Four thieves went to prison last week. The first thief, Fernando Joaquin, got two years and eight months; the second thief, Dustin Cook, got four years; the next thief, Alfred Dominiak, got eight years and eight months; and the fourth thief, Robert White, got 98 years. Three of the robberies involved force and violence or the threat of it.
All four robbers blamed drugs or alcohol.
Mr. Joaquin had gotten himself drunk and, in league with his little sister, a juvenile, committed “a theft from a person, assault with a deadly weapon and preventing the report of a crime.”
In other words, “Give me your stuff or I'll hit you with this baseball bat. If you tell anyone me and Sis will be back.”
Mr. Cook, who looks like a teenager, as does Joaquin who is a teenager, said if he hadn’t been so intoxicated his crime of first-degree robbery resulting in grave injuries to his victim would never have happened. Mr. Dominiak blamed his theft of a crate of industrial-strength shelving from Big Lots on his drug habit. Shelving? Maybe he thought he was jobbing a crate of $100 bills.
And Mr. White, who is visibly deranged, said he would never have attempted to rob two little old ladies at knifepoint if he hadn’t gone off his psych meds.
It never occurs to any of these guys that their problems could all be attributed to larger forces — the absence of jobs, bad wages for the jobs that do exist, and the overall pitiful state of the economy. Of course some people do bad things no matter what the big picture looks like, but a little perspective, a little class-consciousness might at least give a guy a clue as to why he is the way he is.
Young Mr. Joaquin just turned 18. He was raised in a trailer in Covelo with no windows and no heat, which is to say he was not a son of privilege. Factor in the new pathologies at work in impoverished American households and the kid is probably lucky he made it to 18.
But judges, willfully oblivious Obama Democrats who've not lived a minute with the wolf at the door, are well paid to pretend that there's nothing wrong with the system. Their job is to process its victims in and out of jail and to maintain the social order as it is. Now that there are more and more victims, we'll get more and more judges more and more cops and more and more jails. More justice is not even a possibility in the present context.
Judge Ann Moorman had already sentenced Mr. Joaquin’s sister, but Sis is a juvenile so we can’t get into that. But Joaquin been getting into trouble for a long time, and now that he's in the adult system, Joaquin has gotten himself into adult trouble.
Joaquin’s juvenile record was not allowed to influence his sentencing as a newly minted adult, even though Deputy DA Matt Hubley tried to count it as a strike prior.
Carly Dolan of the Public Defender’s office launched a penal code barrage of objection. “If I may interrupt, your honor, that count was stricken from the record, when he admitted the 136.2, which would double the term of confinement for the 487(c) to 32 months, or as we say, two years and eight months. So he’s essentially being punished for conduct while he was a child. And because of his young age and small stature, sending him to state prison will result in his being victimized, and he will return to the community a damaged individual. A more stable, less predatory environment like the county jail would be a good alternative in this case.”
DDA Hubley said he didn't think “there’s any alternative to state prison in this case.”
Judge Moorman, conceding that the state's prisons are at least as dangerous as Covelo, said, “Juvenile adjudications are not convictions. His sister was the aggressor in the theft case and housing him in the state prison would not only be against the interests of the community, it would also be against Mr. Joaquin’s interests, especially because of his age and size. And as the jails have been designated as prisons under 1175(h) I do see it as an alternative and I’m going to sentence him to local time.”
Which is no picnic, but the Mendocino County Jail, where violence is indeed on the rise is still not San Quentin. (“Realignment” is the state plan underway that sends certain categories of local crooks to county jails rather than the state pens. The state pens are under federal order to reduce their populations, meaning lots of people who'd ordinarily get sent to them will now stay at home.)
As for Dustin Cook, his father was in court for moral support, but just as his son was being sentenced, someone rushed in to tell Dad that his truck was rolling away down the street, and Cook Sr. rushed out to look after his transportation.
His old man didn't see his son sentenced to the four years for first degree robbery. The judge commented that Cook the Younger's challenge would be staying sober when he got out. And here it might be noted that Cook might also have trouble staying sober while in prison, because Mr. Arnold Gahm had been sentenced just moments before for being in possession of drugs while in jail. Gahm got two more years inside.
