ASK HOW MANY cases are backlogged. MANY THOUSANDS of misdemeanor cases alone. ASK how many cases each prosecutor is handling. ASK the questions.
This editorial is a start... Glacial speed at the district attorney’s office
Glaciers may be melting elsewhere, but here in Humboldt County, the District Attorney’s Office has earned a reputation for moving at glacial speed on cases.
It has been more than two months since a motorist crossed the median on U.S. Highway 101 and hit County Supervisor Roger Rodoni’s pickup head-on, resulting in his death. It has been established that alcohol was not involved. No matter what may have caused the woman to drive into the oncoming lane, doing so was illegal. No charges, however, have been forthcoming from the district attorney.
In another case, nearly two months ago, Arcata Chamber of Commerce officials noticed irregularities in their bank account. It was alleged that their former executive director, Kerri Malloy, had embezzled $8,000 from the chamber in the form of two forged checks which he deposited to his own business account.
The funds were subsequently recovered. Nevertheless, the Chamber reported the incident to the police who turned it over to the District Attorney’s Office, which is still mulling it over.
When asked by the Eureka Reporter why it was taking so long to make decisions on these two cases, a District Attorney’s Office spokesman, thinking our reporter had just fallen off a turnip truck, said: “We have thousands of cases.” In Humboldt County?
It's worse than you think. Follow up!
Actually, Gallegos told an attorney who interviewed lately that they were backlogged over 3000 misdemeanors and that if this person took the job he/she would have immediately 800 cases and would be on their own to resolve them. No training, nothing. Also said that he/she was told by Gags that they would have to stand up and take the blame for the mistakes and give credit to the boss for the successes.
ReplyDeleteMy friend walked out and is now working in a different county.
In 2005, Gallegos said his prosecutors were handling some 550 cases a year. Except him, except Stoen, who had two main cases.
ReplyDeleteAnd that was when the office was still pretty fully staffed. Before he "lost" more and more and more prosecutors... 800 wouldn't surprise me.
Hate to break this to you and the Eureka Reporter, and to the spokesman at the DA's office but per Paul himself, the average case load per felony attorney is 85 cases per year - or let me break that down further - 7 cases per month comes to 84 per year so why the hell can't he get anything done?
ReplyDeleteJust check for yourself - June 17, 2008 board agende item #8, page 21, item c of "Plan" - "Average Caseload."
Just another reason why we need a full scale Attorney General investigation here. Not just the Grand Jury who is powerless to do anything. Maybe a Federal Investigation, if any of that grant money is Federal.
ReplyDeleteThe egregious examples given were high-profile cases. Think about all the everyday, garden-variety cases that get lost, forgotten, mishandled, dealt away, etc. Why oh why would anyone who had the misfortune to be the victim of a misdemeanor crime in this county ever expect justice from this rudderless ship? Or why would they stand for it?
ReplyDeleteIf alcohol wasn't involved, then it's an infraction "failure to maintain lane." It's a civil matter.
ReplyDeleteI'm curious to know when your friend interviewed. There haven't been interviews at the office for quite some time. I also find it suspicious that Gallegos never said any such thing to the three people I know who interviewed.
ReplyDelete9:17, if you are talking about the Rodoni case, a traffic infraction which results in death can be charged as vehicular manslaughter - PC 192(c) - either as a felony or a misdemeanor, depending upon the circumstances. I am no fan of PVG but those kinds of cases require a lot of work - there are arcane technical issues and getting these things charged can take some time, if you are going to do it properly. As far as the embezzlement goes, if dude forged two checks for $8K, there is every possibility that he did the same thing on other occasions. Which means that a prudent office would want a forensic examination of the books, which again, takes time. Anyway that's what a prudent office would do, Isis knows what PVG is up to. This isn't to say there isn't a huge back-log being badly handled, just that those examples are not necessarily helpful to demonstrate that proposition.
