Eastern District of California Blog

Fresno Court Holds Four Days Of Hearings on Request For Injuction To Stop Water Releases

Even in this, the wettest of years, the battle over endangered fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta rages.

The latest dispute centers on a plan by federal officials to increase water releases from Northern California reservoirs that eventually flow into the delta, where they hope to push encroaching salt water back to a point that is about 46 miles from the Golden Gate Bridge.

Four days of hearings began Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Oliver W. Wanger in Fresno, with water users seeking an injunction to stop the water releases.

The hearing will wrap up Friday. It is unknown whether Wanger will issue an immediate ruling.

Fresno Bee, 7/27/11

Fresno County Superior Court Seeks To Intervene In Federal Consent Decree To Reduce Early-Releases At Fresno Jail

The Fresno Bee, 7/26/11 reports the Fresno County Superior Court is moving to intervene in a federal action to clarify a 1994 overcrowding consent decree to attempt to reduce the Sheriff's early release of inmates at the Fresno County jail.  The Bee piece has links to the Fresno court's Motion to Intervene and Exhibits and its Memo in Support of Motion.  A hearing is set for September 8, 2011 before Judge Hollows in Sacramento.

Indictment Charges 14 With Fraud Involving Sham Marriages

In U.S. v. Potepalov, et. al., No. 11-295-MCE, the government charged 14 persons with fraud involving sham marriages for immigration purposes.  Here's an excerpt from a Sac Bee Blog report today [updated story, Sacramento Bee, 7/27/11]:

Federal authorities in Sacramento today unveiled a large-scale immigration fraud involving dozens of sham marriages arranged to allow participants unlawful entry into the United States.

Sergey Potepalov, a 55-year-old Citrus Heights resident, was described by U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner as the ringleader of those behind the fraud.

Potepalov and 13 others, including eight more from the Sacramento area, were charged two weeks ago in a sealed grand jury indictment with an elaborate scheme involving foreign nationals from Eastern Europe and Russia, who paid up to five-figure fees to marry a U.S. citizen recruited by Potepalov and others.

Sacramento Main Jail On Lockdown After Report Of Suspicious Device [Update: False Alarm]

The Sacramento Main Jail is on lockdown after someone reported a suspicious device in a flower bed on I Street outside of the jail.  Sac Bee Blog, 7/26/11. 

False Alarm.  Sac Bee Blog Update.

Ninth Circuit Orders New Trial In § 1983 Action Alleging Sacramento County Jail Had Custom Or Practice Of Using Excessive Force

In Hunter v. County of Sacramento, et. al., No. 09-15288, the Ninth Circuit today reversed the EDCA court's order denying plaintiffs' motion for new trial in a civil rights action alleging that the two plaintiffs were subjected to excessive force pursuant to a Sacramento County "custom or practice" at its main jail.  [Sacramento Bee, 7/27/11].  The jury had found for the defendants at trial. 

On appeal, the Ninth Circuit held "that the District Court prejudicially erred in refusing to instruct the jury that, for purposes of proving a Monell [v. Dep't of Social Servs, 436 U.S. 658 (1978)] claim, a custom or practice can be supported by evidence of repeated constitutional violations which went uninvestigated and for which the errant municipal officers went unpunished."  Slip. op at 9599.  The district court erred in not using plaintiff's proposed "custom and practice" Monell instruction and relying instead on the Ninth Circuit's incomplete Model Civil Jury Instr. 9.4. 

Recent Marijuana News

While the Regulate Marijuana Like Wine Act of 2012 has been cleared by the California Secretary of State to attempt to get the more than 500,000 signatures needed to make the November 2012 ballot, see OC Register, 7/15/11 and Fresno Bee, 7/25/11, there's been lots of Eastern District related marijuana news recently, including:

Tonight, on PBS Frontline, 6 pm PST, check out The Pot Republic: One Sheriff's Quietly Radical Experiment

Marijuana cultivator connected to 48,000 plant farm gets 4-year sentence in Fresno federal court after "phone count" plea deal with prosecutors.  U.S. Attorney PR, 7/25/11

Bakersfield medical marijuana store worker sentenced to 37 months in Fresno for conspiracy to distribute marijuana.  Sfgate.com, 7/26/11

Joint fed-state pot raids underway in 6 Northern California counties.  Sfgate.com, 7/26/11 

Isleton defends itself from Sac County grand jury criticism.  Sacramento Bee, 7/26/11

The cities of Selma and Fowler are attempting to block Fresno County's new proposed restrictions on medical marijuana dispensaries out of fear it will push marijuana cultivation into their backyards.  Fresno Bee, 7/25/11

USP Atwater Inmate Killed

A 37-year-old U.S. Penitentiary inmate is dead after being assaulted by another inmate at the prison around 8:30 p.m. Sunday, prison officials reported.

The inmate has been identified as Wade Edward Austin. He was serving a sentence of 15 years for intent to distribute cocaine base and knowingly using a firearm during a drug trafficking crime, according to a prison statement. Austin was sentenced for the crime in Virginia.

Merced Sun-Star, 7/25/11

Ninth Circuit Denies Emergency Injunction To Stop Lake Tahoe Logging

A federal appeals court cleared the way Monday for the Forest Service to begin logging near Lake Tahoe, where a wildfire burned more than 250 homes four years ago.

In making its ruling [available here], a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco rejected claims that the project violates environmental laws and will jeopardize the survival of a rare woodpecker.

The panel issued a two-page ruling denying an emergency injunction sought by two environmental groups.

The panel, including Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, gave no reason for its decision.

They said they will give the Earth Island Institute and Center for Biological Diversity until Oct. 3 to submit formal briefs so the case can be considered on a normal schedule in November.

Chad Hanson, executive director of the institute's Sierra-based John Muir Project, said the group would continue to challenge the logging even if it is completed by November because an important precedent is at stake.

Press Enterprise, 7/25/11

California Prison Hunger Strike Continues At Other Prisons

Hours after announcing an end to the hunger strike at the maximum security lockup Pelican Bay, California corrections officials acknowledged more than 500 inmates continue to refuse meals at three other state prisons.

More than 400 inmates remain on hunger strike at the California State Prison in Corcoran, more than 100 at the California Correctional Institute in Tehachapi and about 29 at Calipatria State Prison, said prison spokeswoman Terry Thornton.

LA Times, 7/21/11.  A rally today in Sacramento starts at Freemont Park at 11:30 a.m. and ends at Governor Brown's office.  See IndyBay.org, 7/23/11.

Frederick Scott Salyer Case Update

Here's what's new in U.S. v. Frederick Scott Salyer since my last blog on the case.  See generally SK Foods/Salyer posts.

    First, Judge Karlton loosened up the terms of Salyer's house arrest, Monterey Herald, 7/8/11, and the parties took off calendar the defense motion to modify the conditions under which Salyer can review discovery.

    Second, the government moved last week to recuse John Keker & his law firm Keker & Van Nest from representing Salyer because another KVN partner represents a government witness in the case, despite waivers from Salyer and the witness and assurances of an "ethical wall" within KVN.  See Monterey Herald, 7/16/11.  A hearing on the recusal motion is set for August 9, at 9:15 a.m. before Judge Karlton.

    Third, on July 15, 2011, Salyer filed this motion for reconsideration of the court's 2-7-11 order holding that he lacks standing to challenge a government informant's warrantless searches and seizures of material from SK Foods on more than 40 occasions over a 2-year period.  That motion and other motions to suppress are now set for oral argument on August 24, 2011, at 10 a.m. with an evidentiary hearing, if any, to be scheduled at that hearing.