The Court Reporter

Thank you!

Management and I have parted ways.

I resigned from the Star today.

I just want to thank all of you who read my blog.

I hope I did a good job.

God Bless,

Raul

Santa Ynez Valley resident Bernie Taupin and lyricist for Elton John was arrested on May 5, according to published reports.

California Highway Patrol spokesperson John Ortega, said Taupin, 63, was driving his 2010 Ford pickup truck eastbound on Roblar Avenue when he tried to turn into a private driveway. He failed to navigate the turn and backed up, but wound up colliding with a wooden fence. No one was hurt in the accident, according to reports.

In a press release, Genis stated: "Mr. Taupin's vehicle became disabled on the side of the road. There is no evidence nor any witness to establish who the driver was at the time, stated in a press release.

Genis stated that Tupin was summoning AAA when the first of five police cars, and an even greater number of actual officers arrived.  (Santa Barbara) Officers told the Taupins they would assist with the disabled vehicle.  Instead, they launched into a DUI investigation disregarding the fact that they did not know (or have an eye witness) as to who was driving the vehicle when it became stationary alongside the barbed wire fence, according to Genis.

Furthermore, Genis stated these events took place after sundown on a very dark, unlit road, and Mr. Taupin suffers from night vision problems as well as hearing loss.  Police may have misconstrued his hearing and night vision difficulties as signs of intoxication.

According to Genis, the incident has received unnecessary attention, and, in the upcoming weeks, Mr. Taupin and his family anticipate that his elected official (District Attorney Joyce Dudley) will exercise the good judgment she has learned over the years and months and uncover the truth of this matter: he was not DUI, and that he did not have a proscribed blood alcohol level at all.  No drugs were involved, and it will be established that any alcohol levels will be insignificant and below the legal limit.

Check out this article titled "When Recent Grads Go Solo" by Elise Craig from the Daily Journal Corporation and Published in this month's California Lawyer Magazine.

BOWLING GREEN, KY--A man was sentenced to 110 years in prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release for enticing and coercing two girls under 5 years of age to engage in sexually explicit conduct so he could make child pornography,  according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Tony Edwin Davis, 50, of Campbellsville, Kentucky, pleaded guilty on February 5, 2013, to a 15-count federal grand jury indictment that charged him with production and possession of child pornography.

The 14 incidents involving the victims happened between Dec. 18, 2009 and Nov. 28, 2010, authorities stated.

 "Today's sentence of 110 years in a federal prison without parole should send a stark message. We are committed to fighting child exploitation and to holding accountable those who would prey upon and harm young children," stated U.S. Attorney David Hale.

LOS ANGELES--  Within four days, U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized nearly half a pound of elephant meat and a dead primate at Los Angeles International Airport, federal officials said today.

Also seized were 387 snake, lizard and crocodile skin handbags taken from passengers arriving from Nigeria at the airport, officials stated.

On May 10, the prohibited, dead (Macaque) primate that was declared as a gift from Indonesia and addressed to North Port, Florida was seized, according to authorities.

On May 9, the elephant meat, an endangered Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species or CITES protected wildlife species from Thailand and destined to Fresno, California was seized.

On May 6, authorities stated that the declared purses, made of prohibited reptile and CITES protected animal skins including 98 of African rock pythons, 19 of monitor lizards, 85 of dwarf crocodiles as well as 179 of cobras and 6 of puff adder snakes, were found during a baggage inspection of a 31-year-old male passenger.

All seized items were turned over to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

For more information on Endangered Species:

  http://www.cites.org/eng/disc/what.php.

The state of Texas seems to have an express lane for prison inmates who are on death row.

The state puts information through the Texas Department of Corrections' web site about inmates its executed. There are 498 names listed since 1982.

http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/dr_executed_offenders.html

The web site also has other death row information including scheduled executions and women on death row.

http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/index.html

I recall that Texas also had information on the web site about last-meal requests by death row inmates.

But the state did away with special last-meal requests in September 2011 after condemned prisoner Lawrence Russell Brewer requested a huge last meal and did not eat any of it, saying that he wasn't hungry, according to published reports.

The 44-year-old Brewer ordered two chicken-fried steaks with gravy and sliced onions, a triple-patty bacon cheeseburger, a cheese omelet with ground beef, tomatoes, onions, bell peppers and jalapenos.

Also a bowl of fried okra with ketchup; one pound of barbecued meat with half a loaf of white bread; three fajitas, a meat-lover's pizza (topped with pepperoni, ham, beef, bacon and sausage); one pint of Blue Bell Ice Cream; a slab of peanut-butter fudge with crushed peanuts and three root beers, according to published reports.

