watchpaul: Links to KESSER coverage

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Links to KESSER coverage

☛ ER Court rules in Dikeman's 1992 dismissal of jurors9/12/06
☛ ER Rollin, Kesser appear in court to handle retrial issues 4/30/2007
☛ ER Judge continues Kesser, Leahy murder retrial to early July 5/07/2007
☛ ER Judge denies bail to murder suspect 5/14/2007
☛ ER Murder retrial begins Monday 7/07/2007
☛ TS Retrial dredges up past for longtime Fortuna residents 7/16/2007
☛ ER District attorney says plea deal a possibility in murder retrial 8/14/2007
☛ TS Homicide retrial now looking to start Thursday 8/15/2007
☛ ER Jury reacts to settlement in first-degree murder retrial 8/16/2007
☛ TS Kesser cuts deal in murder case 8/16/2007
...accused of hiring a hitman to kill his estranged wife in 1991 reached a plea agreement with the District Attorney's Office Wednesday that could require him to testify against his former girlfriend.

Richard Craig Kesser's retrial was scheduled to begin this week.

Under the agreement, Kesser is required to make a full statement and answer any questions regarding the death of his estranged wife, Mary Kesser. He will also have to take a polygraph test and testify “truthfully” in any trial related to her death.

If Kesser completes all of the conditions, he will be convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to 15 years to life in prison. If he lies during questioning or commits perjury while testifying, Kesser will be convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to 25 years to life.

The District Attorney's Office also agreed to drop the special circumstance count of murder for monetary gain, a move which makes Kesser eligible for parole. As part of the deal, Kesser waives his right to appeal his conviction....

If Kesser refuses to testify, make statements or take the polygraph, the plea agreement is off the table.
”That would be in violation of the agreement,” said Superior Court Judge Dale Reinholtsen....
☛ ER Murder retrial an example of why writer left Humboldt County 8/19/2007
☛ TS
Trial date postponed pending release of prison records
8/21/2007
☛ TS Leahy murder retrial set nearly 16 years after sentencing 9/04/2008
☛ TS Attorneys discard Kesser's polygraph results 9/17/2008
A failed polygraph test taken by Richard Kesser, a Fortuna man accused in 1991 of hiring a hit man to murder his estranged wife, was thrown out of evidence Tuesday after attorneys in his case agreed to administer a new test.

The agreement was another step in a prolonged plea deal, arranged in 2007, requiring Kesser to make a full polygraphed statement regarding the deal struck with his former girlfriend and a hit man to kill his former wife, Mary Kesser.

Under the plea agreement, if Kesser truthfully answered the questions posed in the polygraph test, and testified in any trial related to Mary Kesser's death, he was to be convicted of second-degree murder, rather than first-degree murder.

However, court documents show Kesser showed deception on a number of answers given during the test.

Attorneys had agreed if Kesser failed to answer the questions truthfully, he would be convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to 25 years to life....

Prosecution and defense attorneys agreed Tuesday to find a new polygraph technician to readminister the test. Kesser is expected to return to court Sept. 25.
Richard Craig Kesser, Petitioner-Appellant, v. Steven J. Cambra, Jr., Warden, Respondent-Appellee., 392 F.3d 327 (9th Cir. 2004)
Federal Circuits, 9th Cir. (December 16, 2004)
Docket number: 02-15475
Permanent Link: http://vlex.com/vid/18465828
Id. vLex: VLEX-18465828
http://www.riodelltimes.com/Court/

Argued and Submitted December 13, 2005--Portland, Oregon Filed September 11, 2006
Filed October 14, 2005
☛ TS Humboldt County jail inmate attempts suicide breaking news 12/2/08
☛ TS Kesser attempts suicide at Humboldt County jail 12/3/08
☛ TS Kesser has died

Richard Craig Kesser, an inmate who reportedly hanged himself in his cell at the Humboldt County jail early Tuesday morning, has died, the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office reported.
Kesser, 47, was in critical condition after the suicide attempt, and was placed on a life support system at St. Joseph Hospital. According to HCSO information, Kesser died shortly after 11 p.m.
He had been incarcerated since 1992, when he was found guilty of first-degree murder for soliciting the killing of his estranged wife in 1991.
An autopsy will be conducted by a forensic pathologist later this week, the Sheriff's Office reported.

