Paul Gallegos lost another senior prosecutor. Reporter can't imagine why.

◼ Deputy DA resigns abruptly; unclear why prosecutor walked away on eve of murder trial - Thadeus Greenson/Times-Standard

Humboldt County Deputy District Attorney Ben McLaughlin abruptly resigned Wednesday on the eve of a murder trial he was slated to prosecute.

The reasons for McLaughlin's resignation remain unclear, but District Attorney Paul Gallegos confirmed that he was informed of McLaughlin's decision Wednesday night.

”He's a good prosecutor -- we'll miss him,” Gallegos said, declining to discuss any details of the resignation but saying he will step in to personally handle the prosecution of Joseph Eugene Miller. McLaughlin began the process of selecting a jury in the case on Monday.

McLaughlin has been trying violent felonies and other cases for the district attorney's office for more than four years and had become one of the office's senior prosecutors. Reached by email Thursday, McLaughlin declined to discuss the specific reasons for his resignation.

”I love the District Attorney's Office and the work it does,” McLaughlin said in the email. “I will truly miss working with law enforcement. They do a thankless job.”

Well thought of around the courthouse, McLaughlin was the prosecutor assigned to Humboldt County Drug Task Force cases and handled a variety of high-profile violent crimes.... Read The Rest.
__________________
OK, Thadeus. Unclear. Really?

◼ Add Ben McLaughlin to the list: Brain Drain - wp

The only question people are asking is - what took Ben so long?

Wortman gets six years in prison for son's death; leaves plea in place in methamphetamine breast milk case

◼ Mom gets six years in prison for son's death; Wortman leaves plea in place in methamphetamine breast milk case - Times-Standard

A 27-year-old Loleta woman was sentenced to six years in state prison on Monday after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter stemming from the death of her infant son.

The conviction -- which was in doubt up until Maggie Jean Wortman agreed to leave her guilty plea in place on Monday -- is the state's first for voluntary manslaughter in a case where a woman stood accused of passing a lethal dose of methamphetamine to her child through breast milk while nursing.

Wortman's attorney M.C. Bruce pleaded with Humboldt County Superior Court Judge Bruce Watson to be lenient with his client, saying a grant of probation would be appropriate in the case as Wortman is a sober woman who bears little resemblance to the methamphetamine addict taken into custody.

Watson said he felt the matter warranted a prison commitment, saying it could be argued that the maximum 11-year sentence would be more appropriate, primarily because of the vulnerability of the victim in the case....

Wortman pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in February, but did so under the impression she was eligible to receive a grant of probation in the case. Under the California Penal Code, however, Wortman is statutorily ineligible for probation in the case because she committed the manslaughter offense -- which classifies as a violent felony -- while already on felony probation stemming from a May 2010 conviction for maintaining a drug house.

...”I'm asking the court not to punish her because of her addictions,” Bruce said, adding that Wortman has already suffered enough. “This lady has suffered the death of her child -- that's the most horrible thing any of us could ever suffer. No matter what this court does, that is something that is never going to go away for Maggie.”

Bruce went on to argue that a prison sentence would destroy the progress Wortman has made in the more than one year she has been in jail, during which she has been clean, taken classes and undergone psychiatric counseling.

”If this court sends her to prison for six years, we're going to lose her,” Bruce said. “We all know the prisons are full of drugs, and that's a long time to sit with nothing to do. ... If we sentence her to prison for six years, we're throwing her away.”

Prosecuting Deputy District Attorney Ben McLaughlin said no one is disputing that Wortman has suffered in the wake of her son's death. But, McLaughlin said, he doesn't see Wortman's case as being any different than that of the alcoholic who gets behind the wheel of a car and causes a fatal collision.

”We're not punishing the addict,” McLaughlin told the court. “What we're doing here, your honor, is punishing the conduct.”...

Vindication: "Audit of DA's office seeks to untangle years of grant mismanagement"

Get this week's McKinleyville Press and Arcata Eye.

You do realize how far back this goes.

◼ $150K Audit Probes Years Of Grant Bungling By DA’s Office - Daniel Mintz for The Arcata Eye

A consulting firm specializing in grant regulation compliance is reviewing management of grant funds in the District Attorney’s Office and its work has expanded to include what a county staff report describes as “all prior year grants and revenue sources.”...

Ex-BLPD Chief Gundersen Cleared Of All Felonies

◼ Former Blue Lake Police Chief David Gundersen has been cleared of all major charges first filed against him in 2008. - Arcata Eye

Gundersen was originally charged with eight felonies, including spousal rape, witness tampering, possession of a machine gun and a silencer. He was also charged with three misdemeanors, including violation of a court order, possession of a controlled substance and unauthorized disclosure of information.

