Filing dates for court opinions are specified in the item's footnote, as are State and County court case file numbers.
By Harley Hudson
In "Photo" ---- Selected desertsloth photographs used on this this site In "Page Two" --- Descending order Items recently reported on the desertsloth Home page In "Opinion" -- Want some public information from your fire dept.? Good luck
WE WANT A JUDGE TO DECIDE
As we have noted over the past several months, the fire chief, nor anyone else in our local fire department will acknowledge or address our concerns about their policies that violate record laws, and by doing so drain taxpayer money that does not need to be spent.*
We suspect the agency, the Riverside County Fire Department (RCFD), is unable to justify its actions, so it chooses to ignore requests for specific records or answer questions about them, hoping their non-response will make us go away.
This kind of tactic was more common a few decades ago when public agencies were unencumbered by the 33 year-old California Public Records Act (CPRA) which now prohibits an agency from declining to respond to a request for access to a public record.
Smaller agencies were initially reluctant to surrender their close-to-absolute control over records they maintained, but the larger public agencies soon learned about the new laws and complied with them. The RCFD is a huge fire department, with 1,100 paid firefighters, but it still seems to operate as if record laws do not exist.
We have decided to ask for court intervention, and will be posting more details on the action very soon, possibly within the week.
* Details and history on this issue can be gleaned from an item in the “Opinion” section and three items in the “Page Two” section.
CHARGES DISMISSED AGAINST MOM OF DROWNED DAUGHTER Appeals court directs abuse case to be dropped
Where and when: RiversideCounty4-19-06 Charge: Felony child abuse Verdict: None Sentence: None Appeals Court decision and date: Affirmed 6-10-08 State and County court file # E043040 / Riverside Co RIF131640
The Crime: Xianlian Huang took her child to a weekly Bible class at a friend’s house where other attendees also brought their children. While all the adults were inside, Huang’s daughter, three-year old Tsai-Yen Chou drowned in the backyard pool. Police determined that latches on two gates leading to the pool were not working properly.
Huang was charged with felony child abuse. Deputy Riverside County prosecutor Jacqueline Jackson said her actions and/or inaction amounted to criminal negligence, but Huang’s lawyer said there was no probable cause to put her on trial. Judge Elisabeth Sichel agreed and ordered the charges be dismissed. The prosecution filed an appeal.
The three-judge appellate panel upheld the court’s ruling, saying Huang’s failure to prevent the drowning “may very well constitute carelessness, inattention, or a mistake in judgment; nonetheless, when considering her actions in the context of the entirety of the circumstances, her behavior did not constitute a reckless disregard for her daughter’s life. Thus, no evidence supported the magistrate’s determination that probable cause supported the charge as pled; hence, the trial judge correctly granted defendant’s motion to set aside the information.”
But the panel’s endorsement of dismissal was not unanimous. One judge (Ramirez) dissented, saying “The fact that (Huang) allowed her three year old to wander the house and yards, after dark, unattended for over one hour, without once checking on her, further demonstrates her criminal negligence.” - - - - - desertsloth - - - - - - June 2008 - - - - - - -
METH USER MURDERED HIS GRANDMOTHER Where and when: Los Angeles5-29-04 Charge: 1st degree Murder Verdict: Guilty Sentence: 25 years to life plus $5,000 restitution Appeals Court decision and date: Affirmed 6-18-08 State and County court file # B198420 / Los Angeles Co MA029061
The Crime: Leonel Moncada was 25 and had been illegally using methamphetamine for years when one day he pummeled his grandmother, Elvira Mercedez Diaz, and cut her throat when they were alone in the house where they lived. He called the police and told them drug dealers had killed her. Her carotid artery had been severed and she was dead on the kitchen floor when police arrived. Examination showed she had 14 separate incise wounds to her neck and defense wounds (lacerations) to her hands. The motive, if any, remains a mystery.
Moncada’s defense was that he was insane at the time of the murder, and his appeal of his murder conviction objected to the court allowing a psychiatrist to opine to the jury that he believed he was sane at the time. The appeals court said the trial judge did not make an error, and it affirmed the trial and sentence. ------- desertsloth -------- June 2008 -------------------------------
UNLAWFUL POLICE SEARCH EXONERATES TEEN WHO HAD POT IN HIS BACKPACK
Where and when: Port Townsend, WA5-13-06 Charge: Misdemeanor possession of marijuana Verdict: Case dismissed Sentence: None Appeals Court decision and date: Affirmed 5-13-08 State and County court file # 36653-3-II / Jefferson Co 06-8-00022-7
The Crime: A juvenile arrested after police searched his back-pack and found a small amount of marijuana won his case in Juvenile Court and won again in the Court of Appeals. Both courts agreed with him that Port Townsend, Washington police officers illegally searched his backpack, and the marijuana could not be used as evidence against him.
Charged only with misdemeanor possession, the juvenile’s lawyer said officers had no right to confiscate three backpacks that were on the ground next to another young man that police arrested for selling marijuana at a skate park. As officers prepared to take him away they picked up the three nearby backpacks. When the juvenile saw what was happening he approached the officers and claimed one of the backpacks, but officers would not release it to him, saying they had to take them to the police station to determine who owned them.
When he went to the police station, officers told the juvenile they wanted to search his backpack before releasing it to him, and they refused to retrieve his cell phone from the pack and give it to him. Officers told him if he didn’t give them permission to search his pack, they would get a search warrant and then search it. Finally, the juvenile agreed to let them search and they found a small amount of marijuana, and the charge was filed.
In Juvenile Court his attorney asked the judge to rule that the evidence could not be used because it was the product of an unlawful search. Judge Craddock Verser agreed and the prosecution filed an appeal that was turned down by the Court of Appeal last month. The appeals panel indicated agreement with the defense attorney who said the police threat get a search warrant for the backpack if the juvenile did not consent, was a hollow one because no judge would have issued the warrant without more evidence. - - - - - - - desertsloth - - - - - - - - June 2008 - - - - - - -
In "Photo" ---- Selected desertsloth photographs used on this this site In "Page Two" --- Descending order Items recently reported on the desertsloth Home page In "Opinion" -- Want some public information from your fire dept.? Good luck 