as a repository of images, and thus facilitate law enforcement efforts rather than create new issues.

Clinton Parish Out of Yolo County DA’s Office?

parish-clint

Deputy District Attorney Clinton Parish has apparently been on leave since his failed bid to win a judgeship seat from Dan Maguire this past June.  According to several sources, Mr. Parish has not returned to work since the June election.

He has been placed on paid leave, according to those sources, and has interviewed at multiple DA offices in the Sacramento Valley.

Analysis: Realignment and Yolo County

prison-reform

The story of realignment figures to be a complex story.  From the start we believed that, without changes to both charging and sentencing policies, sustainable declines in prison population may be impossible to achieve.  The data that is now emerging may bear that out.

In a report from the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, written by Senior Research Fellow Mike Males in mid-August, the latest data analysis shows “that during the first 9 months of realignment there has been a 39% overall reduction in new prison admissions as of June 30, 2012, and a drop of 26,480 in the prison population as of August 8, 2012, compared to October 1, 2011.”

Sunday Commentary: The Arrogance of Power

judge_s_benchI had my first and only conversation with Chief Deputy DA Jonathan Raven in January of 2010.  We had just launched Yolo Judicial Watch and I was interested in having some sort of dialogue with the District Attorney’s office.  It was a strange and meandering conversation.

The upshot is this – the Vanguard covers public agencies all over Yolo County, but the only agency and agency head that will not speak with us are the Yolo County’s District Attorney’s office and DA Jeff Reisig.