BREAKING NEWS: DA does the right thing...
Cooke shooting 'justified,' DA says
The Eureka Police Department announced early Wednesday that the Humboldt County District Attorney will file no charges in the Jan. 4 shooting death of 18-year-old Zachary Cruz Cooke.
A news release issued by the EPD stated DA Paul Gallegos “affirmed” the department’s conclusion that officers “acted lawfully and in self-defense and the use of deadly force was reasonable and justified.”
Cooke was killed by police during an arrest attempt after a string of Eureka-area robberies and shootings in which he was believed to have been involved.
That's good. Now. - about the Cheri Moore incident...
UPDATE:
TS DA's decision leaves questions in its wake
ER Case closed on police shooting 8/1/2007
TS Chilling review describes barrage of gunfire 08/02/2007
Related:
ER Father of slain teen files claims against city of Eureka, county 7/3/2007
ER Omholt returns to court Monday 5/21/2007
ER Omholt arraigned on charges 2/15/2007
ER Omholt to face trial in 3rd case 2/10/2007
ER Omholt preliminary hearing begins 2/9/2007
ER DA's investigation of shooting almost done 2/2/2007
ER Omholt bound over for trial 1/30/2007
ER Cooke tests positive for meth 1/19/2007
ER letter Shooting victim was a child led down the wrong path by his brother 1/15/2007
ER DA's Office files new charges against Omholt Thursday 1/12/2007
ER Preliminary autopsy results show Cooke had 11 wounds 1/11/2007
ER Obit Zachary Cruz Cooke 1/10/2007
ER Omholt arraigned on attempted murder charge of HCSO deputy 1/9/2007
No real surprise here. Cooke had a shotgun, was a wanted "violent" criminal, and touched off a 12 gauge when contacted by the po po.
ReplyDeleteAs I recall it was a shootout, police returned fire.
ReplyDeleteThe day before Zachary Cruz Cooke’s death, his stepbrother Jason Ryan Omholt was arrested after a three-hour standoff with police. Omholt (was) being tried for four separate cases stemming from a string of robberies in Eureka, Arcata and McKinleyville dating back to October 2006.
As previously reported in The Eureka Reporter, Zachary Cruz Cooke and Waymond Hiat Kelly were suspects in the robberies as well. Kelly was arrested following a high-speed chase the day after Zachary Cruz Cooke’s death and is being tried in Mendocino County.
Only in Humboldt County would it be a surprise. The DA actually did the right thing for a change.
Yes the decision was correct but note the quote from the Times-Standard "The officers came in, the shotgun blast goes off and the officers responded." The young man fired a weapon, it didn't go off by itself. The officers were completely justified. Please acknowledge that fully Mr. Gallegos.
ReplyDeleteSlightly off topic, but I note that Mr. Gallegos had time to file an amicus brief in a Los Angeles civil case, Alvarado v. Selma Convelescent Hospital (opinion published yesterday, 8-1-07, available on-line at www.courtinfo.ca.gov/opinions). I presume that one of the facilities being sued has something to do with Humboldt; the issue in the case is whether the trial court could dismiss a case, has to do with whether a particular statute creates a private cause of action, whether a court should become involved when an administrative regulatory agency has primary jurisdiction, and other such topics which have so much to do with the day-to-day of prosecuting criminals. P.S., his side lost.
ReplyDeleteAnd who, pray tell, wrote and edited the amicus brief? Given the bottle neck and all.
ReplyDeleteI can guarantee you PVG did't. He can barely string a coherent sentence together. He filed a civil action against a local nursing home (the private law firm which has a companion case against the nursing home is the Janssen, Malloy, Morrison, Needham firm) From the looks of it, it seems that firm contributed to his last election and even represented Tim Stoen for another matter. (May have been the sexual harrasment allegations against Stoen.) My guess is that Needham wrote it and PVG submitted it because it affected what could happen to the case that the DA and Needham filed here.
ReplyDeleteSo - his side lost - no suprise.
too bad Cheri Moore isn't a priority over his civil amicus brief on a non-humboldt civil matter.
silly me...I think that the death of a community member and the issue of whether or not it was criminal takes precedence. But oh - well, not in Hum Co where the priorities of the DA are baselesess civil suits that are tossed out on a demurrer or for his violating the constitutional due process rights of the opposing party or even for that matter, the DA getting to form his own swat team and carry assault weapons.
Oh - you forgot - also where growing all the dope you can and smoking it till you drop is more important than a single human life.
ReplyDeletewell. as I recall, he's not that worried about animal life either.
ReplyDeletewasn't there some flapdoodle about abused horses that he didn't bother to get involved in?
