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Recent Blog Posts
Elementary teacher pleads no contest to California DUI charges
Police reportedly stopped the woman on the north side of the Golden Gate Bridge. Authorities claim that she did poorly in field sobriety tests and was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving.
The accident was reported around 12:30 p.m. May 12, which was a Saturday. The school district reportedly noted that the weekend accident was not related to the elementary school teacher's job. However, exposure to jail time in the hit-and-run and DUI case could possibly have made things touchy at work for the teacher.
The woman appeared in court earlier this week and pled no contest to two counts of DUI. Prosecutors agreed to drop the hit-and-run charge as part of the plea deal. The agreement will allow the woman to avoid jail time.
The judge did impose a 30-day jail sentence for the DUI conviction. However, the elementary school teacher will be allowed to serve that time in an alternative work program, providing community service cleaning up areas of the city under a Sheriff's Department program. She will also have to undergo a drug and rehabilitation program as a part of the conditions of her probation.
Concerns rise over law enforcement access to cellphone information
Santa Cruz criminal defense lawyers know that privacy issues in the technological age are complex. The cellphone carriers say that many police requests for cellphone information arrive without any warrant. Prosecutors may file a subpoena for the records, but such subpoenas are not passed before the scrutiny of a judge, as is needed to obtain a warrant.
One U.S. Senator from the Midwest has asked the Justice Department how many times the agency has made a request for location information from a cellphone carrier. He also has asked the Justice Department what legal standard applies to making such a request.
Of great concern to many, including lawmakers, is the use of cellphones in location tracking. Apparently the Justice Department responded that it does not keep tabs on the number of requests, but the agency claims that generally in criminal matters it seeks a court order for cellphone requests.
Nearly all of the cellphone carriers told an East Coast Representative from the U.S. House that they generally only respond to requests for information if a warrant is attached. Other carriers say that they will respond to requests under an administrative subpoena from a prosecutor. One carrier says that it has forwarded two inappropriate requests to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for review.
Media staff think that they may be robbery targets in Oakland
The media says that reporters appear to be the targets of people in a string of recent alleged California robberies. The latest alleged incident was reported last week, when a KTVU reporter was covering a bike accident in the Oakland Hills. The reporter says that several men approached her and her cameraman and stole equipment from the company van.
The TV reporter radioed the station, who called police after the alleged robbery. The media personnel say that one of the men who approached the media truck yelled that the reporter should be shot as the men pushed their way into the van. Neither media worker was injured. The alleged robbery of media personnel is apparently not the first in Oakland in recent months.
An Oakland Tribune photographer reported earlier in the week that she too was robbed while covering a story. She says that she was photographing a mural when someone reportedly stole her laptop and camera.
Someone broke through walls between businesses in California burglaries
Some business owners in an upscale Stockton, California neighborhood joked that an alleged burglar did some remodeling at their stores recently. Officials claim someone broke into a vacant store front and then used that access to break through walls into existing neighboring businesses. A dry cleaner, a Mexican restaurant and a pizza place were among those broken into in the alleged string of commercial burglaries.
Business owners quipped that the walls may have to be left alone. If a customer wanted an enchilada while at the pizza joint, the hole in the wall could help to accommodate the customer, the business owners reportedly said to News 10 in Sacramento. However, the business owners did reportedly scramble to repair the damage from the incident.
Authorities say the alleged burglar first entered an unoccupied storefront business and then broke through the drywall separating the other businesses. Police claim that the California burglar went from store to store taking a variety of items. The owner of one of the businesses was shocked and amazed that the alleged burglar was so sophisticated, according to News 10.
California lawmaker seeks to allow cities to require probation registration
A Southern California Assemblyman apparently wants to add more registration requirements for people who are released from California prisons, or people whose sentence has been deemed to have been served when entering post-release community supervision after a California felony conviction. The Assemblyman was joined by a Southern California police chief during a pitch of the idea to the public safety committee of the California Senate.
Current California law requires people entering post-release community supervision to enter an agreement with county officials. The agreement includes a number of requirements, including registration in the person's county of residence. Proponents of the new measure want to add another potential layer of registration, if a local agency decides to pass a local ordinance.
The Assembly bill seeks to give municipalities, or city and county relationships, to pass local ordinances requiring people placed on community supervision to register with local law enforcement agencies when taking up residence in the city, or city and county. Obviously, critics of the Assembly proposal say that the measure would add yet another requirement that could easily trip up a probationer, leading to exposure to more time behind bars.
