Dear District Attorney

To the Office of the District Attorney, with special attention to Paul
Gallegos:As you know, a record number of people (relative to the Occupy
movement nationwide) have been arrested involved with or near the Occupy Eureka
demonstration. Redwood Curtain CopWatch has been diligently calling your office
1) to make sure we are privy to each persons' court dates and charges, and 2) to
make sure we know whether there are any attorney conflicts wherein people
arrested in the "same" police actions are not assigned to the same law office
for their defense. We began making such calls on December 6th, specifically
regarding November 14, 2011 arrests, and have continued to follow up with phone
calls and visits to your office. Your office is utterly unaccountable to the
public, and most notably, to persons' who's freedoms are threatened by your
irresponsible prosecutions and your blatant violations of due process
rights.This email is to memorialize above-mentioned calls and visits,
the information provided by your office, some of the attempts (that we are aware
of) by the accused themselves to get accurate information and preserve their
civil liberties, and the unacceptable discrepancies in the information put out
by your office regarding peoples' obligations to appear in court.
Please note that we do not believe that the District Attorney's
Office receptionists should be held accountable for the egregious failures of
your office. It is the District Attorney's responsibility to make sure there is
accurate and up-to-date information available to members of the public and is
the District Attorney's legal duty to properly notice members of the public
regarding charges against them brought by your office, court dates, and any
action that your office takes (i.e. issue warrants) to restrict someone's civil
liberties. Your office has a duty to notice personally the
people being charged and scheduled with court dates.December 5,
2011: Both Elise Gerhart and Marc Ely, in order to comply with the
Agreements to Appear they had signed upon release from jail (from Nov 14
arrests), visited the Humboldt County Superior Clerk's Office and made court
dates (earlier than the dates they had agreed to appear) so as not to have court
interfere with holiday plans. They were given arraignment dates for December
14, 2011. December 6, 2011: Kimberly Starr of Redwood Curtain
CopWatch spoke with Jennifer at your office. Jennifer informed her that the
following listed people who were arrested (all arrested without a warrant) on
November 14, 2011 had cases still "pending" on Deputy District Attorney Kelly
Neel's desk. Jennifer provided the names (and the pending status
information) after she was asked the status of Jacob Green from his arrest on
November 14, 2011. Jacob Green, as per Jennifer's information, was the only
person from the November 14th protest-related arrests for whom the DA reviewed
and rejected to charge due to insufficient evidence. ALL PENDING
ACCORDING TO DEC 6TH CALL TO YOUR OFFICE:Jonah AllenJada
AnneDerek AvilaJoshua AyersKenneth ColemanMarc ElyMichael
EmkeJoseph GentileTheodore GeorgeElise GerhartAndrew
HamerTeresa HartMartin KatzShane LawShane LongKeelan
McWayneMatthew MeslerJonathan MurrayErik
NützSean OcampoZachary PetersonCarmelita HuertaRichard
RandolphAnne RianGary RoachCharla RogersRamiro Rosas,
Jr.Lloyd SmithAmanda TierneyBrianna TuckerStanton
WoodDecember 8, 2011: Teresa Hart received a letter from your
office dated December 5, 2011 (a day before the above phone call), informing her
that she had a court date on December 28th at 8am and if she did not appear, a
warrant would be issued. This information conflicted with the (above-listed)
information provided on the phone the day after the letter was put in the
mail. December 12, 2011: Ms. Hart called your office and was told
the following:
Teresa Hart
and Theodore George are scheduled to appear in CrtRm # 3 at 8am on Dec.
28th.Joshua Ayers, Gary Roach, Micheal Emke, Joseph Gentile, and Zachary
Peterson are scheduled to appear on Dec 27th at 8am in Ctrm.# 3.Amanda
Tierney is scheduled to appear on Jan. 5th at 8am, no courtroom assigned
yet.No one else is set for arraignments from arrests on November 14,
2011.
December 14, 2011:
Elise Gerhart and Marc Ely appeared in court, were arraigned on charges,
reserved the right to demurrer, were assigned to Conflict Counsel and Public
Defender respectively, and were set for January 23 trial on a no-time waiver
basis.
