watchpaul: Belles

Showing posts with label Belles. Show all posts

Saturday, August 22, 2009

One man Jason Leon Belles sentenced for Cutten man's death, other Jonathan Henry Watson contests his plea

◼ One man sentenced for Cutten man's death, other contests his plea
...Jason Leon Belles, 31, and Jonathan Henry Watson, 30, were scheduled to be sentenced after each pleaded no contest to charges related to the death of Benson during a home invasion robbery on Dec. 3, 2008....

Watson initially accepted a plea deal Aug. 11 from Deputy District Attorney Max Cardoza for first-degree murder with a firearm enhancement and an agreed-upon prison term of 50 years to life. On Friday, he contested his previous plea.

Sunday, August 02, 2009

Jonathan Henry Watson trial to begin

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Plea Deal in murder case

◼ One suspect in 2008 Cutten killing takes plea deal

One of two defendants accused of participating in a December 2008 home invasion robbery that left a Cutten man dead pleaded no contest Tuesday to voluntary manslaughter and related drug charges.

Jury selection for the trial of Jason Leon Belles, 31, and Jonathan Henry Watson, 30, was set to begin Monday but Belles pleaded Tuesday to reduced charges. He will be sentenced Aug. 21. The stipulated term of the plea deal was seven years and eight months in prison, according to court documents.

Belles' attorney William Bragg said that although they felt Belles had a good defense for the jury trial, Belles did not want to risk a life sentence.

”My client evaluated the risk involved in the case of taking it to trial and was not willing to risk the rest of his life on that,” Bragg said. “I could not guarantee my client that I could win the case. No attorney can.”

With good behavior, Belles may only have to serve 85 percent of his proposed sentence, or about six-and-a-half years, minus time already served, Bragg said.

Belles accepted the plea deal from Deputy District Attorney Max Cardoza that reduced a murder charge to voluntary manslaughter; a first-degree burglary charge to transporting more than an ounce of marijuana; and a first-degree attempted robbery charge to possessing marijuana for sale, according to court documents. A second attempted robbery charge was dismissed.....

Watson's jury trial is now scheduled to begin Aug. 5 with jury selection beginning Aug. 3, according to court documents. He is charged with murder, first-degree robbery, first-degree burglary and being a felon in possession of a firearm.

The name of the victim, not mentioned in the article, was ◼ 27-year-old Garrett Ryan Benson Belles had been initially held on suspicion of murder, robbery of an inhabited dwelling and conspiracy.

Saturday, February 07, 2009

Watson, Belles plead not guilty, trial set for March 30

☛TS Watson, Belles plead not guilty
Two men arrested in December for their alleged connection to a drug-related home invasion robbery and homicide in Cutten pleaded not guilty at their arraignment Thursday.

Both Jonathan Henry Watson, 30, and Jason Leon Belles, 31, have been charged with murder, burglary, and robbery. Watson faces additional charges related to being a felon allegedly in possession of firearms and ammunition.

The charges were filed after 27-year-old Garrett Ryan Benson was shot and killed inside his home in Cutten on Dec. 3.

The two suspects will return to court for their pretrial, scheduled Feb. 10. Their jury trial has been set for March 30.

Only fair that Gallegos try this one himself. He who hath encouraged the pot trade....

Friday, December 12, 2008

Arrest(s) made in Cutten killing

◼ BELLES, JASON LEON

◼ WATSON, JONATHAN HENRY
☛ TS Suspects in Cutten killing arrested in Shasta County 12/13/08
☛ TS Arrest made in Cutten killing

Humboldt County Sheriff's Office detectives, with assistance from a multi-agency task force, arrested a man in Shasta County on Thursday night in relation to the Dec. 3 killing of Garrett Benson.

☛ TS Second man arrested for Cutten killing

A second man has been arrested today in connection to the murder of 27-year-old Garrett Ryan Benson in his Cutten home.
The Humboldt County Sheriff's Office reported that at 1:45 p.m., detectives arrested Jason Leon Belles, 31, at his home in Redding. Officials said Belles been booked into the Shasta County Jail on charges that include murder, robbery of an inhabited dwelling and conspiracy....

...The Sheriff's Office has confirmed the Cutten robbery was drug related. According to Sheriff's Office information there was a “significant” amount of marijuana growing in the house as well as a large amount of processed marijuana.

Sheriff's Office investigators remain in the Redding area to complete the investigation, the agency reported.

Investigators are asking the public to contact authorities if they recall seeing either Watson or Belles in the Eureka area on Dec. 2nd or 3rd.

Watson has several tattoos on his wrists and hands. A distinctive tattoo on his neck features a 1950s style vintage microphone. He is believed to have been driving a new black Chevrolet pickup truck....

◼ Murder Arrest
At about 7:00 p.m. this evening (12/11/08) law enforcement personnel arrested Jonathan Henry Watson, 30, in Cottonwood, California. Humboldt County Detectives had been in Shasta County since Monday, working with Redding Police Investigators. Watson will be booked into the Shasta County Jail on charges that include one count of murder; he will be transported to Humboldt County within a week. Additional information will be released later this week.
◼ Second Arrest in Murder Case
This afternoon at about 1:45 Humboldt County Sheriff’s Detectives, personnel with the Redding Police Department, and the Redding Fugitive Task Force served a warrant that had been issued only one hour prior. At his residence in Redding, law enforcement personnel arrested Jason Leon Belles, 31. Belles will be booked into the Shasta County Jail on charges that in include murder, robbery of an inhabited dwelling, and conspiracy.

Jonathan Henry Watson, 30, was booked into the Shasta County Jail last night after his arrest in Cottonwood at about 7:00 p.m. His charges include murder, robbery of an inhabited dwelling, false imprisonment, and burglary. He is expected to be transported to Humboldt County within a week.

The Sheriff’s Office is confirming the Cutten robbery was drug related. Inside the victim’s home there were growing marijuana plants and a large amount of marijuana processed for sales.

Humboldt County Sheriff’s Detectives remain in the Redding area completing their investigation. The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office is releasing photos of Belles and Watson. Watson has multiple colored tattoos on his wrists and hands. He also has a distinctive tattoo on his neck/throat of a 1950’s style vintage microphone (not visible in picture). Watson is associated with a newer black Chevrolet pickup truck. If anyone recalls seeing Watson or Belles in the Eureka area on December 2nd or 3rd, they are encouraged to call Detective Cheryl Franco or Sgt. Wayne Hanson at (707) 445-7251.
◼ WATSON, JONATHAN HENRY
◼ BELLES, JASON LEON

Comment on the TS site: G was a good guy and a very kind stoner. Not very often would a person doing the scale G did, would show compassion to his friends and kick down free smoke from time to time.

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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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