The tradition of customized meals began in Texas in 1924.

Brewer wasn't hungry and apparently didn't have much to say minutes before he was executed, according to state officials.

"No, I have no final statement," Brewer told the warden.

Brewer, a racist, was convicted in the murder of a 49-year-old handicapped black man in Jasper County.  Brewer and two other racist co-defendants tortured the victim before he was killed.

ATLANTA--A federal grand jury indictment issued last week charges State Representative Tyrone Brooks, Sr. of misappropriating almost $1 million in charitable funds from Universal Humanities, a charity he founded in 1990, and the Georgia Association of Black Elected Officials, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office

 "Mr. Brooks exploited two charitable organizations for his own personal financial gain which came at the expense of the intended beneficiaries of the charitable donations. IRS Criminal Investigation is committed to investigating individuals who use charitable organizations for their personal gain," said Veronica Hyman-Pillot, Special Agent in Charge, IRS Criminal Investigation. "Mr. Brooks defrauded not only the donors but also the American taxpayer by evading his tax obligations. Tax compliance should and must be equally shared among all Americans."

Federal Officials said Brooks, 67, of Atlanta, Georgia, was charged by a federal grand jury in a 30-count indictment that includes charges of mail, wire, and tax fraud.

The indictment charges that, from the mid-1990s through 2012, Brooks solicited contributions from individuals and corporate donors to combat illiteracy and fund other charitable causes, but then used the money to pay personal expenses for himself and his family.

Recommended Viewing:

The documentary, Café Chavalos, is about poor street kids who are involved  with gangs and drugs and how a restaurant in Granada, Nicaragua changes their lives.

It is a story about hope.

The round table discussion Tuesday at Ventura College of Law about why people are wrongfully convicted and what can be done about it was interesting.

The panel consisted of Justin Brooks, director of the California Innocence Project in San Diego and a law professor at the California Western School of Law; Michael Schwartz, a Ventura County special assistant district attorney; Mike Bowers, a Ventura dentist, Innocence Project member and bite mark expert; and Supriya Bhat, a lawyer with the Ventura County Public Defender's Office.

The discussion was an hour and a half long and The Star published the story Thursday.

For the next few days, I am going to publish more in my blog about the comments, exchanges of Mr. Schwartz, Ms. Bhat, Mr. Bowers and Mr. Brooks that weren't published in the newspaper.

This the second blog entry on the round table discussion:

Schwartz told the audience that prosecutors must keep an open mind that people who are innocent can be convicted.

"It would be naïve to say that an innocent person could not be convicted.  Our job is to do the right thing. Get the right person. That is what we are trying to do."

Brooks said it is easier to deal with people like Schwartz who is the deputy of the District Attorney's Conviction Integrity Unit that reviews claims of wrongful convictions than individual prosecutors.

The Conviction Integrity Unit was set up voluntarily by the district attorney in October and is one of a very few of these DA units throughout the state.

Brooks said lawyers have big egos, including prosecutors and defense attorneys, who don't want to think about the possibility that a wrongful conviction might have occurred.

"I have the same problem on the defense side. When you say to a defense attorney you screwed up. You got it wrong. It's just as difficult when you go to prosecutors, and say, 'you got it wrong.'"

"And I've sat in these uncomfortable meetings when I am with the county district attorney and she calls in the assistant DA who handled the case, and I say, 'we think you got this wrong.' So people are very vest in their work. Lawyers are no different than anybody else."

"You spend time getting a conviction when it's a murder case, a big case, a big time investment, a big commitment."

 Adding, "That's the problem I find around the state is that we are usually having to go back up against these original trial attorneys who are usually vested in the conviction and who are going to fight it out or get their friends who are now assigned to the case to fight it out for them."

Schwartz said part of the problem is that prosecutors are constantly dealing with accusations of irregularities and misconduct that leads to an adversarial posture.

"It's like the boy who cried wolf."

Adding, "you just hear it over and over again. And when someone says, 'no, my guy really didn't do it.' It's like I heard this five more times today."

"It's an attitude shift for us to have an open mind and say, 'some of these people (defendants) may actually" be right, he said.

Brooks said the California Innocence Project reviews thousands of claims of wrongful convictions and files on a very small handful of cases in court.

He said this gives the Innocence Project credibility in courtrooms.

"I always tell people who are starting these projects that if you start running into court and file on all your cases, you won't have credibility."