What changes, if any, would you recommend to run the Ventura County courthouse more effectively and efficiently?

Defense Attorney Paul Tyler, of Oxnard:

"One of the biggest problems I have as a practitioner in dealing with certain types of cases in court, specifically infractions, is the Collection Department.  The Collection Department is managed separately from the Clerk's Office or it's a separate part of it."

"The problem people have problems with is when they have a traffic ticket that they have to appear on and it goes to civil assessment, which is when they don't appear, they add an extra $800 in fines. "

"Trying to get that case on calendar is a nightmare.  You can't do it through the clerk's office. For whatever reason,  the clerk  - that calendar's cases -  can't access the computer and put them on calendar. "

"So then I call in to the collection office. And, they say 'well, we can't deal with you. You're an attorney. We have to deal with the person directly.' I have to talk to the supervisor. The supervisor says, 'yes, we can put it on. But we can't put it on for 10 days or some long period of time.'"

"It seems like a minor thing but it's actually a real hassle just getting infractions dealt with because the Collections Department seems to operate under separate rules from the normal clerk's office, and it's a problem."  

Defense Attorney David L. McDuffie, of Ventura, said:

"I just think that a lot of the (criminal) things they file are BS cases.  They really don't need to be filling the courthouses with some of the cases they file. It takes up space. It takes up time. It takes up effort.  And if they would stop doing that we could free up a lot of the court time."

"I think the DA needs to look a little more carefully at what they're filing. I am sure they'll tell me that 'they are looking carefully at them.'  Some of the things they are asking for in their offers to settle are too extreme. People aren't going to settle at the very first opportunity they have if the offer is too high."

Defense Attorney David Martinez , of Ventura,  said:

 "As far as the criminal side of things, most of the cases are DUI. They're the ones that are going to tie up the court.  One of the problems is that in the arraignment court, the prosecutors don't negotiate.  But you can get a better deal if you draw the case out and keep coming back.  So that just ties of the system. It's a waste of time when you could have disposed the case earlier in the case. That's an area that could really make a big difference."

"Allow prosecutors to negotiate on arraignment on a DUI. I think that would save the court a lot of time.  Oftentimes, there are needless continuances and what not with the hope that a better deal will come out of it. Empower (prosecutors) to negotiate because they don't."

What are your thoughts and comments?

NEW ORLEANS -  A man who has been on death row in Louisiana since 1997 was exonerated today of the murder and rape of a young relative after DNA and other evidence proved he didn't commit the crime, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

Damon A. Thibodeaux walked out of the Louisiana State Penitentiary today after the court dismissed the indictment against him, ACLU officials stated.

The ACLU  joined the Innocence Project  along with private lawyers worked on overturning the conviction against Thibodeaux.

Thibodeaux was tried in the killing of his 14-year-old step-cousin Crystal Champagne whose body was found on July 20, 1996, a day after she had left her apartment to go to a nearby supermarket, ACLU officials stated.

After being interviewed for nine hours, Thibodeaux confessed to raping and murdering Champagne.

The confession was the sole basis for Thibodeaux's conviction and death sentence, according to the ACLU.

 "This is a tragic illustration of why law enforcement must record the entire interrogation of any witness or potential suspect in any investigation involving a serious crime," said Attorney Steve Kaplan from Minneapolis who was on Thibodeaux's legal team.  "When juries learn that the accused has apparently confessed, they invariably have a difficult time questioning the reliability and truthfulness of the confession."

WACO, TEXAS  - A 25-year-old man pleaded guilty Thursday to trying to extort money from Robert Griffin III, the current quarterback of the NFL's Washington Redskins,  the U.S. Attorney's Office announced.

Richard Khamir Hurd pleaded guilty to interstate communication of a threat to injure the property or reputation of another person and receiving the proceeds of extortion, federal officials stated.

Between June 14 and June 22, Hurd contacted Griffin's agents initially demanding $1 million or else he would release information to the media which he claimed would severely damage Griffin's reputation.

Griffin's agent negotiated with Hurd during an investigation by the FBI. Hurd agreed to accept a lesser sum of $120,000 in exchange for the information and to sign a "non-disclosure" agreement, according to federal authorities.

On June 22, Hurd showed up at a Waco law office where he signed the non-disclosure agreement and collected a check for $120,000, federal officials stated.

Right after he did this, FBI agents arrested Hurd.

Hurd is facing up to two years and three years in federal prison for both the felony crimes, the U.S. Attorney stated.

ATLANTA - The operator of an Atlanta sex trafficking ring who committed violent sexual acts against his victims, bound them with duct tape, took their identification, and committed "atrocities" to hold them captives, was sentenced today in federal court to life in prison, according to U.S. Attorney's Office.

