Eastern District of California Blog

Teen Gains Theater Seats In Settlement With City Of Sacramento

The December 28, 2009 Sacramento Bee reports that a 16-year old St. Francis High School student was successful in settling a federal suit that resulted in greater accommodations for persons with disabilities at the city-owned Sacramento Community Center Theater: 

Settlement of the suit, in the form of a consent decree approved last month by U.S. Magistrate Judge Gregory G. Hollows, calls for the city to make structural modifications to the theater at an estimated cost of $80,000. Two rows of orchestra seats eight and nine rows from the stage are to be renovated to make room for four wheelchairs and four companion seats and a wheelchair-accessible path to the seats, all of which will result in a net loss of 25 seats, each with an average value of $60 per performance of the Broadway Sacramento series.

The agreement also requires modifying the service counter of the main lobby's concession stand and a landing at doors used by persons in wheelchairs. All the work is to be completed by Feb. 2.

The city also has paid $50,000 in trust for Alex and $140,000 to Rein. It will provide Alex with two tickets for each of the four shows remaining in the current Broadway Sacramento series and two 2010-11 season tickets roughly valued at $1,206.

Alex acknowledges the suit was a worthy effort. "I'm satisfied, because other people will have these seats now and won't have to sit in the back," she said. "It was a simple solution and could have been done without suing."

Rein described the settlement as "a public interest win. Alex is a very together young lady and should be commended for being willing to go through with litigation that will help others who want to enjoy theatrical productions."

Sacramento Sheriff Defends Use of Tasers in Sac Bee Interview

Sacramento Sheriff John McGinness defended the Department's use of tasers in this interview in today's Sacramento Bee.   

Ninth Circuit Issues Important Ruling Limiting Use of TASERs

Here's the opening paragraph from yesterday's important Ninth Circuit opinion affirming the denial of qualified immunity for an officer who used a taser during a traffic stop in Bryan v. McPherson, which was authored by Judge Wardlaw, and joined by Judges Pregerson and Reinhardt:  

Early one morning in the summer of 2005, Officer Brian McPherson deployed his taser against Carl Bryan during a traffic stop for a seatbelt infraction. Bryan filed this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, asserting excessive force in violation of the Fourth Amendment. Officer McPherson appeals the denial of his motion for summary judgment based on qualified immunity. We affirm the district court because, viewing the circumstances in the light most favorable to Bryan, Officer McPherson’s use of the taser was unconstitutionally excessive and a violation of Bryan’s clearly established rights.

Today's Sacramento Bee calls it "one of the most comprehensive rulings yet limiting police use of Tasers against low-level offenders who seem to pose little threat and may be mentally ill."  The Bee also notes

There have been at least nine Taser-related fatalities in the Sacramento region, including the death earlier this month of Paul Martinez Jr., an inmate shot with a stun gun while allegedly resisting officers at the Roseville jail.

See My Blog's Taser link for my other Taser posts.

 

Valley Hmong Worry Over 4,000 Refugees' Fate

The Fresno Bee reports

Fresno-area Hmong thought they had additional reason to celebrate this week at the Hmong International New Year -- the U.S. government's decision not to prosecute Gen. Vang Pao, widely considered their leader here.

But the celebration, which has drawn tens of thousands to the Fresno fairgrounds, has been tempered by recent news from overseas: More than 4,000 Hmong are being repatriated from Thailand back to Laos. And the Lao government reportedly said Vang Pao faces a death sentence should he try to return to the country.

Thailand Begins Forced Repatriation of Hmong To Laos

Armed with riot shields and batons, Thai military officers began early on Monday to forcibly return 4,000 Hmong asylum seekers to Laos in a lingering echo of the Vietnam War.

A government spokesman, Panitan Wattanayagorn, said in a telephone interview that the repatriation had started and would be completed within days.

Members of a mountain tribe that aided the United States in its secret war in Laos, the asylum seekers have said they fear retribution by the Laotian government, which continues to battle a ragged insurgency of several hundred Hmong fighters. 

Thailand moved ahead with the repatriation despite complaints from the United States, the United Nations, and human rights and aid groups. It was doing so although it has determined that some asylum seekers were eligible for refugee status, human rights groups said.

New York Times, 12/28/09

California Makes Last Plea To U.S. Supreme Court To Review 3-Judge Panel's Prison Overcrowding Order

According to the San Jose Mercury News,

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration has made one last plea to the U.S. Supreme Court to consider the legality of a federal court's unprecedented order requiring California to shed nearly 40,000 inmates from its prison system over the next two years.

In court papers filed Tuesday night, state officials urged the Supreme Court to intervene in the case, following up on an appeal filed this past fall seeking to overturn a three-judge panel's orders requiring swift action to relieve prison overcrowding. The Supreme Court will consider the request at its Jan. 15 conference.

No Christmas (Pardon) Spirit For Obama

Unlike his predecessors, president Obama issued no pre-Christmas federal pardons this year and he apparently has yet to grant even a single pardon or commutation since he took office.  (I'm not counting his presidential pardon of a turkey on Thanksgiving day).  As one of the few attorneys who obtained a federal pardon for a client from President George W. Bush,  I am especially disappointed to see the president be so stingy with pardons and commutations.  According to a 1/29/09 Sentencing Law and Policy Blog Post, there have only been eight prior presidents who have failed to grant any pardon applications within their first 100 days of office.  With almost 3,500 pending petitions, one would think the president could find some deserving of relief within his first year of office.  See the Christmas Eve post of the Sentencing Law and Policy Blog for more pardon analysis. 

Recent EDCA Sex Offense Cases

According to Wednesday's Sacramento Bee, a Sacramento Valley Internet Crimes Task Force arrested 15 men on child pornography charges, including some headed to the EDCA federal court. 

On Tuesday, Judge Karlton sentenced a Citrus Heights man to 160 months imprisonment.  He reportedly had a collection of more than 54,000 CP images, according to the same Bee article.  The sentence also included 10 years of supervised release and $7,500 in restitution.

On December 18, 2009, in Sacramento, Judge Garcia sentenced a child porn defendant to 121 months imprisonment, KCRA.com, while in Fresno, Judge O'Neill sentenced a man that same day to 122 months imprisonment and supervised release for life for traveling across state lines to have sex with a 15-year old who he communicated with via a X-Box live video game.   Huffington Post, 12/21/09

Finally, even the USA Today is covering the recent judicial debates over child porn sentences.   "Judges Seek Flexibility In Child Porn Cases," USA Today, 12/23/09 

U.S. Accuses Local Jack In The Box Chain Owner Of Sexual Harassment

Kobra Associates, the financially troubled Roseville company that owns a chain of Jack in the Box restaurants, has been sued in federal court for alleged sexual harassment.

The suit, filed Tuesday in Sacramento by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, details allegations lodged by a former female worker at the Jack in the Box restaurant in Paradise.

Sacramento Bee, 12/24/09

EDCA Criminal Immigration Case Filings Increase 130% In Two Years

Filings of criminal immigration cases in federal court in Sacramento’s Eastern District of California in the last fiscal year increased to the highest level in a decade, with the vast majority of the cases involving deported felons being cited for re-entering the country. . . .  Some 406 cases were filed in the federal fiscal year ending Sept. 30, and those filings involved 414 defendants. That is a 45 percent higher than the previous fiscal year and a 130 percent increase over fiscal 2007.

Sacramento Business Journal