One attack piece, targeted for voters in Davis, attacked Judge Maguire on a number of issues such as the deal to commute the sentence of the son of former Speaker Fabian Nunez, despite the fact that Dan Maguire was already a judge in Yolo County by the time that occurred.
For the second time in less than a week, mailboxes in Davis and probably the rest of Yolo County received an attack mail piece. This time it was the race for Yolo County Superior Court Judge and Judge Dan Maguire, the incumbent was on the short end of it.
In addition to touting the Deputy DA’s record and endorsements from Yolo County Sheriff Ed Prieto, and the West Sacramento, Woodland and Winters Police Officers Association, the mailer attacks Dan Maguire as “Arnold’s Bagman,” referring to former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Representatives for the defense in the misdemeanor case against bank blockers on Thursday indicated that they were not inclined to take any plea offer in this case, as that would be tantamount to acceptance of the criminalization of dissent.
Tim Kreiner, a media spokesperson for the defendants told the media Thursday morning, “It was rejected in part on the grounds that any continuance of prosecution is a wrongful attempt to prosecute political speech on campus.”
Five attorneys will represent the 12 defendants facing 20 counts of blocking the US Bank Building in UC Davis’ memorial union from January 13 until the bank closed its down on February 28.
This week, Judge Dan Maguire received the endorsements of both the Davis Enterprise and Woodland Daily Democrat.
The Davis Enterprise writes, “Yolo County voters have the opportunity on June 5 to send a rousing vote of confidence to a well-respected member of the Yolo Superior Court bench: Judge Daniel Maguire.”
On Tuesday, Attorney Alexis Briggs made what may be her final special appearance for Thomas Matzat before Judge Timothy Fall in Yolo County Superior Court. Mr. Matzat was to be arraigned on felony charges that include five felony vandalism and 15 more misdemeanor charges.
On Thursday, Mr. Matzat will be among the 12 defendants arraigned in Department 9 on 20 misdemeanor charges of Penal Code section 647(c) blocking or obstructing a business and one misdemeanor conspiracy charge. The DA has said he will offer a plea for probation and 80 hours of community service.
One of the big problems that we have identified in the criminal justice system is the lack of accountability that prosecutors have when they commit acts of misconduct. As we have noted in the past, the research done by the Innocence Project in California shows only a small number of prosecutors are sanctioned, even when acts of misconduct lead to cases being overturned.
California is not alone. Researchers have found a similar pattern in Texas.
Legislation Would Close Loophole From Parcel Tax ElectionAssemblymember Mariko Yamada, who represents Davis and much of Yolo County, has now introduced legislation addressing an issue that arose during Davis’s Measure C election in March.
AB 1626, which passed out of the Assembly Elections & Redistricting committee Tuesday on a strong bipartisan vote, gives a county elections official authority to seek a writ of mandate to amend or delete errors or omissions in election materials in special district and school district elections. The elections official already has this authority in state, county and city elections.
The Vanguard covered the two-week trial of Angel Palacios, Carlos Hernandez and German Martinez, each of them 20 years old, each of them found guilty of possessing a Tec-9 type assault pistol in their car. They were also found to be Norteño gang members from Woodland and to have been engaging in criminal street activity.
According to the DA’s version of events, witnesses testified at trial that on August 17, 2010, two groups of gang members were in the area of Harris Park near Midtown Elementary in Woodland. Just as school security arrived, a rival gang member challenged defendant Hernandez, who appeared to have an object in his hand.
CBS 13 in Sacramento reported that the deal also includes one year of probation.
On Tuesday, the Yolo Narcotic Enforcement Team, in a multi-jurisdiction effort led, by among others, the California Department of Justice, claimed 18 arrests which they said would disrupt a criminal gang network.
On Thursday, 11 of them were arraigned, although charges were dropped on at least one, and another subject of the warrant had been deported at least two years ago.
I often hear it asserted that the US has the best system of justice in the world. Often we arrive at this conclusion based either on our own prejudices and biases, but also in comparison to non-democratic nations around the world.
