Yolo County

The traditional view of the death qualification process is that death-qualified juries tend to be more likely to convict.  The death qualification process is one where prospective jurors are put through a rather intensive interview process to gauge their views about the death penalty.

Those who oppose the death penalty are not qualified to serve.  Those who would consider the death penalty are qualified to serve.

Last week, Charles Rios and his codefendant Benito Morales were sentenced to 16 months in prison for their role in an attack on a solider in West Sacramento that left him beaten and robbed on the night of March 12, 2008.

Mr. Rios was just 15 years old at the time and the case lasted so long that Mr. Rios had long since been released on his own recognizance.  The 16-month prison sentence was a mere paper sentence, as both Mr. Rios and Mr. Morales were instructed to go directly to the parole office, a move that was highly unusual.

The media was quick to act as judge, jury and executioner of Casey Anthony.  To them, there seemed no possibility of a not-guilty verdict, no presumption of innocence, no need indeed for the prosecution to actually prove their case.

“The devil is dancing,” said Nancy Grace, the former prosecutor turned commentator on CNN Headline News, who in many respects led the media lynching before the verdict even came in. “There’s no way this verdict speaks to the truth.”

Senator Hanock chairs the Senate Public Safety Committee and the Senate Budget Subcommittee on Corrections, which oversees all funding for the prison system.

Oddly enough, he paid for everyone else except for the cheese that was in his pants. When confronted by the Loss Prevention Officer, Robert Ferguson attempted to flee and then was taken down to the ground. The Nugget Market worker described Ferguson as “embarrassed and remorseful.” The cheese had only cost 3.99, and he had nine dollars on him.

It has been a three-week trial that has dragged out longer, due to the peculiarities of the court calendar, which has necessitated one week on, one week off.  The final decision rests in the hands of the jury, and on one hand you have the prosecution alleging a dangerous fledgling gang that has engaged in drug dealing and criminal conspiracy.

The defense argues that you have two small time drug dealers, dealing on their own, and several largely innocent bystanders who got caught up in the web.

A recent federal raid on a Davis home has raised serious questions, after resulting in a pregnant woman’s miscarriage and property damage that is still unaccounted for. The raid, conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents outfitted in paramilitary gear, was part of an ongoing child pornography investigation.

Shortly after 6 a.m. on April 26, eight to 12 ICE agents busted into an Oak Avenue home, destroying doors and denting floors with a battering ram. Although the agents announced upon entering that they were police and had a warrant, several residents of the home spoke limited English and hid from what they thought were attackers or terrorists. At gunpoint, the agents ordered the residents on the ground and handcuffed them. One terrified resident, a visiting scholar from Vietnam who was pregnant, suffered a miscarriage three days later.

Two weeks ago, in the Kalah trial, Deputy DA Ryan Couzens spawned accusations and anger as he attempted to get in testimony from Officer Duggins of the West Sacramento Police Department about a conversation he had with Marco Benitez.

Mr. Couzens attempted to establish that Mr. Benitez, a witness for the defense, was assaulted by Tommy Kalah, a brother and son to some of the defendants.  The implication here was that Mr. Kalah had done this to intimidate the witness.

It was a study that occurred in Illinois, but it could have been written about any state at any time.  The Center on Wrongful Convictions, based at Northwestern University, is one of many such centers that have popped up in recent years as researchers and attorneys become more aware of the problems of wrongful convictions.

This study, conducted by John Conroy of the Better Government Association and Rob Warden, the executive director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions, Northwestern University School of Law, focused on the costs of such convictions.

Judge Mock sentenced Ronnie Barahona to 29 years in prison after he was convicted of a single charge of assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer, with an enhancement for using a firearm.

Back in May, a Yolo County jury deadlocked on whether Ronnie Barahona, when he shot four times at police officers, was attempting to kill them as Prosecutor Clinton Parish claimed, or was merely attempting to get away. This followed a failed robbery attempt on a Sacramento ATM that culminated in a high speed pursuit and a subsequent foot chase.

The lesson for the courts is clear, never invite me to jury duty.  This Monday I was excited to go to jury duty – I have always been called to jury duty only to have my session canceled before coming in. 

This time, at least, I made it in the door before the case – which we covered earlier this week – was continued.  I went in knowing full well that there was more of a chance of June snow in Yolo County than my being selected to serve on the jury, but I still wanted to watch the process from the inside.