☛ TS Man convicted of wife's murder dies after hanging himself

THE SIDE STORY - Gallegos' conflict in this case:

☛ ER Two protestors call Dikeman a "racist"; he disagrees 5/20/06
☛ ER Second news release countering racism allegations issued 5/22/06
☛ ER Mrs. Kesser speaks. Elections should focus on the good record of candidate 5/27/06
☛ ER Dikeman is a man of integrity and professionalism 6/4/06
☛ ER Court rules in Dikeman's 1992 dismissal of jurors9/12/06
Of special note: More than monetary contributions - Ellie Bowman was one of the two "protestors" - Worth Dikeman successfully prosecuted Ellie Bowman's son, Jeff Bowman, for murder. Bowman went to prison for 25 years to life for the murder of a Trinidad Rancheria Tribe Member named Julius Aubrey.

But Ellie Bowman was not only the mother of a murderer convicted by Worth Dikeman, she also had another son facing charges... on July 19th. less than six weeks after Gallegos was re-elected and one week after the court ruling in the Kesser case, the "DA’s Office gathered nine felonies and a handful of misdemeanors pending against Derek (Bowman), and dismissed or suspended sentence on all of them in a single day....

In all, the Bowmans, the tribe and an attorney employed by the casino contributed $11,100 to Gallegos’ campaign coffers, just under 10 percent of the total of all funds raised by the incumbent during the campaign, according to FPPC filings.

In addition to the $10,000 contribution in the name of the Rancheria, Leonard and his wife personally contributed $100, the FPPC documents show...."

Gallegos, of course, denies it all - as you will see in the stories linked below.
Related coverage:
☛ TS ER - Bear River members seek chairperson's recall
☛ ER ER - Gallegos sidesteps questions about possible conflict of interest in Bowman charges
☛ ER ER - Questions without answers hinder our newsgathering
☛ ER ER - Bowman story not accurate
☛ ER ER - Contribution made because Gallegos was the better of the two
☛ ER ER - Questions remain in DA's handling of Bowman charges
☛ ER ER - Bear River official discusses financial contributions from tribe
☛ ER ER - Tribe's contribution to DA's campaign was made by the Tribal Council, not Bowman
☛ ER ER - Gallegos is 'public servant,' not Legal Spiegel
☛ ER ER - It's telling that Gallegos witch hunt didn't start until firing of Dikeman
☛ ER ER - Writer appreciates editor's note that identifies writers
☛ ER ER - Residents deserve answers to questions asked of DA's Office
☛ ER ER - Bitter? You bet!
☛ TS TS - Donations not improper, says Bear River Band
☛ TS TS - DA's office: State OK'd handling of plea deal

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Paul Gallegos

The Humboldt County Grand Jury found that "Weak leadership and poor managerial practices" have undermined the office... Implicit in all evidence gathered by the Grand Jury - including interviews with the D.A. (Paul Gallegos) - is the unfortunate truth that the D.A. (Paul Gallegos) exhibits a limited understanding of how things are done in the department" Gallegos "lacks the global perspective needed to keep the department operating efficiently," and quotes an unnamed staff member as saying, "The D.A. (Paul Gallegos) does not fully understand the functionality of many of the things we do here" - Years later, in his own words: "I’m not an administrator, they didn’t elect me to be an administrator, they elected me to make sure this office runs..."

Douglas & Zanotti

CASE TOSSED The district attorney misrepresented the law and failed to provide evidence of former Eureka Police Chief David Douglas' and Lt. Tony Zanotti's innocence during a criminal grand jury inquiry into the 2006 shooting death of Cheri Lyn Moore, defense attorneys argued in court documents filed Thursday... ”Our judicial system stands as a real and necessary check on the grand jury indictment process,” one of the documents states. “This court has the authority and the means by which to halt this prosecution, which is justified neither by the undisputed facts, nor by the law.”

Gallegos has taken what was "arguably the state's best small DA's office, with a cutting edge CAST program that "trained the trainers"... into a bunch of time serving bureaucratic wannabee brown nosers, lightly sprinkled with a couple of earnest learners who are sure to split as soon as possible.

