Yolo County

That body language should have been a signal, but when the judge announced that the jury was hopelessly deadlocked on what should have been the most difficult charge, it seemed everything was going according to form.  Then the clerk read the jury’s verdict, and when the first charge came back guilty there was stunned silence. The family of the convicted silently wept.

On June 16, 2007 and again three days later, James Davis, a 46-year-old wrote two checks to Nugget Market that were returned for insufficient funds.  Mr. Davis says in his declaration that he was down on his luck and trying to buy food and necessities for his family.

There are a lot of side issues still to be worked out.  A big issue that needs to be resolved and will be is that of allowing hearsay testimony about unnamed defendants.  I will also discuss in this column, the prosecution’s game plan thus far, and finally a bit commentary regarding a line of questioning on Tuesday pertaining to gang terms and slogans.

We will discuss this issue more fully towards the end of this article and likely into the future as it gets really to the heart of the procedural matters and the rights of individuals.

The plaintiff’s counsel was overheard at one point saying you always have a choice about starting strong or ending strong, certainly as the record will show, Mr. Cedillo who has been married for the last four years to a woman that he has known for 12 years (he is 28).  He has two children.  He has held stable employment installing insulation first for F. Rogers in West Sacramento and then PCI in Sacramento.

Prior to the start of proceedings, neighbors and activists from the affected neighbors spoke to reporters.  Rebecca Sandoval who has been on a forefront of the opposition to the injunction in West Sacramento said, “The injunction is targeting innocent citizens and the community has been torn apart by this injunction.  The community was never consulted nor advised of the impacts and the way the West Sacramento Police Department would label citizens as gang members and that they all live in an area as a public nuisance.”

A preliminary injunction was imposed in 2008.  The injunction covers a large swath of West Sacramento and imposes curfews, restrictions on all activities which involve anyone deemed by the police to be gang members.  It limits the ability of those enjoined to go to restaurants, public activities, public transportation, or standing, sitting, walking, driving, gathering or appearing anywhere in public view with anyone alleged to be a gang member.

One of my favorite musicians/ artists is Ben Harper, a few years after the riots, he wrote a song in which he sings, “Well Martin’s dream has become Rodney’s worst nightmare.  Can’t walk the streets, to them we are fair game, our lives don’t mean a thing.”  Towards the end of the song he sings, “So if you catch yourself thinking it has changed for the best you better second guess cause Martin’s dream has become Rodney’s worst nightmare.”

According the District Attorney’s office, on Picnic Day, April 18, 2009, the victim reported he was at the Bistro 33 restaurant in downtown Davis when he saw people he thought he knew getting into a fight in the street area. The victim went over to stop the fight. The defendant, a complete stranger to the victim, “sucker-punched” him in the face with his fist. The defendant and the group with him then fled the scene.

I watched as Deputy District Attorney Clinton Parish became increasingly unhinged in Judge Kathleen White’s courtroom as a series of ruling went again him to the point where he seemed to becoming threatening to both Judge White and the defense counsel he was up against.  Whether he was actually speaking for the DA and illuminating new policy is something that we will have to see.