Yolo County

The New York Times is reporting that the Innocence Project today will ask Texas Governor Rick Perry “to order the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to investigate whether the state should posthumously pardon Mr. Willingham [Cameron Todd Willingham], whose 2004 execution has become a lightning rod of controversy over the Texas justice system.”

“This is a terrible thing to not only execute somebody who was innocent; this is an individual who lost his three children,” said Barry Scheck, co-founder of the Innocence Project.

It was a tragic accident on I-5 in Woodland on August 8, 2011, that left three people dead and seven others with serious injuries.  The Yolo County District Attorney’s office put the blame on “one man and one man only,” Gubani Roderico Rosales Quinteros.  The 42-year-old faced three felony counts of vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence.

After a juror hung the trial the first time, the case went to a court trial back in July, with Judge Mock ruling in favor of vehicular manslaughter but without the gross negligence charges.

In year eight now of our operations, we find ourselves in the middle of an interesting juxtaposition, with the Davis Enterprise taking on heavy criticism for their coverage of the Daniel Marsh trial, and the Vanguard sitting back, having made the decision that we did not have to print every graphic detail of the troubling case.

When the Vanguard argued that the courts needed to be open to the public, we did so with the principle that an open courtroom prevents the government from abusing the rights of the accused.  However, we also believe that with freedom comes responsibility, and we believed that we could paint an accurate picture of the troublesome case without the graphic details.

Date: September 22, 2013
Time: 5:00 to 7:00 PM
Location: 1212 Merkley Ave , West Sacramento
Yolo County Library WEST SACRAMENTO Branch

On Sunday, September 22, 2013 from 5:00 to 7:00 PM at the West Sacramento Library located at 1212 Merkley Avenue in West Sacramento, the Vanguard Court Watch Council of Yolo County (VCWCYC) is inviting the public to come forward to express their concerns about the judicial system, provide testimony. Newly hired West Sacramento Police Chief Tom McDonald will be present to community concerns and provide information to the public.

I have had the pleasure of getting to know the victim in this case, Mikey Partida, and his family.  Everyone responds differently when the unexpected strikes and, for the Partida family, they decided to get involved in community activism to ensure that this never happens to another person.

I greatly respect Gloria Partida, the mother of Mikey Partida, and her commitment to her family and her community.  I understand why they wanted to put this behind them, I understand that getting the hate crime enhancement was vitally important to them, and I understand when they say that they are at peace.

Clayton Garzon, whose brutal beating of Mikey Partida, while shouting anti-gay epithets, horrified and captivated the Davis community last spring, has plead no contest to two counts and will receive a five-year prison sentence, to be served at the Yolo County Jail.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, Mr. Garzon plead no contest to battery causing serious bodily injury and a hate crimes enhancement.

Last week we heard the testimony of Ariel Pineda, who testified that he had performed the interrogation of Daniel Marsh – who was 15 at the time of the crimes and had just turned 16 when questioned by Detective Pineda.

He testified that it was about a four-hour interrogation – it was apparently performed with an FBI agent present, but without the presence of an attorney.

Daniel Marsh Case Draws Media Scrutiny While Horrific Elder Abuse Case Draws None – The Yolo County District Attorney’s Office has a page where they have compiled the latest “high profile cases.”  It’s a nice tool for the public and those interested in keeping track of the high profile cases – it has the name of the defense, the case number, the charges, and of course the next hearing date and where the case stands.

But it does raise the rather interesting question, in listing 15 cases – why are those cases high profile, covered by the media, while other cases are not?  Why does the media cover some cases and not others?

Today’s over-the-top headline in the local paper, “Police: Teen Confessed to Killing Davis Couple,” leaves us with a sinking feeling in the pit of our stomachs.  A few weeks ago, acting on principle, we opposed the court closing the preliminary hearing to the public.

We believe that we did the right thing, but we understand the concerns of the defense.  Everything has a context, and in this case, we literally heard one side of the story without even the usual cross-examination.

Report Warns of Potential Dangers If Services Are Not Provided to Released Inmates – According to a report from the Stanford Three Strikes Project, the 1000^th inmate has been released under the reform that overwhelming was passed by the voters in the form of Proposition 36 in 2012.

Proposition 36 offers an opportunity for eligible California prison inmates sentenced under California’s prior Three Strikes Law for non-serious, non-violent crimes to seek a sentence reduction from their sentencing courts.

When Eric Holder announced sweeping changes to the federal government’s enforcement of drug laws and its pursuit of mandatory minimums for non-violent, small quantity drug possession offenses, perhaps the biggest change came two weeks later when Mr. Holder informed the states that the government would allow the states to create a regime that would regulate and implement the ballot initiatives that legalized the use of marijuana for adults.

This is a marked contrast to how the Justice Department under Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and the first term of Barack Obama dealt with California’s medical marijuana law, where the federal government was often criticized for raiding facilities, treating terminally ill cancer patients, which dispensed marijuana under state law.

By Catherine McKnight

Deputy District Attorney Deanna Hayes began her opening statement by describing the alleged victim in this case and some of the events that led up to the restraining order she ultimately sought against her husband, Juan Martinez.

Three weeks today, a Yolo County jury acquitted Regina Roxanne Perez of perjury after she had been a prospective juror in the 2011-12 Marco Topete death penalty case.  Ms. Perez and her attorney, Alin Cintean, addressed the Vanguard Court Watch Council last Sunday in front of at least 50 community members at the Davis Public Library.

The case itself is relatively simple.  The prosecution, led by Deputy DA Sulaiman Tokhi, argued that Ms. Perez had lied under oath when she testified that she did not speak to her imprisoned son about that case. She was initially called for jury duty on January 11, 2011, as one of hundreds that potentially could be empaneled as jurors in the death penalty case, which would go on for much of the next year before jurors reached a verdict of guilty and ultimately recommended a sentence of death.