And Keat is left to answer questions. Gundersen, probation, the 11 Battery convictions dropped, pending rape charges dropped.
☛ TS Gundersen given probation for firearms convictions
A Humboldt County Superior Court judge sentenced former Blue Lake Police Chief David Gundersen to four years probation Friday, for a pair of September convictions of illegally possessing a submachine gun and a pistol with a silencer.
Gundersen faced a maximum sentence of three years and eight months in prison for the convictions, but Judge Bruce Watson found that unusual circumstances surrounded the convictions which would normally carry a presumption of ineligibility for probation.
Watson also ruled in favor of a defense motion seeking to set aside 11 misdemeanor battery convictions, ruling that the convictions were time-barred by statutes of limitations.
Prior to Friday's sentencing hearing, Gundersen was arraigned on a felony charge of grand theft by a public official and pleaded not guilty. He is due back in court next week.
In addition: After an April preliminary hearing, Gundersen was also held to stand trial on allegations that he raped his then live-in girlfriend in 1999 and acted unlawfully with department records, but a judge ruled those charges would be tried separately.
In court Friday, the District Attorney's Office also announced it will not proceed with those charges.
”My instructions are that the people don't intend to proceed with those counts, so I request that they be dismissed in the interest of justice,” Assistant District Attorney Wes Keat told the court.
☛ TS Gundersen's arraignment continued
Former Blue Lake Police Chief David Gundersen's arraignment on a charge of felony grand theft was continued Wednesday to Dec. 10.
Gundersen, who stands accused of taking firearms out of Trinidad Police Department evidence and trading them, along with other guns, for a submachine gun and a silencer, pleaded not guilty to the charge at a court hearing last week.
Wednesday's arraignment was continued because the District Attorney's Office left the word “feloniously” off the criminal complaint it filed against Gundersen, which caused some confusion as to whether the theft was being charged as a felony or a misdemeanor.
Assistant District Attorney Wes Keat said that because the charge involves the theft of firearms, it can only be charged as a felony. The criminal complaint will be amended, Keat said, and the word “feloniously” will be included.
When Gundersen returns to court for his Dec. 10 arraignment, he will also tie up some loose ends from his previous case, which saw him convicted of illegally possessing both a submachine gun and a pistol with a silencer.
Last week, Superior Court Judge Bruce Watson sentenced Gundersen to four years probation for the charges, the terms and conditions of which will be set Dec. 10.
As to the new charges, Gundersen's attorney Russell Clanton said he has some concerns as to why the charges are only now surfacing more than six months after Gundersen's initial arrest -- concerns he said will be the subject of a motion in the near future.
UPDATE:
◼ Grand theft charge dismissed against former Blue Lake police chief
UPDATED:
◼ Former Blue Lake Police Chief David Gundersen has been cleared of all major charges first filed against him in 2008. - Arcata Eye MARCH 2012
****
So let me make sure I get this. Either he had a pre scheduled vacation that was on the books at the time set for sentencing, in which case he let the date stand without mentioning that he would not be there, or he later realized he was to be gone and did not move to reschedule, or he scheduled the vacation AFTER the date was picked so that he would not have to be there, esp. for the part where the other rape charges were dropped.
ReplyDeleteThese are the acts of a coward, plain and simple.
And don't give me any "medical emergency" nonsense. If there is an emergency, the court would have granted a continuance so THE DA WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS GOD AWFUL GOAT ROPE could have been there.
This is just beyond despicable. Why even bother having Keat show up-- Clanton could have appeared for both sides.
Another "win" for P.G. What A f'in joke this guy is.
ReplyDeleteGunny was his own worst enemy, but our system of justice relies on prosecutors and cops to do the right things. Paul blew this, as he has a long string of ill conceived and poorly executed prosecutions.
ReplyDeleteWhere the hell is your counter showing the days before this loser's term is up?
The counter is in the sidebar to your left....
ReplyDelete556 days, 7 hours 36 minutes and 30 seconds, 29 seconds, 28 seconds to the election that can get rid of him (though you then have to wait until January for him to actually leave.)
Just imagine how much more damage he can do.
What can one say? Wow! Holy Cow! Holy Shit! Another day in Humboldt County?
ReplyDeletePVG just keeps getting better.
I think Gunderson should go to jail just for having Clanton as an attorney.
How much money did Clanton make of this debacle? How much did Ms. Gags make representing the ex ?, who I'm sure will now get the result she wanted in family court on the custody issue.
Hello, T/S, what's the story on where PVG was, scheduling, etc? Hello? Hello? Anybody there?
ReplyDeleteAnybody think the public deserves to know what the hell he has to say for himself? While you're at it, how many days has he been gone from the office this year
and where is the effing CAST paperwork. Oh, by the way, He's designated himself the CAST prosecutor.
Which makes sense, he being such a successful sex crimes prosecutor and all.
Anybody missing the ER yet?
Good one 8:25 - still laughing!
ReplyDeleteHEY T-S GET OFF YOUR ASS AND REPORT ON THIS WILL YOU?
Did I read that right? PVG is now the guy responsible from the ground up for all child abuse prosecutions?
ReplyDeleteThis is the guy who FIRED Humboldt's most successful child abuse prosecutor, and ran off all the others. The guy who made YOUGOFREE the CAST prosecutor
(and if we ever get the CAST paperwork that should be public record, we will really see what a success that move was). The guy who could not win one single
sex count against Gunderson, then dropped what
he had left. The guy who threw Keat on the grenade
when the Fortuna guy skated on thousands of
offenses.
The guy who says molesters sometimes offend
"out of love".
Just when you think it could not possibly get any more "through the looking glass", he trumps himself.