Cook wanted to address the court. The kid said, “This is all my fault, your honor. I take full responsibility. Mr. Esquivel [the co-defendant] had nothing to do with it.”
Deputy DA Scott McMenomey replied, “I didn’t hear a word of remorse for what he did to the victim. This was a senseless 211 [robbery] that didn’t need to happen.” Cook could have got the stuff without hurting his victim.
Judge Moorman said, “Based on the nature of the offense, the violence and gravity of the injuries to the victim, I’m going to impose the aggravated term of four years.”
Mr. Alfred Dominiak, 54, was not violent in his theft, Big Lots got their shelving back in good condition, and as a result, Mr. Dominiak would get his eight years and eight months suspended — if, that is, he could successfully complete the County’s drug court program successfully, that and sin no more.
“I’m happy to go along with the suspension,” Deputy DA McMenomey said, “if he gets into the program. But he needs to remember that he’s on a really short leash.”
Cathy Livingstone of the Public Defender’s office said her client was going to the Lytton Springs rehab program. Lytton Springs is housed in that stately old orphanage you see on the west side of 101 between Cloverdale and Geyserville.
“I’m not ordering the program,” Judge Moorman said. “I’m ordering the drug court. And I’ll repeat what Mr. McMenomey said. You are on a very short leash, Mr. Dominiak, with a very big sentence hanging over your head. The aggravated term for the second degree burglary is appropriate for all of the reasons named in the probation report, the four prison priors and the fact that he has not been able to remain out of prison for five years at a time without violating his parole, and then there is the increasing seriousness of his crimes. So I am going to impose the aggravated term and suspend execution of it. And you are to have no contact with Cody Barnes, Mr. Dominiak.” The judge then addressed the jailers: “He’s to be taken to drug court this afternoon at three.”
Dominiak got off easy considering his history.
Mr. Robert White was sentenced over in Judge John Behnke’s court, across the hall. This guy is nuts, a diminished capacity case who, in a more reputable time (and place), would be packed off to a state hospital.
White's lawyer, Dan Haehl of the Public Defender’s office, after chatting briefly with his client said, “Mr. White would like to address the court.”
Judge Behnke said, “Go ahead.”
“I’ve been trying to get a different lawyer,” White said. “The only reason I did any of this is because I went off my meds. I wanted a psychological evaluation done, but I couldn’t get it with this lawyer. Everything I wanted never got done.”
Of course it didn't, Mr. White, but if you'd had competent counsel in a time and a place where there were humane options you wouldn't be buried alive.
Judge Behnke was not moved by White's lamentations. His Honor was contemplating the huge sentence the DA was asking for — 98 years to life in prison. The knife enhancements — brandished at both the women White tried to rob and the husband of one woman who followed White across the parking lot of the Pear Tree Shopping Center and called 911 — were going to add about 25 years onto a very long sentence as it was. And then there were the prison priors.
“I think the court could impose and stay some of the prison priors”—
“I don’t think so,” DA David Eyster interjected.
“Not that I would,” Behnke continued. “The crimes merit the imposition of the priors. Or I could run them concurrent”—
“No, judge!” Eyster gasped, scrambling to his feet. “You can’t do that!”
“But I don’t think I would, even though I could,” Behnke resumed, eying Eyster evenly. “We have three separate victims fearing for their lives with the use of the deadly weapon, the knife, and even if he were eligible for probation, I don’t think I would grant it.”
There were seven special allegations, which added up to 23 years. Then the additional counts, each strike offenses, required 25 years each. Total: 98 years.
Behnke said, “I also find that Mr. White is not eligible under 1175(h) for local time and I am remanding him into the custody of the Sheriff for delivery to the state prison.”
Court Clerk Bonnie Miller said, “Is that with or without the possibility of parole?”
“It’s with the possibility of parole,” Behnke said with a sunny smile and without so much as a hint of irony in his voice.
I went out on the sidewalk to watch White being taken away. I'd have thought he was dead if he hadn't been walking. ¥¥
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