Eastern District of California Blog

Federal Judges Decry Sequestration Cuts To Federal Defender Offices

Good to see the federal judiciary criticizing cuts to federal defender's offices.  See "Public Defender Offices Shouldn't Suffer Under Sequestration," Washington Post, 4/18/13, by D.C. District Judges Paul L. Friedman and Reggie B. Walton.

District of Nebraska U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf's blog, Hercules and the Umpire, also has a few posts on the impact of sequestration in his district.  Personally, I like his suggestion "Congress is herewith warned" that he might dismiss some immigration cases to help the Federal Defender's Office meet its Sixth Amendment and statutory obligations:

While I intend to honor this directive, I am also contemplating the dismissal of a certain percentage of criminal cases assigned to the FPD.   If I dismiss a bunch of immigration cases, where a short prison sentence would otherwise be imposed and the defendants will be deported anyway, perhaps I can assist the FPD in meeting his statutory and constitutional obligations.  I have not finally decided on this course of action, but I am seriously contemplating it.

Congress is therefore on notice that its failure to fund the judiciary, and most particularly the Federal Public Defenders and Criminal Justice Act counsel, may result in the guilty going unpunished.  If a banana republic is what members of Congress want, I may help them get it.

Now that would get the attention of Congress!

Federal Receiver Orders Thousands Of High-Risk Inmates Transferred From Two Central Valley Prisons

The federal official who controls medical care in California prisons on Monday ordered thousands of high-risk inmates out of two Central Valley prisons in response to dozens of deaths due to Valley fever, which is caused by an airborne fungus.  [ABC30 Video].

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The order will affect about 40 percent of the more than 8,200 inmates at the two prisons, said Joyce Hayhoe, a spokeswoman for the receiver's office.

"The state of California has known since 2006 that segments of the inmate population were at a greater risk for contracting Valley fever, and mitigation efforts undertaken by CDCR to date have proven ineffective," she said in an emailed statement. "As a result, the receiver has decided that immediate steps are necessary to prevent further loss of life."

That creates problems for the corrections department, which faces a December deadline to reduce overcrowding in prisons statewide by an additional 9,000 inmates as part of a federal court order to improve medical and mental health care.

The department must file a plan with the federal courts by Thursday outlining what steps it will take to reduce the prison population by year's end. Corrections Secretary Jeffrey Beard has said the department still wants to bring home more than 8,400 inmates who currently are being housed in private prisons in other states.

ABC30 Fresno, 4/29/13

Blind Man Receives Settlement On ADA Claim

A national education provider has paid $100,000 to extract itself from a lawsuit over its refusal to hire a blind man for a position at its Rancho Cordova campus.

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On Kirksey's behalf, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission unsuccessfully attempted to negotiate an out-of-court settlement. The agency then sued the parent company, ITT Educational Services Inc., in Sacramento federal court, accusing the company of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act by not granting Kirksey's reasonable request for an accommodation and denying him a job because he is blind.

In addition to the money paid to Kirksey, a consent decree filed in court Thursday calls for the company and its more than 140 sites of ITT Technical Institutes to revise their hiring assessments and website testing.

Sacramento Bee, 4/28/13

Large Stockton Drug Bust Nets 44 Federal Defendants

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives held a news conference Tuesday to announce the results of Operation Gideon IV, [video of press conference here] a joint effort between the ATF and the Stockton Police Department to target violent crime. ATF agents, police officers and members of other local law enforcement agencies conducted over 200 enforcement actions and 20 raids, authorities said.

ATF Special Agent in Charge Joe Riehl said the operation resulted in 55 arrests and 84 firearm seizures, including six machine guns, four short-barrel rifles and two silencers. Authorities also located approximately 36 pounds of methamphetamine, 21 pounds of marijuana, 10 ounces of ecstasy, 100 grams of heroin and 55 grams of crack cocaine.

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Forty-four people arrested in Operation Gideon are facing federal charges, U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner said. Eleven others are being prosecuted by the San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office.

