Monday Morning Memo for April 3, 2017

California prosecutors on Tuesday charged two anti-abortion activists who made undercover videos of themselves trying to buy fetal tissue from Planned Parenthood with 15 felonies, saying they invaded the privacy of medical providers by filming without consent. State Attorney General Xavier Becerra announced the charges against David Daleiden of Davis, California, and Sandra Merritt of San Jose. The two operate the Irvine-based Center for Medical Progress.

County prosecutors played a key role in developing a guide aimed at aggressively prosecuting domestic violence cases while also advocating for increased community services for victims both locally and nationwide. Working in conjunction with the Women Prosecutor’s Section of the National District Attorneys Association, San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office prosecutors assisted in developing a “Best Practices Guide” aimed at combating domestic violence, the office said in a statement Thursday.

A former Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum technology manager charged in the stadium corruption scandal has pleaded no contest to a charge of conflict of interest, the L.A. County district attorney’s office said Thursday. Leopold Caudillo Jr., one of six men charged in the case, was accused of directing more than $20,000 in stadium business to a company he controlled.

A man and a woman were sentenced March 16 for their role in the gang-motivated killing of Christian Bojorquez, 21, in Lake Los Angeles in 2012, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office. Rudolfo Alcantar, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole; Rosie Lisa Morales was sentenced to 48 years to life in prison.  On Aug. 5,  2016,  a jury found Alcantar guilty of first-degree murder.

Corrections officials announced new criminal sentencing rules that are projected to trim California’s prison population by 9,500 inmates over four years. They include steps like reducing inmates’ sentences up to six months for earning a college degree and by up to a month each year for participating in self-help programs such as alcohol and substance abuse support groups and counseling, anger management, life skills, victim awareness, restorative justice and parenting classes.

As the state prison population comes close to exceeding a court-mandated limit, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation is pursuing new regulations that aim to get more inmates paroled more quickly over time. The proposed rules, originating from voter approval of Proposition 57 in November, would allow “nonviolent” felons to first seek parole at the conclusion of the base term for their primary offense, before serving additional time for other charges and enhancements that can add years to their sentence.

California corrections officials unveiled new regulations that will increase the chances of early release for hundreds of state prison inmates, and expand the credits they earn for demonstrating good behavior and completing rehabilitation programs behind bars. The highly anticipated – and hotly contested – guidelines are the first major step toward overhauling the state’s prison parole system under Proposition 57, the ballot measure approved by voters last year that aims to reduce the statewide prison population by 9,500 inmates over the next four years.

Vonya Quarles grew up in South Los Angeles and describes herself as a third-generation convicted felon. But by the time she took the microphone at a Highland town hall meeting in January 2016, she was a lawyer and executive director of a Riverside County nonprofit that helps connect the homeless, formerly incarcerated and mentally ill to transitional housing.

The prisoner wore no underwear. Or socks. Or shoes. David Hastings said he was led away from the Orange County Jail medical wing just after midnight on April 5, 2014, wearing nothing more than a white paper jail-issue jumpsuit. His hands and feet were shackled to his waist. Hastings was wanted 2,600 miles away in Fort Myers, Fla., for violating a restraining order – issued in the midst of a bitter divorce – that prohibited him from contacting his ex-wife or children.

A man on active parole has been arrested after allegedly killing his girlfriend in San Bernardino, who was found dead over the weekend, police said Monday. Early Sunday afternoon, the Los Angeles Police Department received a phone call that 42-year-old Julio Serrano had just shown up at the caller’s L.A. residence and indicated he had hurt his girlfriend in a trailer at the back of a home in the 1200 block of North Perris Street in San Bernardino, according to investigators.

Transgender California prison inmates could have bras, cosmetics and other personal items corresponding to their gender identities under newly proposed regulations. The state corrections department filed the rules Tuesday in response to a federal lawsuit. The lawsuit earlier led California to become the first state to provide taxpayer-funded sex reassignment surgery to an inmate.

A San Bernardino parolee who was wearing an ankle monitor taken into custody Sunday on suspicion of killing his girlfriend during a domestic dispute, police said. Julio Cesar Serrano, 42, showed up at a family member’s Los Angeles home about 1:40 p.m. and said that he had hurt his 45-year-old girlfriend, Martha Garcia, according to a news release from the San Bernardino Police Department.

To screams of joy and applause, a 41-year-old man who spent 20 years behind bars for crimes he did not commit was set free Tuesday after a judge found he had been wrongfully convicted. Marco Contreras, 41, beamed and clasped his hands above his head in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom after Superior Court Judge William Ryan reversed his conviction on attempted murder and robbery charges from a case stemming back to 1996.