December 16, 2011:
Kimberly Starr called your office and was provided information as follows:
Derek AviaKenneth
ColemanShane LawSean OcampoCarmelita HuertaCharla Rogers
Ramiro RosasLloyd Smith
All above listed as
pending, no charges filed yet, "pended for follow-up, Kelly Neel apparently
needs more information"Eureka Police Department Report
#3C11-8562-6Submitting officer: Detective O'Neill
Jonah AllenTheodore
GeorgeTeresa HartBrianna Tucker
All above charged
Arraignment court date December 19, 2011Eureka Police Department
Report #3C11-8562-3Submitting officer: Sgt Nova
Elise GerhartMarc
Ely
Above charged and arraigned
on Dec 14th Jan 11, Trial ConfirmationJan 23 Jury TrialBoth assigned
to Public DefenderSubmitting officer: Off. Luken
Anne RianMartin
KatzShane LongKeelna McWayneMatthew MeslerJonathan
MurrayAmanda TierneyStanton Wood
All above charged
Arraignment court date January 5, 2011 at 8amEureka Police
Department Report #3C11-8562-4Submitting officer: Sgt. Guy
Gary RoachJada
AnneJoshua Ayers
All above charged
Arraignment court date December 27, 2011 at 8amEureka Police
Department Report #3C11-8562-5Submitting officer: Off. Joshua Siipola
Richard
RandolphMichael EmkeJoseph GentileZachary Peterson
All above charged with PC
647(e); Richard Randolph charge dismissed on Dec 5, 2011Arraignment court
date December 27, 2011Eureka Police Department Report
#3C11-8562-7Submitting officer: Sgt. Watson
Andrew HamerErik Nütz
No charges filed yet for
either above, pending statusEureka Police Department Report
#3C11-8562-1Submitting officer: Off. Endsley
Jacob Green
Deputy DA Max Cardosa
declined to file charges for above.Eureka Police Department Report
#3C11-8562Submitting officer: Off. Stelzig
December 19, 2011:
Jonah Allen, Theodore George, Teresa Hart, and Brianna Tucker were not on any
docket in the courthouse. All four of them has been listed (three days before)
by your office as having arraignment court dates on Dec 19th. Kimberly Starr
went to District Attorney's office on at 8:45am. The following was the
information provided in writing regarding charges and court dates from
your office:
Derek Avila -
pendingKenneth Coleman - pendingShane Law - pendingSean Ocampo -
pendingCarmelita Huerta - pendingCharla Rogers - pendingRamiro Rosas
- pendingLloyd Smith - pendingJonah Allen - need to go to court ops to
set dateTheodore George - 12/28 8amTeresa Hart - 12/28 8amBrianna
Tucker - need to go to court ops to set dateAnne Rian - court ops to set
arraignmentMartin Katz - court ops to set arraignmentShane Long - court
ops to set arraignmentKeelan McWayne - court ops to set
arraignmentMatthew Mesler - court ops to set arraignmentJonathan Murray
- court ops to set arraignmentAmanda Tierney - 1/5 8amStanton Wood -
already arraigned 1/12 next courtGary Roach - 12/27 8am arraignmentJada
Anne - court ops to set arraignment dateJoshua Ayers - 12/27 8am
arraignmentRichard Randolph - already had arrMichael Emke - 12/27 8am
arraignmentJoseph Gentile - 12/27 8am arraignmentZachary Peterson -
12/27 8am arraignmentJacob Green - rejectedAndrew Hamer -
pendingErik Nütz - pendingStanton Wood CR 1105042 - 12/22
next court date CR 1105207 H -1/12 next court
date
The
conflicting information provided in every above communication with your office
(and the court clerk relying on info from you) shows how irresponsibly and
unlawfully your office has been handling, or not handling, notice to each
person. Telling Kimberly Starr that several people should "show up to set their
own court dates" is NOT proper notice for those individuals.
This problem costs people
their freedoms as your office whimsically causes warrants to be issued for
people who have been provided no notice. They can show up to court on
the date promised (and be turned away), they can call the DA's office and/or the
court clerk and get bad information, they can adjust their lives and schedules
to appear, and your office consistently gives false information and expects
people to do things that they are unaware of and have made no legal promises to
do.
Your office conducts its
business with a complete lack of accountability to the public, while it claims
to be in the role of making others accountable. The public has a lawful
expectation of accurate information from you and proper notice to the
individuals whom you decide to prosecute.
We know that this is not an
isolated instance of your office failing to give proper legal notice to people
regarding their charges and court dates. Your office has informed us in the
past that the prosecuting attorney unilaterally decides whether to notice a
person of her/his charges or instead just have a warrant issued. This practice
violates peoples' rights to due process, systematically infringing on their
civil liberties. We hope that your office will begin to comply with the law,
which includes taking action to correct your failures to provide accurate
information and proper notice for the people arrested on November 14, 2011 as
named here, to retract any warrants that have been issued as a result of your
unlawful practice, and to audit your office's practices that violate peoples'
rights. This is not the first time that Redwood Curtain CopWatch has
communicated with you about this problem.
Please immediately tend to
these due process issues, not only for people affected by the November 14 Occupy
Eureka related arrests, but for all people your office investigates and/or
prosecutes.
Be accountable.
Sincerely,
Redwood Curtain CopWatch