By Pavan Potti
SACRAMENTO – Assistant Public Defender Corey Thornhill Monday complained loudly that a move by the District Attorney’s office was an attempt to hurt his client’s chances in front of a jury, even before the case got past the early stages of pretrial hearings.
In the end, the Sacramento County Superior Court saw it his way and nixed the attempt to “bootstrap” defendant Jesse Skull.
Skull was being arraigned in Dept. 18 here Monday for two cases; the first charge stemmed from an incident April 5, and the second charge from a July 9 arrest. The first crime was charged as a misdemeanor while the second was charged as a felony.
However, Thornhill wasted no time claiming that the case was set up in an unfavorable position for his client, mainly because the difference in severity between the two cases was never
acknowledged.
He requested that the court not consolidate the two cases.
Both of the cases against Skull occurred in two separate regional transit stations close in proximity. According to Deputy District Attorney Nick Karp, both cases involved crimes that were “assaultive in nature.”
Thornhill responded by claiming that the defendants’ crimes weren’t similar in conduct—if they were, both would be charged as felonies.
He further added that by constantly emphasizing that the two crimes both were rooted in the same type of behavior, the DDA was displaying an intent to “bootstrap” the defendant, labeling him as a violent criminal.
DDA Karp claimed there was no bootstrapping involved in the case and that the risk of any prejudice against the defendant was “minimal.” Karp insisted different charges on conduct doesn’t mean one could be considered worse than the other.
Yet, Thornhill objected, arguing that given the current “setup” of the case, his client would not look good moving forward into a jury trial.
“Saying that he (defendant) was allegedly violent twice in the span of four months will impact the way the jury sees this man,” Thornhill stated. “You have to acknowledge that there is clear prejudice here.”
Thornhill also added that there were no witnesses for either crime.
After the defense entered not guilty pleas on both charges, Judge Stacy Eurie concluded that the court finds the two cases to be distinct issues and that it would be consistent in acknowledging this moving forward—by not consolidating the two cases.
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