The rape charge and two of the misdemeanors were dismissed. After a jury trial in September, 2008, Gundersen was found guilty of the submachine gun and silencer possession felonies, plus a misdemeanor charge of violating a court order....

On Thursday, March 15, a state appeals court overturned the two felony convictions. Gundersen had contended that Humboldt County Superior Court Judge Marilyn Miles failed to adequately instruct the jury about exemptions in state law that allow regular, salaried, full-time police officers to possess machine guns and silencers. He claimed that his possession the Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine gun and silencer were within the scope of his duties.

Through his attorney, Russell Clanton of Arcata, Gundersen argued that the prosecution was required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the exemptions did not apply. He contended that had the trial court told the jury that the prosecution was required to prove unlawful possession of the weapons, it would have understood the applicable exceptions.

The appeals court’s decision cites case law which requires that juries must be properly instructed regarding burden of proof, and that the trial court didn’t indicate which party – prosecution or defense – was required to prove whether the exemptions were applicable or what the standard of proof was.

◼ Gundersen's felonies reversed; appeals court finds court improperly instructed 2008 jury - Thadeus Greenson/The Times-Standard

A California appellate court has reversed a pair of 2008 felony firearms convictions against David Gundersen, leaving the possibility that the former Blue Lake Police chief will face another trial.

The California First Appellate District court ruled Thursday that the trial court inadequately instructed Gundersen's jury on the prosecution's burden of proof necessary to convict the defendant on charges that he illegally possessed a submachine gun and a pistol with a silencer.

”This is one of those few cases where justice delayed is not justice denied,” said Gundersen's attorney Russell Clanton. “I always felt he was innocent of those counts.”
On Sept. 24, 2008 -- after a two-month trial in which Gundersen faced more than two dozen criminal counts -- a jury convicted him of 14 charges. Of those, only a misdemeanor conviction of violating a court order stands today.

Humboldt County District Attorney Paul Gallegos said he's still waiting to hear from the state Attorney General's Office as to whether it intends to petition the California Supreme Court to review Thursday's ruling. If the Attorney General's Office declines to file the petition, Gallegos said he would strongly consider re-filing the firearms charges against Gundersen.

”The evidence remains what it was, and I don't believe we will have any problem trying the case again,” Gallegos wrote in an email to the Times-Standard.

Do you get the feeling the Feds are here to do the job Gallegos won't do?

◼ Wilde to make first federal court appearance; records indicate defendant was under financial pressure at time of shooting - TS

For the first time in recent memory, the U.S. government is taking on the prosecution of a Humboldt County murder case.

Mikal Xylon Wilde is scheduled to make his initial federal court appearance today -- three days after charges were officially dismissed against him in Humboldt County Superior Court. Wilde remains held in the Humboldt County jail on a federal detainer, more than a year and a half after he allegedly shot and killed Mario Roberto Juarez-Madrid at the scene of a Kneeland marijuana grow.

When the U.S. Attorney's Office unsealed a six-count indictment against Wilde last week -- charging him with murder, drug and weapons violations -- it represented the first time in decades that the federal government has taken over the prosecution of a local murder case, according to numerous officials in the Humboldt County District Attorney's Office and local law enforcement agencies.

The situation might, however, occur more often under the direction of Northern California U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag, who is in her first term after being appointed to the office by President Barack Obama in August 2010, according to Humboldt County District Attorney Paul Gallegos.

”We have a new U.S. attorney, and she's being a good partner, and I appreciate that,” Gallegos said. “I think people are going to see more federal intervention here. I'm hoping that this sends a message that the federal government is committed.”

”So with this I am suspending all efforts to do anything with the continued assault on the courthouse, the employees and the general public due to the immunity given to them by your office”

◼ Law enforcement officials frustrated with Occupy signs; difference of opinion creates tension with DA's Office

...Humboldt County Sheriff Mike Downey said he encountered a situation Wednesday where he told an occupier to take down a sign and they refused, stating they didn't have to.

”I was immediately met with, 'Well, that's not what the DA told us,'” Downey said.

He said he was informed by occupiers that the district attorney had said he wouldn't prosecute people for hanging signs on the fence....

Interim Eureka Police Chief Murl Harpham said his officers have indeed been hands-off on the signage issue because of the general message he's received from the DA's Office during the past few weeks. He said there were some issues surrounding the Penal Code section cited on county signs.

”I got a call from Paul, and he told me that he looked at the section and didn't think it was a good section,” Harpham said....

In a Feb. 13 email obtained Thursday by the Times-Standard, Harpham told county officials -- including Downey -- that EPD officers will no longer be enforcing Penal Code section 602f per the DA's suggestion....