Having watched our system of justice in action for the last two and a half years, I have no such illusions. I think the adversarial system does us far more disservice, in the interest of justice, than service. The job of the prosecutors as representatives of the “people” ought to be dispensing justice rather than winning cases.
Last week, a Yolo County jury convicted 22-year-old Charles Quillin of first degree murder for the death of Mathew Smith on August 27, 2011.
According to a press release from the Yolo County District Attorney’s office, on August 26, 2011, Charles Quillin, Mathew Smith, Mr. Smith’s girlfriend, and two other friends went to Mr. Quillin’s trailer in West Sacramento to drink and hang out. Sometime after midnight, Mr. Quillin wanted one of the girls to leave his trailer after she vomited all over his living room.
As many as 100 students and faculty members turned out on Monday afternoon to show solidarity with 12 protesters facing as many as 21 misdemeanor charges, up to 11 years in prison, and restitution fines up to one million dollars for their activities relating to the blocking of a US bank building from January into early March.
On Friday, 12 of them will be arraigned in Yolo County Superior Court. On Monday they rallied, asking the chancellor and the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office to drop the charges. Students and others were signing the letters during the course of the event.
California Secretary of State Debra Bowen today certified a fifth measure for the November 6, 2012, General Election ballot. The measure would repeal the death penalty, according to a news release from the California Secretary of State’s Office.
In order to qualify for the ballot, the death penalty repeal initiative needed 504,760 valid petition signatures, which is equal to five percent of the total votes cast for governor in the November 2010 gubernatorial election.
About a week or so ago, I spoke with one of the spokespersons with UC Davis, and they were almost excited that they had found what to them must have looked like the antidote to months of nightmares dealing with the Occupy UC Davis folks. They don’t need police confrontations, they simply have the DA’s office mail a complaint and suddenly the students are in serious legal jeopardy.
During this conversation, I had an uneasy feeling because, unlike many, I know the DA’s office. I know the court system, and the DA’s office does not mess around. They are not in it to send a message, they are in it to attempt to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law and then some.
Tomas Matzat received good news and bad news on Friday. The good news is that, in part thanks to the vigilance of his friends and fellow occupiers, he and his attorney met with those in charge of the College of Letters and Science, and it was determined that he would be able to be reinstated as a student so long as he follows some unspecified terms and conditions.
Earlier in the day, Mr. Matzat was scheduled to be arraigned in front of Commissioner Janene Beronio. However, his attorney requested that the arraignment be delayed until May 11, where he will be arraigned by Judge Timothy Fall in Yolo County Superior County.
UC Davis student Tomas Matzat will be arraigned this afternoon on felony vandalism charges, the Vanguard finally confirmed late Thursday. The arraignment had been something of a mystery, as Mr. Matzat apparently received the date upon his release from custody, but the hearing was not on the public calendar or in the court’s computer system.
Repeated emails to Assistant Chief Deputy DA Michael Cabral were unreturned, despite the request for public information. The hearing was finally confirmed by the Yolo County Public Defender’s Office.
As we noted yesterday, it is difficult to imagine a more baffling ruling than the one the Supreme Court issued earlier this week in which the majority led by Justice Anthony Kennedy, in a 5-4 decision, somehow concluded “that the search procedures at the county jails struck a reasonable balance between inmate privacy and the needs of the institutions, and thus the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments do not require adoption of the framework and rules petitioner proposes.”
The ruling allows officials to strip-search individuals who are arrested for any offense, no matter how minor, even when there is no reasonable belief that the individual has weapons or drugs.
Court Greatly Expands Rights of Accused in Cases that Involve Plea Bargains – It is difficult to figure the direction of the US Supreme Court, particularly in light of a controversial ruling this week that allows those arrested even for very minor crimes to be strip searched. However, one area where the Supreme Court actually expanded the rights of the accused was during a recent ruling on the right to effective counsel during plea bargain negotiations.
Justice Anthony Kennedy has become the power in the middle, deciding which side the court swings on critical issues with an ideological divide. More often he joins the more conservative wing.