After an eight day trial in July, a jury convicted  38-year-old Soloman Manasseh Mustafa, of Stone Mountain, Georgia, of sex trafficking, kidnapping, transporting women across state lines for prostitution, document servitude, and enticement of a minor for sexual activity.

A co-defendant, Kalandra Annette Wallace, 25, was sentenced to five years in prison. She pleaded guilty in October.

Evidence against Mustafa included that two victims were bound with duct tape and put in a closet, according to federal authorities. These victims, still bound with duct tape, were taken against their will to Homewood, Alabama, for the purpose of having sex with men, state federal prosecutors.

Other victims were forced to have sex with men and all the money they earned was turned over to Mustafa and Wallace.

One victim had a gun pointed at her head and was ordered to remove her clothes and stand naked in a corner of the room. Other women were forced to inhale white powdery substance that appeared to be cocaine, according to federal prosecutors.

Two victims were handcuffed to the bed to keep them from leaving, state federal officials.

Mustafa texted a young girl believed to be 14 years old and instructed the juvenile to send him photos of herself.  Mustafa told the juvenile that she could be his sex slave, and he went to the juvenile's home to pick her up,  federal authorities stated.

The juvenile left her home by tying bed sheets together and climbing out the window.

Fortunately, say federal  authorities including the FBI say,  Mustafa let the young girl go in a subdivision close to her home.

SAN FRANCISCO - A San Ramon attorney was indicted Tuesday for tax evasion and illegally eavesdropping n  conversations via listening devices of her clients' spouses or significant others' cars.

The federal indictment states that Mary Nolan, 50, the owner of the Law Offices of Mary Nolan in San Ramon, filed false tax returns from 2005 through 2008, according to federal prosecutors.

The unreported taxable income totaled $1.8 million resulting in additional tax due of about $593,916, say federal authorities.

The federal indictment alleges that Nolan referred clients to private investigator Christopher Butler for Butler to install concealed listening devices.

Nolan was arrested on Tuesday. She is charged with tax evasion, conspiracy to unlawfully intercept communications and  unlawful interception of communications.

Each crime carries a sentence of up to five years in prison.

LOS ANGELES - a Los Angeles physician assistant who stole the identifies of doctors to write medically unnecessary prescriptions for expensive medical equipment and diagnostic tests was sentenced Tuesday to six years in federal prison, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

David James Garrison, 50, was sentenced in federal court in connection with a $18.9 million Medicare fraud scheme, federal prosecutors stated.

The jury trial for Manuel Rodriguez and co-defendant Paul Carrillo who are charged with a gang-related murder began Monday morning.

Twelve jurors had been selected in addition to alternate jurors, and lawyers were set to give opening statements.

But before things got underway, the court bailiff told Ventura County Superior Court Judge James Cloninger that a male juror needed to talk to the judge because he now felt that he couldn't serve on the jury.

While other jurors waited in the hallway, the juror walked into court and said that his wife "literally fell apart. Fell to pieces" when he told her he was going to serve as a juror on a gang-related murder trial.

The juror said his wife told him something about her experience.

"It shook us. It shook me," said the juror after learning what his wife told him."I haven't slept. I am not suitable for this."

The juror who was visibly nervous said that based upon what his wife who taught at a school at South Central Los Angeles told him he wanted to be dismissed from jury service.

The jury said his wife had experience "direct dealings" with gangs when she worked at the public school in South Central.

"She's a mess, and obviously, I am not doing well," said the juror after his wife spoke to him about her public school experience in South Central.

The juror said he is now biased and felt that he can't sit in the jury box for the murder trial.

The judge asked what exactly his wife told him.

"Do you really want to know," said the juror, and then, he said that gang members are "criminal killers and they hurt children. She has seen this."

Adding that his wife is a Sunday school teacher.

The judge asked the juror to step outside while he talked to the lawyers.

The lawyers, including prosecutor Stacy Ratner, said they had no objections in dismissing the juror.

The judge agreed.

The juror stepped back into court and was told that he was being dismissed from serving a juror in the murder trial.

"Thank you. I apologize to everyone," the juror told the judge and lawyers.

"Thank you, sir, and have a great day," the judge told him.

LOS ANGELES - Two top managers at Westwood-based mortgage brokerage company were arrested today for scamming distressed homeowners in connection with a foreclosure avoidance and equity skimming fraud, according to the U.S. Justice Department.