In a March 8 email obtained by the Times-Standard, Downey told Humboldt County District Attorney Paul Gallegos what he'd heard from Harpham and occupiers and his subsequent course of action.

”So with this I am suspending all efforts to do anything with the continued assault on the courthouse, the employees and the general public due to the immunity given to them by your office,” Downey wrote...

”I'm not saying it's OK; it's just not a crime,” Gallegos said about the signs. “There's a lot of things out there that aren't OK, but aren't criminal.”

Gallegos said the focus needs to be on the criminal conduct that takes place -- such as smoking marijuana on the courthouse steps and disruptive behavior -- instead of the signs. He said he knows law enforcement officials are frustrated at having to utilize their resources at the courthouse.

”Everyone's over-burdened,” Gallegos said. “What we all would rather do is prosecute bad guys, dangerous people.”

Downey's email to Gallegos states things at the courthouse “will only intensify and get worse” if Gallegos chooses not to prosecute signage cases....

”The public generally is no longer in support of what's going on,” Downey said. “The public needs to give direction to the Board of Supervisors.”

***

Sentencing postponed in meth breast milk case; defendant may have been misinformed by her attorney, the court

◼ Sentencing postponed in meth breast milk case; defendant may have been misinformed by her attorney, the court - TS

The sentencing of a Loleta woman for voluntary manslaughter stemming from the death of her infant son was postponed for two weeks in order to give her time to decide whether she wants to vacate her plea.

Maggie Jean Wortman, 27, stands accused of killing her 6-week-old son, Michael Phillip Acosta III, by passing him a lethal dose of methamphetamine through her breast milk while nursing. She pleaded guilty to the manslaughter charge last month. However, Wortman entered into the plea agreement under the impression she could be sentenced to probation in the case -- a sentence for which it appears she is statutorily ineligible.

On Monday, Humboldt County Superior Court Judge Bruce Watson granted a defense motion seeking to postpone Wortman's sentencing hearing by two weeks, allowing Wortman and her attorney M.C. Bruce to determine whether she is probation eligible and, if not, whether she wants to retract her guilty plea.

Bruce said that in its pre-sentencing report in the case, the Humboldt County Probation Department advised that Wortman faces a mandatory prison sentence. Bruce disagrees, but he doesn't dispute the issue is in question under the California Penal Code Section 1203(k), which states that defendants are ineligible for probation in a case where they are convicted of committing a violent felony while already on felony probation.

When she was accused of inadvertently killing her son by nursing him after smoking methamphetamine in November 2010,

Wortman was on felony probation from a May 2010 conviction for maintaining a drug house. Voluntary manslaughter is considered a “violent felony” under section 667.5 of the penal code, which would seem to indicate Wortman is ineligible for probation and leaves her facing a mandatory term ranging from three years and eight months to 11 years and eight months in prison.

Bruce doesn't dispute that reading of the law but maintains his client is eligible for probation.

Save The Barred Owl - FROM the Feds and Orgs.

◼ The Barred Owl is under heavy attack from it’s most dangerous predator–the Federal Government.

Sign the petition!

First it's Barred Owls, next it will be crows and ravens! House finches and starlings...

But - But - But - the high priests could not POSSIBLY have been dishonest

◼ Shock, disbelief follow arrests: Biology community has trouble digesting embezzlement allegations

They SAID all the politically correct things - and conducted the church's business so faithfully, and the grant money rolled in, didn't it? They were good at that.

When does it change? When you start doing something for the right reasons (presumably), when does it shift? What was the mindset here? Is there a reasonable explanation?

Predatory litigious orgs. Prop 13. School buses. $12.9 MILLION

Leaving aside madman "yougofree.com" Schwartz's attack on Prop 13 (don't you have to have some brains to have gotten a law degree?). He blames Prop. 13 for cuts to school budgets. What a tool.

And, leaving aside the poor school kids who don't get to be bused to school (except now they do, even if it means firing 5 teachers, or losing your band program)...

Define Pro Bono.

It means Done without compensation for the public good. Laudable, no?

Except, predatory litigious orgs don't do anything without compensation, do they? Not really.

◼ Assembly approves EPIC's $5.5 million settlement; bill sent to governor's office for approval

A senate bill approving two payments totaling $5.5 million is awaiting the governor's approval to settle attorneys' costs stemming from lawsuits filed against the state by the Environmental Protection Information Center.

SB 730 appropriates $12.9 million from the State Parks and Recreation fund and the general fund to the Department of Justice to pay five settlements, including EPIC's. The bill is supported by both the DOJ and the Department of Finance.

