Eastern District of California Blog

Fresno Court Rejects Attempt To Move Fresno Zoo Suit To Bay Area

A federal judge on Tuesday rejected a request by Roeding Park supporters to have a lawsuit opposing Fresno Chaffee Zoo's expansion heard in the Bay Area.

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Harriman said he would appeal O'Neill's decision to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

Fresno Bee, 1/24/11

The Other Supreme Court Case Yesterday, National Meat Association v Harris

While the Supreme Court's GPS tracking decision in U.S. v. Jones garnered the national attention, the Court also unanimously held in National Meat Association v. Harris that the Federal Meat Inspection Act pre-empts California law regulating the treatment of livestock at slaughterhouses.  This decision reverses the Ninth Circuit and approves the underlying injunction ruling of EDCA Judge Lawrence J. O'Neill.  For more, see the case coverage at Scotusblog.

New Venue Sought In Suit Over Expansion of Fresno Chaffee Zoo

Roeding Park supporters seeking to stop an expansion of Fresno Chaffee Zoo want their federal lawsuit heard in the Bay Area -- and not Fresno -- because the zoo is represented by former judge Oliver Wanger's new law firm.

Richard Harriman, representing Fresno residents opposed to changes in Roeding Park, on Monday filed a brief in U.S. District Court in Fresno seeking the change.

He said Wanger's firm represents Fresno Chaffee Zoo Corporation, which he claims "has the most significant legal and financial interests" in the case.

But John Kinsey, a lawyer with Wanger's firm who has been representing the zoo, said Harriman's objection is not justified.

He said Wanger isn't involved in any of the Roeding Park legal issues and will not appear as a lawyer in the case.

Fresno Bee, 1/23/12

3 1/2 Year Prison Sentence For Man Selling Counterfeit Media

A Sacramento man was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison after pleading guilty to selling thousands of counterfeit music CDs and movie DVDs from his garage and at a Galt flea market. Sacramento Bee, 1/24/12.

Recent EDCA Child Porn Sentences

A Chico man was sentenced to 65 months imprisonment by Judge Mueller for possession of child pornography.  ChicoER, 1/24/12

A Fresno man was sentenced to 97 months by Judge Ishii for receiving child pornography.  Fresno Bee, 1/23/12

SN&R: "Uncle Sam Gets Serious" With Medical MJ Dispensaries

Last Thursday, Sacramento-based U.S. attorney Benjamin Wagner’s office issued a forfeiture suit against [dispensary] Grass’ landlord. His reasoning is that the club is not just breaking federal law by trafficking illegal marijuana, but is also operating within 1,000 feet of a school.

The suit was the first such action in the region, and it sent a message not just to the Sacramento medical-cannabis community, but marijuana activists nationwide:

Uncle Sam is serious.

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There could also be more bad news for the local marijuana community next week: According to spokeswoman Horwood, there will be a second round of landlord letters in U.S. attorney Wagner’s eastern district, which includes Sacramento, scheduled to be sent.

“There’s more letters that are going out,” she confirmed, adding that “presumably, there might be more suits going out” as well. She would not specify how many letters or suits, or if they would target aspects of the medical-cannabis industry outside dispensing and cultivation.

Within the past month, two other dispensaries—1 Love Wellness on El Camino Boulevard and Midtown Collective on P Street—­have shuttered due to federal pressure against landlords.

Horwood would not confirm if U.S. marshals visited the dispensaries’ landlords to pressure them to close, but multiple sources have told SN&R that this was the case.

The city of Sacramento continues to freeze its permitting process for dispensaries and, according to spokeswoman Amy Williams, this will remain unchanged.

Sacramento News & Review, 1/19/12

Fox40 News: "Inmate Dies In Cell, Jail Accused Of Neglect"

Fox 40 video story here, text excerpt below:

An inmate at the [Sacramento County] jail, housed in the cell neighboring cell of the man who died, sent a letter to FOX40 and accused jail staff of neglect.

Part of the letter reads:  “I went to my cell door and observed (a corrections officer) in a loud and intimidating manner advising Mr. Mark Scott’s cellmate in his own words, ‘Don’t push my (expletive) button anymore!’ I then heard Mr. Scott’s cellmate reply, ‘Look! There’s blood on his shirt collar and there’s blood in the toilet and this bag.’”

