Recent Supreme Court Decision Might Show the Way on Topete
As the Vanguard reported on Wednesday, there are now questions as to whether Juror No.11 was properly dismissed on November 14 by Judge Paul Richardson from the penalty phase of Marco Topete’s trial for the murder of Sheriff’s Deputy Tony Diaz. This occured after a brief inquiry, in which he determined the request for dismissal was based on a language barrie
Juror No.11 sent the Court a hand-written note asking to be excused from further deliberation and replaced with an alternate juror. Following the brief inquiry, Judge Richardson made the decision to replace Juror No.11.
As we reported back in December, Tracy Foster was facing 25 years to life in prison, were he to be convicted of two felony counts of receiving stolen property for allegedly taking scrap metal out of bins outside the Cooling Plant of UC Davis, and cashing them in at a Woodland recycling center.
Yesterday’s story on Michael Morton and the story that emerged earlier this year. when the US Supreme Court ruled that the prosecutors in the John Thompson case could not be held liable for the destruction of evidence that was used to wrongfully convict Mr. Thompson, lead us once again onto the path of looking into ways to prevent wrongful convictions.
Forget the Davis City Council, the most compelling electoral battle this year will be for the 5th Supervisorial District, where two heavyweights will slug it out over the most contentious of all local issues – land use.
Tani Cantil-Sakauye’s appointment to chief justice by then-Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger marked a huge moment locally, as she grew up in Sacramento and is a graduate of the UC Davis School of Law.
The Yolo County District Attorney’s office has just spent three and a half years and unknown quantities of money to get the death penalty in what should have been a slam dunk case.
It was a case that had all of the intrigue – a red-headed boy-next-door looking defendant, turned racist gun-nut, who shot a black man claiming self-defense. But ultimately the jury failed to buy the self-defense theory and convicted Christopher Smith, 31, of second degree murder with enhancements, that put the likely sentence to 45 to life.
Deputy District Attorney Sulaiman Tokhi argued that this is a case where “bad liars meet good evidence.” During these troubled economic times, crimes involving the stealing of metal pipes such as copper and turning them into recycling centers have increased in numbers.
City Clarifies Position in Recent Letter as County Recommends Denial of Appeal – 
Five young codefendants were facing nearly 20 years in prison for an attack on January 24, 2011. The co-defendants, four of whom were minors, faced charges of robbery, assault and gang enhancements.
In the recent multi-defendant case in which five youngsters were alleged to have jumped, assaulted and robbed an individual, the Yolo County District Attorney aggressively pursued gang charges despite very thin evidence of gang involvement for the youths.
In early 2010, the Vanguard reported on the case of Robert Ferguson, who faced life in prison for stealing a package of shredded cheese from the Nugget Market. Ultimately, after unfavorable press, the District Attorney dropped pursuit of the third strike and Mr. Ferguson for his minor crime, and he was instead was sentenced to nearly eight years in prison.