California Supreme Court rules for defendant in burglary case
Roughly two years ago deputies arrested a Sacramento man on suspicion of burglary. Before trial, the case boiled up through the appellate courts. The man's criminal defense lawyer argued that the man could not be charged with a completed burglary because there was no evidence the man ever entered the building. The trial court disagreed, and reportedly bound the accused over for trial.
An appellate court later handed down a split decision reversing the trial court ruling. The California Supreme Court has now unanimously agreed that prosecutors cannot proceed with burglary charges against the Sacramento area man.
The case arose from allegations arising on July 24, 2010. Law enforcement claims that the man had stood on a driveway and used a remote control to open a garage door. The homeowner claims to have heard the garage open and ran into the garage. He says that he saw a man standing in the driveway who then ran away from the home.
Teen appears in Marin County alleged Lamborghini theft, attempted murder case
The young man is being tried as an adult on allegations that he had tried to impress a girl in an elaborate automobile theft scheme. Prosecutors allege that someone rappelled into a Marin County automobile showroom to get a 2008 Lamborghini. Later, authorities say the teen drove the $200,000 car in hopes of impressing a 17-year-old girl.
Prosecutors have brought a charge of attempted murder against the 17-year-old based upon what police claim occurred when the teen allegedly drove the car. Authorities believe that the girl rejected the young man. In apparent retaliation for the rejection, prosecutors claim that the teenager fired a gun toward the girl and her boyfriend in Mill Valley April 13.
Authorities say that investigators tailed the teenager during an investigation into the alleged report of the drive-by shooting. Police claim that the teen led authorities to a storage facility. Law enforcement claims that the car, two rifles and shotgun shells were seized at the storage facility, along with a smattering of other items.
Officials charge Marine in alleged DUI deaths of three Marines in Dana Point
The alleged driver of the car was the only Marine to survive that night. He had suffered head trauma and sustained a broken arm. The man was knocked unconscious in the crash. Authorities claim that alcohol tests taken after the crash indicate that the man tested for a 0.16 percent blood alcohol level.
The Marine has now been formally charged with three counts of vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated without gross negligence. Prosecutors are also reportedly seeking sentencing enhancements in the felony DUI criminal case.
Military and civilian witnesses who were at the tavern where the four Marines are believed to have spent more than three hours the night of the crash say that the man accused of drunk driving had not been drinking that night. The witnesses reportedly say that the 25-year-old man accused of drinking and driving was the designated driver.
The man has sought legal counsel, who says that the horrible accident was the result of rainy weather, wet roads and hydroplaning. The DUI defense is expected to challenge the reliability and legality of the alcohol tests allegedly taken on the night of the accident when the Marine was taken-- unconscious --to the hospital.
Watsonville police arrest man on domestic violence, attempted murder charges
Authorities claim that they found the woman at her apartment complex with cuts on her hands, arms and her abdomen. The father of her child was also at the apartment, and police claim that he had the woman's blood on him. Investigators say that the woman had told the man to leave the apartment, and the issue boiled up into a domestic dispute.
The couple reportedly has had an on-again-off-again relationship. The couple have a child together, but later had broken up about one year ago, according to the Santa Cruz Sentinel. Sources say that the couple got back together recently, and the man moved in with the woman.
Apparently, she says that she wanted him out and told him to leave Tuesday. The woman is believed to have left the apartment expecting her boyfriend to leave while she was gone. When she returned, she says the man was still there, and armed with a knife.
She says the two argued, and then she says that he tried to stab her. Watsonville police arrested the man on a series of claims, including suspicion of attempted murder, domestic violence, assault with a deadly weapon and child endangerment.
Santa Cruz drug rehab counselor arrested for alleged drug possession
Santa Cruz County Sheriff's deputies have arrested a woman who works as a drug counselor at a local Santa Cruz drug counseling center. The woman is facing serious drug charges after deputies raided her home last week.
Authorities claim that they found 6.7 grams of heroin in the Santa Cruz resident's home. Deputies also say that they seized cash and materials they are characterizing as packaging items in the raid.
Sheriff's Department officials claim that they fielded repeated complaints of alleged drug deals at the woman's Santa Cruz home. One neighbor claims that drug deals have been going on in the neighborhood for the past year, according to Central Coast News. That person says several neighbors had called in tips to the Anonymous Tip line about the alleged drug sales.
The woman accused of possession of heroin for sales was booked into the Santa Cruz County Jail. Central Coast News reports that the woman has been released on $60,000 bail.
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