Eastern District of California Blog

Memorial Service For James Bockmon Set For July 7

The open memorial service for 25-year old James Bockmon, who tragically died in a motorcycle accident on June 1, will be held at the Folsom Community Center, 52 Natoma Street, Folsom, California 95630 on Sunday, July 7, from 11 am to 3 pm. Sac Bee 6/4 story.  James is the son of Assistant Federal Defender Matt Bockmon.  James' girlfriend Jade is recovering well.   Our sympathies to all.

7-Year Prison Sentence for Ex-Kings Executive Who Stole From Team Sponsors

Jeffrey R. David, the disgraced former Sacramento Kings executive accused of siphoning off $13.4 million from team sponsors to purchase lavish beachfront homes in Southern California, was sentenced Monday to seven years in federal prison.

In a sentencing hearing that lasted more than an hour and a half, David wiped away tears and held back sobs at times as he described the damage he had done to his wife and three young children, but he could never seem to answer the basic question: Why did he do it?

David, who made $30,000 a month as the Kings chief revenue officer and also received a yearly bonus, said during court that he believed he could purchase the homes, improve them and sell them at a profit later that would allow the Kings to be repaid in full.

Sac Bee, 6/24/19

Tentative Settlement Reached in Stephon Clark Civil Rights Lawsuit

Lawyers for the city of Sacramento and Stephon Clark’s children have reached a partial settlement of the Clark family’s $20 million lawsuit over the March 2018 shooting by police that killed the unarmed black man, federal court filings say.

Following a closed door session in federal court in Sacramento on Tuesday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kendall J. Newman, “parties reached a verbal settlement” on behalf of Clark’s two young sons and their guardians, and all future court dates involving them were ordered vacated, according to court minutes of the session.

The minutes do not spell out whether a settlement has been reached with all the plaintiffs, including Clark’s parents or grandparents. A dollar amount for the verbal settlement was not released.

Sac Bee, 6/18/19

 

EDCA Indictment Charges 21 Defendants with Drug Trafficking

Two weeks after federal officials announced charges against members of the Aryan Brotherhoodprison gang in an alleged conspiracy to order murders, sell drugs and smuggle cell phones, new charges have been filed against another prison gang believed to be coordinating methamphetamine sales from a Central Valley prison.

Federal court documents unsealed Tuesday charge 21 defendants – some of them allegedly operating out of their cells at Pleasant Valley State Prison in Coalinga – with conspiracy to sell and possess methamphetamine.

The charges, filed in two criminal complaints, are aimed at crippling the operations of the Nuestra Familia gang, which operates out of Pleasant Valley and is believed to be flooding Kings and Tulare counties with sales of methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana.

Sac Bee, 6/18/19

 

Homicides Surge in California Jails

Deadly violence surged in county jails across California since the state began sending thousands of inmates to local lockups instead of prisons, the result of a dramatic criminal justice transformation that left many sheriffs ill-equipped to handle a new and dangerous population.

Since 2011, when the U.S. Supreme Court ordered California to overhaul its overcrowded prisons, inmate-on-inmate homicides have risen 46 percent in county jails statewide compared with the seven years before, a McClatchy and ProPublica analysis of California Department of Justice data and autopsy records shows.

Sac Bee, 6/13/19

 

Feds File Gun Charges Against Undocumented Immigrant Who Crashed Into a Mobile Home

A Mexican citizen who was in the United States illegally when he allegedly crashed into a Sutter County mobile home and killed three people has been indicted on weapons charges by a federal grand jury.

Ismael Huazo-Jardinez, who already is facing state manslaughter and drunken driving charges, was indicted Thursday on two charges of being an alien in possession of firearms while being in the country illegally, U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott announced.

Sac Bee, 6/13/19

ACLU Sues Fresno County Registrar Over Removal of Unitarian Church as Polling Place Because of "Black Lives Matter" Banners

Fresno County officials on Tuesday released a lengthy response to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union over the county’s decision to remove the Unitarian Universalist Church of Fresno as a polling site — saying they did so after the church wouldn’t budge on displaying “Black Lives Matter” banners .

The ACLU Foundation of Northern California filed its lawsuit against Fresno County Registrar Brandi Orth in U.S. District Court in Fresno on Monday. The lawsuit claims Orth illegally removed the church as a polling location for the November election over banners with the words “Black Lives Matter” on the property.

Fresno Bee, 6/12/19 (updated)

 

Sacramento Pays $5.2 Million Settlement in Excessive Force Taser Case

The Sacramento City Council on Tuesday approved a $5.2 million payout for an excessive force lawsuit of a 2017 incident in which police tased a 34-year-old man so many times his family said he was left with the mental capability of a toddler.

In a closed-door session, the council voted to approve the settlement for the family of John Hernandez, who was tased nine times and struck by officers’ batons at least five times while being arrested, according to court documents.

The settlement is believed to be the largest in the city’s history, far surpassing last year’s settlements of $2.8 million for 24 lawsuits, four of which police were alleged to have used excessive force.

Sac Bee, 6/11/19

 

Feds File Racketeering Charges Against Alleged Aryan Brotherhood Members and Associates

Here's the lede from this Sac Bee story on the feds charging 16 alleged Aryan Brotherhood members and associates in a RICO conspiracy:

Federal law enforcement officials in Sacramento say they have struck a blow at the leadership of the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang, outlining an alleged conspiracy among inmates in California state prisons to order murders, oversee narcotics sales and arrange for the smuggling of numerous cell phones to prisoners.

The allegations, contained in court documents unsealed Thursday in federal court in Sacramento, seek charges under the federal racketeering statute against 16 defendants, including two inmates considered to be among the ruling “commissioners” of the white supremacist gang.