All Paul, all the time. It's about
him, loyalty to him, what he wants,
how he looks good, what will benefit him.
Justice for all. gag me. Gag me, get it? hilarious.
Day 477 - Still no decision in Cheri Moore.
ReplyDeleteAnd what happened over at the time-standard - they said that they were going to keep printing everyday that PVG failed to make a decision and then they just forgot about it? It is not on today’s op page.
Guess it just fell off the radar to them because it is unimportant?
Isn’t that SOP for Gags. String out the failure to reply long enough and people will forget that you haven’t done your job.
BTW - Rose , bet you still don’t have the CAST information you requested.
Not from the DA's Office - yet. I have been remiss, and haven't followed up with my repeat request.
ReplyDeleteThe absurdity of his saying that agendas, minutes and sign in sheets are evidentiary in nature, the ridiculous refusal to fulfill the request - and the fact that the CHIEF INVESTIGATOR is assigned to performing what should be a secretary's duties - it all kinda speaks for itself.
I assume that Gallegos does not want to turn them over because it shows what I already know to be true - they have not been attending CAST meetings. CAST prosecutions are down. The program has been run into the ground and he hasn't done anything to fix it even though he was put on notice that it was in trouble during the last election - if he was unaware of it before that.
In the meatime I have been accumulating other documents relating to CAST, to grants, etc. Other agencies are far more professional about responding to public records act requests, and then when I actually get the documents fromt he DA's Office, I can compare and see what has been left out.
So stay tuned.
Hey - Cooke got what he deserved. You don't shoot at cops...
ReplyDeleteBut, better yet, it was Hislop who made that call to go in....and it was Hislop's boss who said that he wouldn't charge anyone (aka Hislop). This is another example of PVG's incompetence. The matter should have gone to the AG's office because of the actual and perceived conflicts involved.
But that doesn't matter in HumCo does it. Look at the Bowman buyoff, the Cheri Moore refusal to exonerate or charge, all the dismissed cases for Gags' political supporters (AKA dope growers and cookers) who contributed tons of cash. Yeah - and you wonder why this place has taken a huge turn for the worse?
We are now the shit magnet for not just the state, but the nation. Hey move here and if you cook meth, you get probation and prop 36 instead of prison for selling the crap.
Hey, a family of four can even grow 496 plants at a time to supplement their welfare and SSI.
What a great community.
All the reason more to legalize or at least decriminalize drugs,and take out the massive profit.
ReplyDeleteAll drugs? Meth?
ReplyDeleteMeth is a tough one.It seems to be the most dangerous one out there.Yet you can get the components readily at a variety of stores,and it's incredibly cheap to make,and a quick meth lab setup can make some one thousands of dollars in a weekend.KEET and both PBS have put on great documentaries on the subject.But in a sense it may be the most necessary drug out there to rid off by attempting to curtail its profitability.
ReplyDeleteLook at what's happening here in Eureka,the police can't handle dealing with it,their chasing their tails,and the situation may not be improving despite the great efforts attempted by Garr Nielson.Dealers are able to run circles around the cops.And it's happening in communities like this across the country,so a different approach should be looked at,and it's the possibility that taking the profit out of meth sales curtails its distribution.
But on the other hand, manufacturing it is so dangerous that most users wouldn't want to make it themselves anyways,so the situation wouldn't change,but the manufacturers would be protected by its either decriminalization or legal status.
And I definitely don't want the state overseeing any part of distribution.Ridalin is bad enough,and it's often state prescribed,and it's make up is primarily of amphetamine.
So until someone takes on the primary manufacturers of aphederine I don't know what can be done.It's gotta start at the top,and you'll be fighting with pharmaceutical companies who need their supply as well.
I'd be in favor of eradicating Ridalin, too.
ReplyDeletemresquan - you suffer the same illogic that many others do...just decriminalize it and all the ills will go away.
ReplyDeleteSorry, it doesn’t work that way. Every country/municipality that have decriminalized drugs has regretted it because of the ESCALATION of crime it has caused. Check out Amsterdam. And there are others.
Here in California and especially HumCo. - do you really think that the escalation in drug use, drug crimes, crimes generally and crimes of violence has nothing to do with the defacto decriminalization of marijuana? In our county? Really? Or the fact that with prop 36, probation and law enforcement can no longer lock up the meth heads? Especially with the DA’s office letting go all of the meth dealers by treating them as users under prop 36? Hey, home invasion robberies for pot are the norm now. And wacked out people on meth (Burgess, Cooke and Honda) - hey they don’t pose a threat to anyone.
Mark - your view on this is too limited - it suffers from the often repeated misconceptions that drugs are victimless crimes.