Judicial Watch has been thinking hard about the Yolo County Law Day.   Law Day is a national observation honoring the legal system, especially the criminal justice system, and the people (particularly cops, lawyers and judges) who create and administer it.  Often the activities include educational opportunities for school students, such as visits to the courts or the production of mock trials, to give them a sense of the fundamental and basic role the law plays in maintaining our culture and civilization.

In Yolo, it often takes the form of a gathering in the administration building for a free lunch, with speeches and awards by and for those who work for the system.  The last one, held on May 2, 2011, was such a magnificent spiritual, cultural and political celebration of “the Law” that we simply could not bring ourselves to report upon it.

As a general matter of speaking, trials are set for a given date, but can be granted continuances based on a notion of good cause.  What constitutes good cause may seem somewhat nebulous, but it generally is reserved for matters of logistics – the unavailability of a key witness, the failure to receive evidence with sufficient time to review it, delays caused by reports or tests from other agencies, etc.

Last week the case of Kenneth Woodall was confirmed for trial to begin on Monday.  That means both parties – represented by the Deputy DA Ryan Couzens and Deputy Public Defender Dan Hutchinson – agreed they were ready to proceed.

The Yolo County District Attorney’s office issued a press release announcing that Yolo County Superior Court Judge Kathleen White issued a final “Judgment Granting Injunction After Trial” against the Broderick Boys criminal street gang in West Sacramento.  The gang injunction issued by the court imposes a curfew and restricts other activities of gang members in a defined area within West Sacramento called the “Safety Zone.”

According to the DA’s office, “After hearing all of evidence at trial and reviewing the exhibits and the post-trial briefs, Judge White found that the Broderick Boys is a criminal street gang, the Broderick Boys has created a public nuisance in the Safety Zone by its conduct and activities, and the public nuisance caused by the Broderick Boys has created irreparable harm to those who live and work in the Safety Zone.”

U.S. 9th Circuit Judge Arthur L. Alarcon and Loyola Law School professor Paula M. Mitchell wrote a study released last week entitled, “Executing the Will of the Voters: A Roadmap to Mend or End the California Legislature’s Multi-Billion-Dollar Death Penalty Debacle.”

They examined a combination of state, federal and local expenditures for capital cases over three years to estimate the additional costs of capital trials over and above the cost of a standard murder trial.

Amid the prison reform debate and concerns about prison over-crowding is an understanding of the role that the war on drugs has played in creating the prison issue.

In this article we will examine the conservative case for ending the war on drugs, the fear tactics and why they don’t make sense, and the cost-benefit analysis of the criminal justice system.

In the year and a half of covering trials, by far the most interesting time is during the break when the judge and jury are outside of the courtroom, and the attorneys are talking amongst themselves.

Add in four defense attorneys in a four co-defendant gang case and the always-volatile Deputy DA Ryan Couzens, and you have the recipe for something extraordinary.  Thursday afternoon did not disappoint as the defense took exception to Mr. Couzens’ failure to disclose key evidence that seemed to threaten to derail the case for the time.

Among the provisions passed by the California legislature was another $150 million in cuts to the courts. 

Yolo Superior Court Presiding Judge Rosenberg openly criticized the proposed budget plan which was being pushed through the Legislature on Wednesday.   The proposed reductions would impose an additional $150 million, on top of a $200 million across-the-board cut already incurred by the judicial branch, and follows years of reductions to the Judicial Branch budget.

The Woodland Daily Democrat reported Tuesday that investigators with the California Alcoholic Beverage Control revoked La Finca’s liquor license.  La Finca is a popular bar and club in Woodland that has been the location of fights, stabbings and, in March, a shooting that resulted in a murder.

According to ABC officials, the official reason for the liquor license suspension has been that the bar has been operating what they call a “disorderly house” and has been a drain on law enforcement.

A Yolo County Jury went out just after lunch and came back before 5 pm to convict Oscar Barrientos of two counts – one of first degree burglary and one of grand theft.

Despite these convictions, Mr. Barrientos still likely faces probation, given his age at the time of the crime and his lack of priors.  Nevertheless, his conviction was based entirely on circumstantial evidence, most of the pieces extremely flawed to the point where Deputy DA Sulaiman Tokhi suggested that the defense would be that he is the most unlucky person around.