One weeps for Max Cardoza who won Angellel, and for Maggie Fleming who won so many impossible victories. Mired in Humboldt for personal reasons, they have to suffer the ignominy of working for Paul, with Yougo, yes, yougo who has freed more people as a prosecutor than he did as a defense attorney. As has Paul. Anonymous comment

Gallegos has answers for everything. I’ve never met anyone whose answers came so quickly, with such polish - except about his law school(s). He likely sounded the same way when promising to get prosecutors off their anachronistic “at will” status and onto civil service status. It never happened. Indeed, he told them, “Disloyalty will not be tolerated” – a real morale builder.

He sounds great. What progressive doesn’t want to believe in him? But it’s a myth. He’s an intellectual lightweight and self-aggrandizer who tries to please everybody with glib answers. Jim Fahey for The Arcata Eye

The Humboldt County DA's office is one of the most exciting prosecutorial
offices in California.

Its District Attorney, Paul Gallegos, is willing to charge anyone who commits
wrongdoing--no matter how wealthy, sacrosanct, or ruthless. He believes in total equality before the law. He also plans to be innovative in promoting programs of prevention and treatment. He wants to make it the best prosecutorial office of its size in the nation.... Gallegos' Help Wanted ad

Gallegos' OWN Quotes

★ ...District Attorney Paul Gallegos said he believes the statute of limitations clock, even on misdemeanors, doesn't start running until law enforcement knows or reasonably should have known of the offense. In this case, Gallegos said, that means the statute of limitations would not run out at least until Feb. 8, 2009, or one year after Gundersen's arrest and the discovery of the photographs in question...

★ "...some people actually molest out of different feelings, some times out of feelings of love....” DA Gallegos explaining why Child Abuse prosecutions were down

★ “I never said that the information was not available under the Freedom of Information Act. Quite the contrary, I informed you that our use of force policy is not a public record.” Paul Gallegos to the Times Standard 5/25/07

★ ...“One is that I do everything to make people happy which means I don’t stand for anything except for just something,” he said. “The other is I stand for something and I try to be a leader and take some people, a group of people, a community someplace and I say guess what folks, this is who I am. I stand for your beliefs. We share these beliefs or we don’t. You get the option to judge that. This is who I am and I am committed to leading us this place, wherever it is...." Eureka Reporter Gallegos defends record, looks ahead 7/3/2005

★ Note the difference between what he SAID, and what he DOES..."...So what are these issues? Top on Gallegos' list is the proliferation of "garbage cases," small-time crimes and overcharged cases that he said are clogging up the court system.

Garbage cases, said Gallegos, come in two forms: Cases that would lose if actually brought to trial and cases that are overcharged for the crimes committed. The idea behind filing both kinds of garbage, he said, is to get the defendant to plead guilty, netting a conviction without having to go into court.

Again, the IRONY is astounding! Look at what he SAYS, and then think about what he DOES! "Probably 95 percent of the cases that are filed plead guilty. In fact, there are a lot of cases that are filed on the assumption they will plead guilty, because of the time and expense involved in defending them. But these cases shouldn't even be filed in the first place, because if they were challenged, they would lose," Gallegos said. Better yet: If they weren't filed at all, it would save the county time and money...." North Coast Journal 2/21/02 Too bad he didn't take his own advice.

★ “Tim’s a stud,” he said. “He really is; anyone would be stoked to have him.” Gallegos on his second in command right hand man Assistant District Attorney Tim Stoen. (Former second in command right hand man to Jim Jones/People's Temple.)

NOTE:

"Helping Crush Progressivism" - ie: exposing the predatory litigious orgs and those who seek power for power's sake.... The original purpose of watchpaul is to post important documents relating to Humboldt County District Attorney Paul Gallegos and his handlers who seek to gain power through the acquisition of political offices. This includes, but is not limited to, the manipulations of "Humboldt Watershed Council," "EPIC," "Baykeeper," and other activist groups - the unregulated orgs. It also includes the master manipulators, such as Richard Salzman and Ken Miller.

Links to key stories and documents are also included in the sidebar, so that you do not have to try to scroll back through what has become a lengthy series of posts. I encourage you to use the Search and Labels features as well.

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Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Links to KESSER coverage

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