That's money that could have been used to pay for teachers and buses.

And for what? The California Supreme Court ruled in July 2008 that the California Department of Forestry approved an inadequate 50-year timber management plan as part of the 1999 Headwaters Forest agreement.

"An inadequate 50-year timber management plan."

$5.5 million for EPIC. $12.9 million altogether.

State Sen. Doug LaMalfa, a Butte County resident whose district includes Del Norte and Trinity counties, said the bill is a way to reward plaintiffs for “frivolous lawsuits.”

”It just elicits more and more lawsuits because they know there's going to be a reward; there's no downside if they're out of line,” he said, adding that EPIC's actions to stop timber harvests “put Americans out of work.”

Not just that.

California is supposedly running out of cash in about a week - in March. Maybe you can give these new age con men an I.O.U.

But next time you go protest - REMEMBER - your worthless culls in the legislature passed SB 730 to give away $12.9 million to people who were supposedly working pro bono "for the public good."

Arrest made in embezzlement case with $1 million warrants

◼ Del Norte County District Attorney Jon Alexander said they're also searching for alleged co-conspirator Ron LeValley, a senior biologist with the Eureka-based Mad River Biologists company. He also has a $1 million arrest warrant for burglary, embezzlement and conspiracy to commit a crime. - Times-Standard

...Alexander said Mad River Biologists' employee Sean McAllister was arrested this afternoon at the biology office on Second Street in Eureka. He was wanted on the same alleged crimes as both LeValley and Raymond.

Alexander said the alleged embezzlements are related to spotted owl research by the biology company and other incidents, including charging the tribe for the cost of putting tires on a personal vehicle.
Field said the investigation into this case started in October when the Yurok Tribe came to them with information. He said the Del Norte County District Attorney's Office has had the full cooperation of the Yurok Tribe during the investigation....

◼ Del Norte DA investigating former Yurok Tribe employee suspected of embezzlement - Times-Standard

The Del Norte County District Attorney's Office plans to arrest several people for an alleged embezzlement case connected to the Yurok Tribe.

According to Yurok Tribe officials, the office is looking for multiple people. Sources close to the investigation said there is a $1 million warrant out for the arrest of a former Yurok tribal employee who is suspected of embezzling from the tribe....

The Del Norte County District Attorney's Office will be prosecuting the case. Field said the office has been aided by the Humboldt County District Attorney's Office, Yurok Tribal Police, Eureka Police Department and the Bureau of Automotive Repair.

The story is developing.

Supreme Court blocks Montana court ruling to restrict outside campaign spending

◼ When a Montana court ruled in December that the state’s longstanding restrictions on outside campaign spending should be allowed to stand, it was clear that the Supreme Court would have to address the issue. - HotAir

That Montana ruling, after all, stood in contradiction to the SCOTUS’ landmark decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which gave corporations greater freedom to spend their own money in federal elections. Today, the Supremes said the Montana ruling cannot be enforced until the highest court in the country has a chance to weigh in.

OOOOOOOps

◼ Fighters Intercept Pot-Carrying Cessna in Air Force One airspace

Steele convicted of second-degree murder; victim's sister says, 'Justice is finally served'

◼ Steele convicted of second-degree murder; victim's sister says, 'Justice is finally served'

Or - Gallegos assigned himself another slam-dunk.

On Tuesday, after deliberating for a little more than two days, the jury of seven women and five men convicted Steele of second-degree murder, finding that he acted with malice when he shot George but that the killing wasn't a premeditated act -- a distinction that would have elevated the crime to murder in the first degree.

As courtroom clerk Kristy Silva read the jury's verdict, Steele appeared to crumple upon hearing the word “guilty,” placing his head in his hands and slumping over in his chair. He wept as Silva read the rest of the verdict and asked each juror if the verdict, as read, reflected their vote.

After the verdict was read, members of George's family left the courtroom with tears in their eyes as Steele's family looked on in stunned silence. Steele was then led from the courtroom in handcuffs.

In addition to convicting Steele of second-degree murder, the jury found a number of special allegations to be true -- that Steele personally used a firearm in the murder and that he intentionally discharged it, causing great bodily injury and death to George

-- and convicted him of making criminal threats.

So he (Steele) shoots his friend in the head for saying that he knew other people his (Steele's) age who had a Mercedes. And that's second degree. OK.

Steele faces a sentence of between 73 years and eight months in prison to life in prison.

After the hearing, George's sister, Stella Cornely-George, of Eureka, said she was pleased with the verdict and credited Humboldt County District Attorney Paul Gallegos with doing a “great job” trying the case.

”Justice is finally done,” she said. “Justice is finally served.”

earthquake

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