From NCJ Daily
CA Supreme Court Denies Eureka’s Request
T
he California Supreme Court has decided to let stand a recent appellate ruling establishing a statewide precedent that police arrest videos cannot be considered confidential officer personnel records and shielded from public review. The court’s decision may put an end to a more than two-year battle between the city of Eureka and the North Coast Journal over public access to a video depicting the arrest of a 14-year-old suspect that led to criminal excessive force allegations against one of the involved officers. The decision also leaves the city liable for the Journal’s legal costs and fees. “I’ve been practicing appellate law for nearly 30 years,” said Paul Nicholas Boylan, a Davis attorney representing the Journal in the case. “I’ve never encountered a case like this. All litigation begins with an attorney evaluating the costs and benefits of pursuing a claim. What are the costs of winning? What are the costs of losing? In this case, the risks and cost to the city of losing were always far, far higher than any benefits the city might achieve if it won. The city must have known that the longer it dragged this out, the more it forced the NCJ to litigate, the more it was going to cost taxpayers.” The city still has the option of asking the Supreme Court of the United States to take up the case. Attempts to reach City Manager Greg Sparks and City Attorney Cyndy Day-Wilson for comment on the state Supreme Court decision have
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been unsuccessful. In July, the First District Court of Appeals rebuffed the city of Eureka’s attempts to block release of the video, ruling that the video — and others like it — could not be granted the special protections against disclosure afforded police officer personnel records. The appellate court published the ruling, meaning it would become case law and set a precedent throughout California. The city wanted to keep that from happening, and asked the Supreme Court to depublish the July decision, which wouldn’t have impacted the court’s order that the specific video in question be released but would have kept the decision from guiding future court rulings. And in a rare move, on its own motion, the Supreme Court gave itself a couple of months to decide whether to take up a full review of the appellate case — a review that would venture beyond the publication question. But the Supreme Court decided Oct. 26 to deny the city’s request and leave the case as decided by the appellate court, which upheld a May 21, 2015, ruling by Humboldt County Superior Court Judge Christopher Wilson, who granted a petition filed by the North Coast Journal and ordered the arrest video released to the public. If the city decides not to challenge the California Supreme Court’s decision, the case will come back before Wilson for further proceedings prior to the video’s release. — Thadeus Greenson
Aubrey and David McBroom raised the bar for Beauty and the Beast costumes (and facial hair) during trick-or-treating in Eureka’s Old Town on Saturday, Oct. 29.
POSTED 10.27.16 READ THE FULL STORY ONLINE.
Photo by Jennifer Fumiko Cahill POSTED 10.31.16.
DA Clears Officer: The Humboldt County District Attorney’s Office has determined Arcata police officer Don Arminio acted in self-defense when he opened fire on Joshua Hoffman at a gas station in May. Hoffman — who allegedly charged the officer while swinging a stick — was shot in the arm, leg and abdomen, but survived. POSTED 10.28.16
northcoastjournal.com/ncjdaily
Cutie and the Beast
northcoastjournal
Digitally Speaking The number of officer-involved shootings in Humboldt County so far this year after an officer exchanged fire with a 31-year-old Hoopa man Oct. 26. No one was hurt in the exchange, which ended with the suspect — Eric Michael Matilton — arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. POSTED 10.27.16
Death Investigation: The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office has launched a death probe after someone found a dead body down a cliff from a homeless encampment near Garberville on Oct. 30. Located between Redwood Drive and the Eel River, the body looked as though it had been there for “several years,” according to the Sheriff’s Office. POSTED 10.31.16
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Dueling Protests: Eureka’s Fifth Street saw two groups of protesters lamenting the pending closure of three skilled nursing facilities on Oct. 27, but the unity ended there. One camp blamed the facilities’ owner — Brius Healthcare — and the other took aim at the local MediCal provider — Partnership HealthPlan — saying it’s to blame. Both groups waved signs. POSTED 10.27.16
northcoastjournal
They Said It
Comment of the Week
“It just means we’re going to literally start over. We have to start from the ground up.”
“Makes me feel sick.”
— Humboldt Pride board member Josh Tillet on the board’s recent decision to disband the nonprofit, which for years has put on Humboldt’s annual Pride Parade, after months of infighting and division within the organization’s ranks. POSTED 10.28.16
newsletters
— Toby Barrass commenting on a Facebook post about last week’s cover story by Jerry Rohde, “An American Genocide,” which detailed the systemic slaughter of Native Americans in Humboldt County. POSTED 10.28.16
northcoastjournal.com • NORTH COAST JOURNAL • Thursday, Nov. 3, 2016
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