Court watchers may want to stop in on the 3-day evidentiary hearing on defendants' motions to suppress and to dismiss, which begins before Judge Morrison C. England, Jr. in courtroom 7 on the 14th floor at the Sacramento federal courthouse on Monday, September 13, at 9:00 a.m in United States v. Sanchez-Palomino, et. al., No. CR-S 09-94-MCE. While the motion to suppress evidence is a run-of-the-mill "traffic stop" Fourth Amendment motion, the 32-page motion to dismiss alleges, among other things, that the two Shasta County Sheriff Deputies in the case have engaged in a systematic pattern of selective enforcement of the California traffic laws in violation of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of Equal Protection of Law by overwhelmingly detaining and searching the vehicles of Hispanic Male drivers. Sanchez-Palomino "Racial/Gender Profiling" Motion to Dismiss. The motion is supported by over 700 pages of exhibits.
(On an interesting side note, Shasta County fought hard to keep the evidence in this case hidden on various grounds, including to prevent an "adverse effect on any future criminal cases," see Shasta County's Motion For Protective Order, at 3. But in light of the defense's Opposition, Judge England denied Shasta County's motion for a protective order at a March 11, 2010 hearing).
The evidentiary hearing is expected to include the two Shasta Sheriff deputies as well as other Hispanic men that were stopped and detained by the officers. Evidence is scheduled to continue through Wednesday, September 15. The two defendants are represented by AFD Lauren Cusick and Fresno attorney Dan Bacon while the government has assigned three AUSAs to the case, Todd Leras, Daniel McConkie, and Jared Dolan. See also 6/24/10 Redding.Com, "Shasta Judge Denies I-5 Racial Profiling Allegations"