Stockton Record, 4/24/13

Matthew Keys Arraignment Held Today

Matthew Keys, a former Web producer for a Tribune Co (TRBAA).-owned television station in Sacramento,California, pleaded not guilty to charges he conspired with hackers who broke into a company news website.

Keys, of Secaucus, New Jersey, entered the plea today in federal court in Sacramento. He was charged in a March 14 indictment with providing log-in credentials for a Tribune computer server in December 2010 to members of the hacker group known as Anonymous, who used the information to make changes to an online version of a Los Angeles Times news story.

Keys, formerly the Web producer for KTXL Fox 40 in Sacramento, encouraged Anonymous members to disrupt the website during a conversation in a online chat room, according to the indictment. Tribune owns the Los Angeles paper. Keys was fired from Fox 40 in October 2010. Keys, who joined Thomson Reuters Corp. last year as a social-media editor, was fired by the company yesterday.

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“He was a journalist in that chat room, absolutely, but he didn’t do the things he’s accused of doing,” Jay Leiderman, an attorney for Keys, said in an interview outside the courtroom before today’s arraignment.

After Keys entered his plea, U.S. Magistrate Judge Allison Claire released him on his own recognizance and directed him to appear June 12 for his next hearing.

Bloomberg, 4/23/13; Sacramento Bee, 4/23/13.

Heather Williams Officially Named New EDCA Federal Defender

According to this Ninth Circuit News Release, Heather Williams has been officially named the new EDCA Federal Defender and will start May 6. 

Oral Arguments In EDCA Suits Over California Gay Conversion Therapy Ban

The audio recording of the Ninth Circuit oral arguments in the two EDCA lawsuits over California's gay conversion therapy ban are available here:  Pickup v. Brown, 12-17681, and Welch v. Brown, 13-10523.  And here's Howard Mintz's recap in the SV Mercury News, 4/17/13.

Ninth Circuit Oral Argument Over EDCA Summary Judgment In Wrongful Shooting Suit

Stephen Willis had allegedly been removing a holstered gun and other belongings from the trunk of his car when police opened fire on him without warning. His family sued Fresno and three of its officers for violations of the Fourth and 14th Amendments.

"Without warning or identifying themselves, defendants ... began shooting at Stephen Willis, shot him until he fell or dove to the ground, and continued shooting until they had put 14 bullets into him, including several in his back, out of at least 35 bullets fired at him, and he was dead," the complaint stated.    

U.S. District Judge Lawrence O'Neill granted the city and officers summary judgment in July 2011, finding that they had acted appropriately and that Willis had pulled a gun.

At a hearing before the 9th Circuit on Monday, a three-judge panel grilled the parties about whether the police had actually warned Willis.  [Audio of oral argument available here].

The law says a District Court cannot dismiss a case in summary judgment if there is any dispute between the parties about important facts underlying the case, and it is a jury's task to determine who is telling the truth.

"The issue that's bothering me is the question of whether the officers began firing before Stephen removed his gun from the holster," Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain said.

Arguing for the city of Fresno, police officers Greg Catton and Daniel Astacio, as well as police chief Jerry Dyer, attorney James Weakley said the "evidence is very consistent with the fact that Stephen Willis did fire a shot."

Judge N. Randy Smith said he had a problem with Fresno's reliance on its own version of the evidence to defend against the family's appeal.

Courthouse News, 4/18/13

Modesto Pays $120,000 In Unlawful Search Federal Lawsuit

"Modesto has paid $120,000 to a woman and her two adult daughters to settle a lawsuit they filed against the city after police officers entered their home without a warrant, refused to leave when asked and threatened to arrest the woman."  Modesto Bee, 4/17/13

Read more here: http://www.modbee.com/2013/04/17/2674148/modesto-pays-120k-fine-to-settle.html#storylink=cpy

Appellate Argument On Gay Conversion Therapy Ban Tomorrow

On Wednesday, at 9:30 a.m., in courtroom 1 in San Francisco, the Ninth Circuit will hold oral argument in the appeals from the EDCA conflicting orders on California's ban on so-called "gay conversion therapy."  The panel is Chief Judge Kozinski, and Ninth Circuit Judges Graber and Christen.  See San Jose Mercury News, 4/15/13