At least two police officers have suffered carbon monoxide poisoning while driving the Ford Explorer. Hundreds of motorists have complained and filed lawsuits. However, Ford denies the allegations. A police officer in Texas is recovering after falling ill from carbon monoxide poisoning while in his patrol vehicle. The Austin officer was in his Ford patrol vehicle early Saturday morning when he began feeling nauseous, reported KRISTV.com.

The Sacramento City Council once again demonstrated it is blissfully unaware that it is causing a crisis in the Sacramento Police Department, one that will take years to undo. Rather than encourage strong, independent leadership in the department, the council continues to substitute its judgment for those who have dedicated their lives to the profession of public safety.

The Sacramento City Council unanimously approved more than $1.3 million in bonuses for police department officers, sergeants and dispatchers in an effort to close the gap between their pay and the pay of officers in other departments. The bonus will be paid to 687 employees with officers receiving $2,150, sergeants receiving $2,000 and dispatchers receiving $1,000. The bonuses come as a number of officers leave for higher paying departments.

Napa County isn’t known for having a lot of major crimes, but it still has its problems, including an increase in theft reports. According to statistics from both Napa Police and the Napa County Sheriff’s Office, reports of theft increased between 2015 and 2016. Thefts increased by more than 10 percent in Napa and more than 8 percent in unincorporated Napa County. “We’ve been hammered with thefts,” said Sheriff’s Capt. Keith Behlmer on Friday.

Within hours of the murder of Whittier police officer Keith Lane Boyer in February, the tragedy of his death was swiftly diverted toward the political agenda of a few law enforcement officials and politicians. “Enough is enough,” declared Whittier Police Chief Jeff Piper during a news conference. “You’re passing these propositions, you’re creating these laws that [are] raising crime. It’s not good for our communities and it’s not good for our officers. What you have today is an example of that.”

L.A. County Sheriff Jim McDonnell is leading the charge against California legislation that would prevent sheriff departments from sharing with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents information about undocumented immigrants. The bill, known as the California Values Act, or SB 54, would prohibit local law enforcement from informing ICE of the release dates of inmates and prohibit ICE from interviewing inmates inside jails.

Las Vegas Metro police said an armed man surrendered after a three-hour standoff on a two-story bus that closed the Vegas Strip on Saturday. Police say the man shot and killed one person and wounded another. Police evacuated the nearby Cosmopolitan hotel and casino floor shortly before 11 a.m. local time Saturday as a result of the incident. They blocked off pedestrian walkways and several blocks of traffic on the Strip.

On the first day of the new Congress, the Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act was introduced in the House, and in February a similar bill was introduced in the Senate. The legislation requires New York state and New York City to honor concealed-carry firearms permits issued in other states. This would be a dangerous and unwarranted interference with state and city laws, undermining public safety in some of America’s most celebrated neighborhoods and tourist attractions.

A gate across Jeni Bianco’s driveway didn’t stop someone from stealing her new Range Rover Sport earlier this month, just hours after Bianco put her beloved teacup Yorkie to sleep. A few nights later, surveillance cameras caught three people with flashlights exiting a car and walking toward the service gate of Bianco’s home. And last weekend, Bianco heard banging at the locked service gate in the middle of the night.

In our 7th show since starting FOX 11 News IN DEPTH, we spend the entire half hour exploring policing in 2017. We talk to community activists concerned about police-related issues, the president of the police union, we go to the LAPD Police Museum to look at the agencies history, and in Santa Monica, we visit a program aimed at helping kids learn to trust police officers.

A plan to demolish Parker Center, the former Los Angeles Police Department headquarters, has moved forward after a unanimous vote by the city council. Twelve council members voted to adopt a 15-year civic center master plan that includes office space, retail locations and housing. The proposal was heavily pushed by Parker Center’s neighbor, Little Tokyo.

Amazon would like consumers to believe that Amazon is a safe place to buy name-brand goods, but that is just not true. Amazon, already under fire for allowing and enabling the sale of counterfeits, is now facing a Consumer Watchdog report of deceptive pricing practices. The problem is that anybody, anywhere, can sell just about anything on Amazon. “In Amazon’s quest to be the low-cost provider of everything on the planet, the website has morphed into the world’s largest flea market – a chaotic, somewhat lawless, bazaar with unlimited inventory” says a recent CNBC Report.

