Yolo County

Most of the time judges are restrained, but occasionally you see in them glimpses of their true spirit.  It was thus as the first of the closing statements were wrapping up in the never-ending Niazi trial that we got just such a glimpse into Judge Stephen Mock.

The Vanguard spoke on Wednesday with Yolo County’s Chief Deputy Coroner Robert LaBrash, who downplayed any concerns that there were problems with Yolo County autopsies, arguing that any autopsy performed by Dr. Thomas Gill would have been overseen by his office and had his findings signed off upon.

According to their report, Dr. Thomas Gill had “been forced out of a teaching position at an Oregon university, and then fired for inaccurate findings and alcohol abuse by the coroner in Indianapolis.”  Moreover, he had been “demoted for poor performance as a fellow for the Los Angeles County Coroner, [and] he resurfaced at a private autopsy company in Northern California.”

Yolo County Superior Court had granted the UC Regents’ summary judgment motion, finding that Mr. Silen had not established that the promotional decision was motivated by discriminatory animus.

Ms. Duffy, who admitted she was high on meth, had been facing charges of kidnapping, child abduction and resisting arrest.

We have all wondered what would have happened had the incident involving the Galvan Brothers been filmed.  We can see the permanent life-altering damage on Ernesto Galvan’s face, but we do not know how it got there and probably never will.  In the coming months and years, a civil court will have to weigh out whether the police exceeded their authority and violated the rights of Mr. Galvan.  Had a video camera been present, we might have had the DA pursue the police rather than the victims in this case.

She calls it “one of Yolo County’s more horrific crimes” and describes the kidnapping of then 3-month-old Brandon Huff who was “dangled out of a van window as the suspects led police on a high-speed chase.”

A Yolo County jury convicted 17-year-old Kyle Vigil for his role in a drive-by shooting in Woodland.  Mr. Vigil was sentence to a 15 year to life sentence in prison, after being acquitted of the first shooting but convicted of aiding in the drive-by gunfire.

According to the police’s account, at approximately 6:00 PM on Friday evening, Davis Police Officers were dispatched to the downtown area to search for an armed suicidal 25-year-old UC Davis student, Nicholas Benson.

Take the recent nail-biter contest for attorney general between San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris and Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley.

Charges have flown that part of the family had Taliban ties and sympathies, and this apparently brought Homeland Security and the US Marshall’s Office into the investigation of an incident that is now nearly seven years old, having occurred in March of 2004.

According to a releaase from Public Information Officer, Lt. Paul Doroshov, at approximately 6:00 PM on Friday evening, Davis Police Officers were dispatched to the downtown area to search for an armed suicidal 25-year -ld UC Davis student, Nicholas Benson.

One of the key witnesses was Detective Joe Villanueva, who was the original police officer in West Sacramento assigned to the Community Response Team and charged with working on the anti-gang unit.

On Thursday it was the school district’s turn, as they listened to one of the most ominous budgets one could imagine and then voted to ask the voters to help.

He ended up being convicted of two lesser charges, one a statutory rape charge because, as an 18-year-old adult he had sexual relations with his 16-year-old classmate.  And the other charge was that of having contact with a minor for the purposes of having sex.

Deputy DA Michelle Serafin filed a motion with the Court to reject the no contest plea entered by the defendant on October 14, 2010, arguing that the plea offer “was based on the belief that the defendant had only one prior arrest that resulted in a misdemeanor embezzlement conviction in Sacramento County.”

Do crimes exist in the “Safety Zone”?  Yes they do.  Are they committed by individuals who are either self-identified or police identified as “Broderick Boys”?  There is no disputing it.