ReplyDeleteToday's ER: Misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter charges against Miranda resident Diane Johnson, the 58-year-old woman who lost control of her vehicle on U.S. Highway 101 in late April and fatally collided with Supervisor Roger Rodoni’s vehicle, were recommended by the California Highway Patrol in early June.
ReplyDeleteIn a separate case, forgery and embezzlement charges against former Arcata Chamber of Commerce Interim Director Kerri Malloy were recommended by the Arcata Police Department in early June in connection to $8,000 of the Chamber’s operating budget that was allegedly embezzled.
“Certainly the decision is ours,” District Attorney Paul Gallegos said. “Maybe we’ll have a decision by next week.”
Well, I talk smack about PVG when I think he's goofing up, so I think it is fair to say that in my opinion a two-month delay on a vehicular manslaughter case is not out of line. The CHP can say what it wants, but investigating a case is different then prosecuting a case and the mook who has to convince a jury may want more then the agency report provided. That said, PVG said in the ER story that he hasn't even read the report yet. Well that fills me with confidence. Criminy just give it to Keat. Then you can blame him when it goes south. Anyway on the embellzement caper these cases tend to follow a pattern - usually dude (or dudette) has been filching quietly on a smaller scale for awhile before becoming emboldened enough to do something as obvious as writing himself checks for thousands of bucks. Starts with pocketing petty cash, no one notices, writes a check to self but records it as a check to a vendor, that kind of thing. It can go on for years before being noticed and takes a lot of tedious detailed comparison of records (all of which are in tiny little font) and subbing records and so on. If that is what PVG is doing then that's appropriate. IF that's what PVG's doing but as I said before, who knows what is going on in that office? There might well be a backlog but these cases are not necessarily the best evidence of that. Thus concludes my stirring defense of PVG. I am going to go talk a loooong shower now.
ReplyDeleteRed at 7:32 - I understand what could be charged, certainly. My thought was more along the line of: If the driver wasn't impaired--perhaps fell asleep--then there probably isn't criminal conduct worth pursuing.
ReplyDeleteIt's tragic, to be sure, but this case just might be more appropriate in a civil forum. Family members aside, no one probably feels worse about the accident than the driver.
Admittedly, I don't know the driver's criminal history or the contents of the CHP report. If the driver was speeding, or otherwise driving recklessly, then charges certainly are warranted.
Sometimes tragic accidents just happen.
ReplyDeleteOne thing you can be sure of, however, is that this case will not receive his attention the way that Penny O'Gara did. He won't be puttin' Roger's picture on the dias and swearing that it will stay there until 'justice is done.'
He says in today's article that he is looking forward to talking with Johanna Rodoni. I hope he means it.
Today's Eureka Reporter has answers of sorts - Charges may be filed in two high-profile cases
ReplyDelete“Because of the holiday and sick leave, we’re shy on people and are trying to get the essentials done now,” he said. “And certainly it’s very common for us to reach out and contact the victims ahead of charging, to make sure they get what they want out of the case.”
trying to get the essentials done. sure. how many cases has pvg personally charged? word is, he leaves the heavy thinking and work to keat. Keat is supposedly out sick. so what gets done is zilch. there is no reason pvg cant take a stack of charging (raw police reports needing to be read, sifted and assessed to decide whether to file criminal charges) except that takes time and a certain degree of legal knowledge.
ReplyDeleteand a work ethic.
It is pathetic that the DAs office has gotten multiple requests for warrants on a SoHum nurse and has been sitting on them for most of a year. Meanwhile that nurse continues to terrorize an entire neighborhood by waving guns at anyone who drives by.
ReplyDeleteWe think the DA does not bother to protect us because of our rural lifestyle. He does not care about homesteaders, and prefers surfing to doing his job.
Not that he's any good at doing his job anyway. The man can hardly write, and I'm wondering if he can even read. How many requests for warrants are languishing in his office, anyway?
Can you elaborate on this? There's an email link in the profile in the right hand sidebar if you'd rather not do it in the comments here.
ReplyDelete