Global name recognition and consumer perceived credibility is a significant advantage in marketing (and profiting) from consumer goods. Consumers place their confidence in, and rely on Walmart’s credibility to purchase authentic goods. But, sometimes that confidence is misplaced. Walmart was caught again selling counterfeit items on its website. The Counterfeit Report, a popular consumer advocate and authorized agent for trademark holders and manufacturers, found counterfeit 64GB microSDHC computer flash memory cards listed on Walmart’s website.

Part of the reason the San Bernardino terrorist attack didn’t lead to more loss of life started years before. “San Bernardino, we didn’t see that coming,” said Stephen Woolery, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division in Los Angeles. “You had a married couple that, Enrique Marquez aside, had kept it all fairly secret.” Marquez purchased the rifles that Redlands couple Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik used to kill 14 people and wound 22 others at San Bernardino’s Inland Regional Center on Dec. 2, 2015.

AT&T is investing $40 billion to help build and operate the nation’s first broadband network dedicated to police, firefighters, and emergency medical services. The network, the brainchild of the independent entity First Responder Network Authority (or FirstNet), is expected to streamline communications between first responders during public safety crises.

The attorney general of the western Mexican state of Nayarit was in a federal jail in San Diego on Wednesday night on charges of conspiracy to smuggle cocaine, heroin, marijuana and meth, according to court documents. Edgar Veytia, 46, the chief law enforcement officer in Nayarit – the scene of numerous deadly drug gang showdowns in recent years – was arrested Monday at a border crossing in San Diego after he was flagged for an open federal warrant issued in New York.

San Francisco’s public officials constantly say the city must remain a sanctuary for immigrants living in the country without documentation so they’ll come forward if they’re a victim of or witness to a crime. But some who have come forward have found the city’s courtrooms anything but a safe harbor.

The Los Angeles County sheriff surprised many people this month when he took a stand against the California “sanctuary state” bill that seeks to push back against the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration-law enforcement plans. Jim McDonnell’s position may have seemed like a step back from his generally hands-off approach to immigration enforcement, expressed in his op-ed on this page Jan. 8. But in fact it’s not a step back and certainly not inconsistent.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions outlined Monday how the Trump administration will use federal funds to crack down on “sanctuary cities” and states that choose not to comply with federal immigration laws, as it has threatened to do since January. The comments came after the Trump administration has made a concerted effort to pressure the so-called “sanctuary” jurisdictions as part of its aggressive push to enforce immigration laws.

Leaders from so-called sanctuary cities across Southern California struck a defiant tone Monday, stating that they would continue to protect people who are in the country illegally despite threats by U.S. Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions to cut off and even claw back grant funding from the Justice Department.

Immigration enforcement is a complex and challenging issue for communities and their law enforcement agencies throughout the United States. State and local law enforcement agencies are steadfast in their commitment to removing from their communities dangerous criminals and others who pose a threat to public safety. Any suggestion to the contrary is simply inaccurate.

The Supreme Court tried to figure out Tuesday whether immigrants should get a second chance in court when bad legal advice leads to a guilty plea and certain deportation. The justices seemed divided during an argument about what to do in cases in which the evidence against criminal defendants is strong and the chances of acquittal by a jury are remote. The court is considering the case of Jae Lee, a South Korean immigrant who was facing drug charges.

California Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León on Monday called Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ plan to block Justice Department grant funding to sanctuary cities “nothing short of blackmail.” During a daily press briefing earlier in the day, Sessions said the Justice Department will require compliance with immigration laws in order for cities to receive grants through the Office of Justice Programs, according to The Associated Press.

California’s chief justice renewed her criticism of federal immigration officials Monday for conducting raids at courthouses and, in her annual State of the Judiciary address, appeared to escalate her critique of the Trump administration. “Our values, practices and laws are being called into question, and all three branches of government and the free press are in the crosshairs,” Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye said in remarks prepared for a joint session of the Legislature.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has forcefully criticized President Donald Trump’s executive actions calling for a widespread crackdown on undocumented immigrants and barring travel to the United States from predominantly Muslim countries in Africa and the Middle East. Political tough talk, positioning the state as a leader in the resistance to the Trump administration, has dominated Becerra’s short tenure since the former Democratic congressman assumed the role in late January.

California lawmakers have unveiled a sweeping plan to overhaul pretrial release in the state that could virtually eliminate the use of money bail. Sen. Bob Hertzberg, D-Los Angeles, and Assemblyman Rob Bonta, D-Alameda, introduced legislation last December to change a system they argue unfairly punishes the poor by keeping them stuck in custody if they cannot afford expensive bail rates.