Federal authorities arrested David Singui, 49, of Inglewood and Aziz Meghi, 35, of Los Angeles. A third defendant, Kiet Truong, 27, of Hawthorne, surrendered to authorities Thursday. A fourth defendant, Starr Smith, 31, of Long Beach, is a fugitive.

According to federal prosecutors, this is how the scam worked:

The company, Direct Money Source, held itself out as a company with a "Fresh Start Program" that told distressed homeowners who were trying to avoid foreclosure that they would have their properties purchased by so-called "credit investors." These investors would hod properties for 12 months and then sell them back to the original home owners after they restored their credit ratings.

Instead, Money Source, was an equity-skimming operation that took possession of distressed homeowners' equity under fraudulent pretenses.

The scheme allegedly defrauded mortgage lenders of more than $15 million in loan proceeds involving about 50 properties,  say federal authorities.

Ventura County Superior Court judges unanimously elected Brian J. Back as presiding judge and Donald D. Coleman as assistant presiding judge for 2013 and 2014, caourt officials stated.

The new term begins Jan. 1.

Judge Back was appointed to the Ventura Municipal Court by Gov. Pete Wilson in 1997 and elevated to the Superior Court in 1998.

He has been  a judge for 14 years and has served as the Superior Court assistant presiding judge since January 2011, according to court administrators.

Judge Back, who is currently assigned to the criminal division, has previously been assigned to juvenile delinquency, family law, guardianship, domestic violence, and adult mental health courts, according to court officials.

In 2003, he was named Judge of the Year by the Ventura County Trial Lawyers Association, court officials stated.

Before his appointment to the bench, Judge Back was an attorney with Arnold, Back, Matthews, Wojkowski  and Zirbel from 1990 to 1997.

Judge Back has a bachelor's degree from Claremont Men's College and is a graduate of the University of Santa Clara Law School. He also holds a master's degree in government from Claremont Graduate School.

Judge Coleman was elected to the Superior Court in March 1996.

Before being elected to the bench, Coleman was a member of the Ventura County District Attorney's Office for 18 years where he achieved the position of chief deputy district attorney, according to court administrators.

Judge Coleman earned a bachelor's degree at UCLA and his law degree from Southwestern Law School. 

He is a Vietnam veteran and served there with the U.S. Army.

LOS ANGELES  -- A doctor was convicted of health care fraud for submitting to Medicare about $1 million in bills in just seven for tests never performed, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Dr. Owusu Ananeh Firempong who is already serving a lengthy prison in a narcotics case was found guilty by a federal jury today of five counts of health care fraud, stated federal prosecutors.

Firempong, 61,  of Crenshaw, had been practicing in the Los Angeles region for more than three decades.

The bills were submitted for nerve conduction tests and sleep studies that were never performed, according to federal authorities.

Firempong faces up to 50 years in federal prison.

He is currently in custody after being sentenced in Michigan last year to 27 years in an unrelated cocaine trafficking and money laundering case, which is currently under appeal, according to federal prosecutors.

FORT WORTH, TX - A businessman man who is the owner of a sexually oriented business in Arlington, Texas, pleaded guilty last week to trying to hire hit men from Mexico through an intermediary to kill the Arlington mayor and a Dallas lawyer who represented the city of Arlington, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Ryan Walker Grant, 34, of Kennedale, Texas had been named in a nuisance lawsuit filed by the Texas Attorney General's Office and the City of Arlington, which resulted in the club closing, federal authorities stated.

Grant is a co-owner of Flashdancer, a sexually oriented business offered $10,000 per murder victim, federal officials stated.

According to federal prosecutors,  on April 3, Grant handed the intermediary, who was actually a confidential informant, photographs and contact information of the mayor and the Dallas lawyer who represented the city who Grant  wanted killed.

Grant and the intermediary spoke via cell phones and during those conversations, Grant instructed the intermediary to go ahead with the murders.

On April 9, the intermediary and Grant met at Grant's residence, and Grant was arrested a short time later, federal officials stated.

Law enforcement executed a search warrant at Grant's residence at that time and seized 22 firearms and nearly $150,000 in cash.

Grant who will be sentenced on Dec. 28,  is facing a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison, federal prosecutors stated.

NEWARK - Two men who shot a police officer during the course of robbing seven stores in 2010 were each sentenced to more than 170 years in prison today, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

From March 2010 through May 2010, Nelson Otero, 28, of Fort Lee, New Jersey and Maxcime Cagan, 48, of Floral Park, New Jersey, robbed at gunpoint businesses that included convenience stores, gas stations and liquor stores in different counties in New Jersey, say federal officials.

"These two defendants went on a violent rampage through New Jersey," stated U.S. Attorney Paul Fisherman in a press release. "They beat and pistol-whipped victims, held guns to their heads, and shot a police officer in the head.  The sentences handed down today will ensure these two predators will be permanently removed from society."