The inmate, who identified himself as Chema Strawther, said the officer then walked away with a pink medical request form.

In his letter, Strawther said Scott had not eaten all day, had a ring of blood around his collar and “appeared to be in an absent frame of mind.” Strawther says Scott’s cellmate told him he’d been like that since breakfast, which he hadn’t eaten.

Strawther says Scott’s cellmate tried to get officers on the intercom, but they responded by laughing and saying it was just an attempt to get Scott housed downstairs.

According to the letter, Scott’s cellmate noticed that evening that Scott had stopped breathing and called for help.

Strawther alleges that when first responders asked a deputy how long Scott had been in that condition, the deputy responded with, “About an hour.” The letter says that Strawther and fellow inmates began yelling that he’d been like that all day.

The Sacramento Sheriff’s Department denied Strawther’s claims.  “I have been informed by our jail command staff (Jail Commander and Executive Lieutenant) in no uncertain terms that we were NOT told of Scott vomiting blood at any time prior to his death, nor in the immediate aftermath, which included discussion with Scott’s cellmate at the time.”

Fox40, 1/19/12.

What A Surprise! No Charges To Be Filed Against UC Davis Protesters Who Were Pepper-Sprayed By Campus Police

No charges will be filed against any of the 10 protesters arrested during a Nov. 18 pepper-spraying incident at the University of California, Davis, the Yolo County District Attorney's Office announced Friday.

Meanwhile, police officers' actions in the incident remain under investigation, said Michael Cabral, assistant chief deputy district attorney.

Sacramento Bee, 1/21/12

EDCA Occupy The Courts Protesters

Given the wind and rain, a good size crowd rallied today at the Sacramento federal courthouse as part of the nationwide "Occupy the Courts" protests.  Sacramento Bee, 1/20/12.   Sacramento Bee, 1/21/12.  Fresno too.  Indybay.org, 1/20/12.

UK Guardian Piece on EDCA Low-Carbon Fuel Decision

Today's UK Guardian has a lengthy piece over California's Air Resource Board's legal battle over its low carbon fuel standard, which highlights the EDCA ruling and its potentially enormous impact (excerpt below):

California's low-carbon fuel standard is the world's first attempt to require oil suppliers to slash the carbon footprint of their motor fuels, measured not just by emissions from tailpipes but across their full lifecycle, from extraction to combustion. Eleven Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states, and the European Union, are closely tracking California's case because they are working to adopt similar rules.

The state's influential Air Resources Board, or CARB, adopted the Low Carbon Fuel Standard in 2009 as part of its landmark global warming law, A.B. 32. The agency was supposed to begin enforcing the rule on Jan. 1, 2012. But oil companies, which say it unfairly penalizes high-carbon fuels like oil sands crude, have fought furiously to kill the standard. And on Dec. 29, a federal judge in Fresno, Calif., handed them a victory by ruling that CARB can't enforce the measure until an outstanding lawsuit by the oil industry and ethanol advocates is resolved in 2013.

The judge, Lawrence J. O'Neill, a Pres. George W. Bush appointee, said the rule unconstitutionally discriminates against out-of-state fuel sources and regulates commercial activity outside California's borders.

A week later, CARB appealed O'Neill's decision and asked a federal court in San Francisco to reverse it. An agency spokesperson told InsideClimate News this week that CARB will request a stay of the injunction "very shortly" as it awaits a decision on the appeal. National environmental groups Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the Conservation Law Foundation are providing legal help to CARB.

Both sides are playing for huge stakes.

If CARB and the conservationists win the appeal, the agency can immediately mandate that oil importers, refiners and fuel blenders meet the target they've set for 2012—to cut the "carbon intensity" of their fuel mix by a quarter of one percent. (The policy calls for a 10 percent reduction by 2020.)

That could send a signal to other states and countries that are waiting on California to follow suit. For months, EU states have been locked in their own battle over whether to implement the EU Fuel Quality Directive that labels fuel imports from the oil sands as "dirty," with Canada accused of heavy lobbying to delay action.

But if CARB loses the appeal—and the oil and ethanol industries ultimately win their lawsuit in 2013—it could delay California's low-carbon fuel standard for years and discourage similar efforts elsewhere.

Both opponents and supporters of the rule say that whatever happens will have a big impact on the market for Alberta's tar sands in California and across the world.