The West Sacramento Gang Injunction Trial is set to begin next week, but first they had some pre-trial motions to deal with on Wednesday in Judge Kathleen White’s courtroom. Judge White presided over the preliminary injunction back in 2008 after the Third District Court of Appeals threw out the previous injunction back in 2007. Judge White in 2008 imposed the preliminary injunction and now the District Attorney’s office is seeking a permanent injunction. It is a civil trial and therefore the defendants were not entitled to court appointed representation. So instead a large number of attorneys are representing the defendants pro bono, except for one defendant who has apparently dismissed his counsel and will represent himself pro per.
However before the court could get very far on Wednesday, Defense Attorney Mark Reichel made an oral motion asking the for the recussal for all judges in the Yolo County Court System asking that they be recused from hearing the case.
According to Mr. Reichel’s rationale, when they received the first week’s prosecution’s witness list they realized that at least five of the witnesses were criminal defendant’s in the Yolo County Court System. That their criminal testimony and cases were gong to be part of the record. The Yolo County Judges will have heard their testimony and they believe this will bias them.
In some cases, according to Mr. Reichel who would be joined by the other defense attorneys, they had accepted plea agreements in which they had to admit being gang members. He was fearful that they would be put into the position of having to explain that they had lied to the previous court in order to avoid harsher sentences.
The witness list apparently made the defense attorney’s recognize that this was not just going to be a case about what was occurring on the ground in the real world, on the streets, and in the “safety zone.” But it would equally be about what had happened in the courtrooms of Yolo County. As such, the entire courtroom, Judges and all, are witnesses to that.
From the standpoint of the defense, they believe that this case should be about the evidence introduced at trial and argued in the proceedings, not bringing into play extraneous material.
Why now? They argued that when they got the witness list they realized how this case would proceed. They argued that for the sake of the appearance of propriety that someone from outside of the Yolo County bench ought to hear the case.
Judge White asked that they put the motion in writing. They until Thursday to submit it. Deputy District Attorney Ryan Couzens has until Monday of next week to respond.
Judge White argued that she is not sure what is new about the witness list and believes that they should have already known what this trial was going to look like.
She does not see the basis for this motion, she believes she can be fair and impartial in this matter and does not see how any other Judge hearing the matter would be more fair. The issue of witnesses having already taken plea agreements will be an issue regardless of the judge.
Of note is the fact that some of the prosecution’s witnesses have ongoing legal matters. For instance, Jesse Garcia is one of the witnesses, his attorney informed the court he will plead the fifth due to the fact that his sentencing is still pending. While Rudy Ornelas is not represented by counsel, and is representing himself pro per, he has an ongoing trial this week that the Vanguard is covering.
It is difficult to know whether getting a Judge from out of the county is an advantage or not. That said, there would appear to be almost zero chance that this motion would be upheld.
The Vanguard plans to have wall-to-wall coverage of the West Sacramento Gang Injunction trial. Motions begin on Monday and the trial is scheduled to begin Tuesday, pending the disposition of the motions including the one to recuse all Yolo County Judges.
—David M. Greenwald reporting
This motion to recuse the Yolo County judges sets up a nice issue for an appeal, if the gang injunction is permitted by the trial court.
Hogwash.
Ryan Kelly: “Hogwash.”
I didn’t say it would fly, but it does give the defense an issue on appeal to run with… tactics, you know…
We’re tracking what right now is shaping as the worst case I have ever seen a prosecution present. It’s a case involving one of the defendants in the gang injunction case. The prosecution has not closed yet, but unless things improve, I am starting to wonder if it is more politically motivated than anything else. More on this later.
Can anyone please let me know where the gang injunction is headed at the moment? I have a son who is currently on the list and have been receiving E-mails from everyone about ongoing court appearances concerning the injunction. I would like to know what the next step is.
Motions will be heard on Monday, trial begins on Tuesday. Feel free to email me ([url]http://www.davisvanguard.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1306&Itemid=74[/url])