On May 10, 2010, Otero and Cagan robbed at gunpoint the Exxon Gas Station/Tiger Mart, ordering victims to the back of the store  and stole their personal belongings.  Upon leaving the store, the two encountered Officer Brian Worell, and they both discharged their firearms at him, striking the officer in the head, according to federal authorities. 

LOS ANGELES - A Santa Fe Springs company and its president pleaded guilty today to federal charges related to the illegal distribution of human growth hormone, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

DNP International Company Inc. President David Ji, 50, admitted that his company distributed an unapproved drug containing somatropin - a human growth hormone product - which hasn't been approved for distribution by the FDA because the version of the drug being distributed by DNP was manufactured in China, according federal authorities.

DNP and Ji will be sentenced on Dec. 10 and Ji is facing up to 10 years in federal prison, according to federal prosecutors.

KANSAS CITY - Two Chinese nationals who were willing to pay $100,000 for stolen trade secrets from Pittsburgh Corning for the purpose of operating a plant in China to compete with Pittsburgh Corning were charged  this week with stealing trade secrets, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Ji Li Huang, 45, and Xiao Guang Qi, 31, were arrested Sunday.

Pittsburgh Corning, which is headquartered in Pittsburgh, manufactures various grades or densities of cellular glass insulation sold under the trade name FOAMGLAS, federal officials stated.

The material is used to insulate industrial piping systems and liquefied natural gas storage tank bases, federal authorities stated.

The facility operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year and employs 250-300 workers.

A judge today thwarted efforts by a prosecutor to muzzle two defense attorneys after she accused one of the lawyers of disclosing in Ventura County Star newspaper articles some  facts about the case that have not been revealed in court or in the case file.

Citing Rules of Professional Conduct involving trial publicity, prosecutor Stacy Ratner accused Attorney Ron Bamieh of violating the rules of  conduct  solely to try and influence the jury pool with his remarks to the Star including a deal that a third co-defendant made with the district attorney in exchange for his testimony.

Ratner said the comments appeared in the newspaper on Aug. 27 and today.

She said Bamieh "introduced" facts about the case that weren't in the record.

 Ventura County Superior Court Judge James Cloninger said he didn't find there had been any violations, noting that all the statements made to the newspaper by Bamieh appeared to be correct.

The case involves the murder trial of Paul Carrillo and Manuel Rodriguez who are charged with killing Edgar Flores, 27, in 2007 just outside Santa Paula.

Defense lawyers, however, fired back and said that Ratner simply doesn't want the defense version of what occurred to be published.

"Ms. Ratner is angry because the other side of the case has gotten out," said Carrillo's lawyer Joseph O'Neill.

Bamieh said the Sheriff's Department and the District Attorney's Office have issued a press releases in 2007 about this case also there was a preliminary hearing where, Bamieh said, Ratner made comments to the press.

Bamieh said that everything he told the Star was part of the record and that he was asked in an interview by The Star about his proposed explanation about the 2007 murder.

O'Neill said he objected to any efforts to gag attorneys in this trial, citing First Amendment issues. He added that he would like to see cameras in the courtroom 24 hours a day, adding that the press is a watchdog in the criminal justice system.

Bamieh who represents the Star on First Amendment issues said he strongly objected to Ratner implying that he had something to do with the Star being in the courtroom during the start of jury selection.

He told the judge that he has absolutely no influence in the Star's newsroom or its news coverage.

CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE -- Three members of the Sinaola Cartel were arrested on drug conspiracy charges last month in Spain where they were trying to set up a market for cocaine in Europe and the United States, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced today.

Manuel Jesus Gutierrez Guzman, Rafael Humbero Celaya Valenzuela and Samuel Zazueta Valenzuela were arrested in the port city of Algeciras, Spain on Aug. 7, federal officials stated.

The arrests came after a three-year-long investigation.

Law Enforcment authorities seized 346 kilograms of cocaine that were shipped by the cartel, according to federal authorities.

Authorities also seized a quantity of heroin and methamphetamine in May 2012 in Detroit, Michigan as part of the investigation.

Also arrested was Jesus Soto who was sent to Spain by the cartel to monitor the safety of the shipment of cocaine, federal officials stated.

U.S. authorities are seeking to extradite those suspects arrested in Spain.

Manuel Guzman is the first cousin of Joaquin Guzman Loera, also known as "Chapo," the reputed leader of the Sinaola Cartel.

The FBI and Boston Police Department with the help of the Spanish National Police were involved in this investigation.