State lawmakers have unveiled an ambitious plan to reform how counties in California set bail for defendants while they wait for their cases to be resolved or go to trial. New language added Friday to bills by Assemblyman Rob Bonta (D-Oakland) and Sen. Bob Hertzberg (D-Van Nuys) would prevent criminal defendants from having to post money as a condition of release from jail and would shift some power from judges to pretrial services agencies to assess the risks they would pose if allowed out in the community.

A proposed state law that would seal arrest records of people who were never charged with crimes so such records don’t follow them through life has moved one step closer to passage. On Tuesday, the California Arrest Record Equity Act was passed out of the Senate Public Safety Committee. The law was introduced by state Sen. Ricardo Lara, D-Bell Gardens, and sponsored by District Attorney George Gascon.

Despite defunding threats from the Trump administration, California voters narrowly support communities declaring themselves “sanctuary cities,” according to a statewide survey Tuesday. But the Berkeley IGS Poll found that a slim majority oppose cities and counties being able to disregard federal requests to detain illegal immigrants who have been arrested and are pending release from custody.

California Democrats want a ‘sanctuary state’ for immigrants here illegally. But those who are felons should be sent packing

Democratic politicians want California to be a sanctuary for immigrants here illegally. OK. If they’re hard working and obeying the law, fine. But if they’re thugs? Call the feds and boot their butts back across the border. That’s my view. And it’s also the opinion of most sane people, I suspect. Even Democratic office holders must think this down deep. So why is it so hard for them to say it?

California Senate leader Kevin de León has amended his “sanctuary state” bill to provide greater flexibility for law enforcement to notify and work with federal immigration officials on cases involving serious and violent felons. The move, amid national debate over “sanctuary city” policies, comes days after a rowdy welcome in Sacramento for the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement at a forum meant to address the role of police officers and sheriff’s deputies in immigration enforcement.

If a November ballot measure to speed up executions goes into effect, the California Supreme Court will have to decide hundreds of death penalty appeals in rapid succession. That mandate would turn the state’s highest court into what analysts say would be “a death penalty court,” forced for years to devote about 90% of its time to capital appeals.

The killing of Madyson Middleton struck at the core of California’s conscience because it was a hideous crime committed in a Santa Cruz arts center apartment complex. The slaying of the 8-year-old boy was made more shocking because the identity of the suspect was the victim’s then-15 year old neighbor.  “It was very emotional and really upsetting and hard to deal with,” said Jacob Seedman, who knew both victims.

The city is ripe for a criminal justice reform, advocates say, but it’s going to take awareness, action and dismantling a history of mass incarceration that has resulted in an unyielding cycle of poverty and crime. Californians for Safety and Justice, which spearheaded last year’s free Proposition 47 Record Change and Health Fair, is starting a series of conversations with the Stockton community about what they say is a punitive criminal justice system that has resulted in collateral consequences of conviction.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is looking to make it easier to fire sheriff’s deputies who have been found to be dishonest in the past. The move comes amid promises by Sheriff Jim McDonnell to clean house in his department. Since taking office three years ago, McDonnell has moved to fire significantly more deputies than his predecessors, according to department spokeswoman Nicole Nishida.

The reduced punishment that California voters approved for shoplifting in November 2014 wasn’t limited to swiping goods from store shelves, but also covered other types of nonviolent commercial theft, like going to a bank to cash a stolen check, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday. The decision, a day after a similar ruling by a state appeals court in another case, took a broad view of a ballot measure that was intended to lower the population of California’s overcrowded prisons by easing penalties for less-serious crimes.

A man who entered a bank to cash stolen checks is eligible, under Proposition 47, to have his conviction for second degree burglary reduced to misdemeanor shoplifting, the California Supreme Court declared in a 5-2 opinion. The decision comes one day after a published Fifth District Court of Appeal opinion said that a defendant who stole coins from a machine was eligible for a reduction of his offense to shoplifting.

The state Supreme Court agreed Wednesday to decide whether gun manufacturers have the right to challenge a California law requiring identifying microstamps on bullets fired from semiautomatic pistols, a requirement the manufacturers claim can’t be met with current technology. A state appeals court had ruled in December that gun groups could present evidence to support their suit seeking to overturn the law, an exception to the usual requirement that statutes can be struck down only if they are unconstitutional.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday stepped in to the national conversation on police practices, wrestling with a California police shooting case where sheriff’s deputies shot an innocent couple during their search for a wanted man. The justices heard oral arguments in a 2010 case involving Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies. The deputies were searching for a wanted parolee when they entered a shack at the back of a home in the city of Lancaster, north of Los Angeles.

Who said crime doesn’t pay? California voters – with the help of Proposition 47 authors more concerned about emptying state prisons than justice who created loopholes a jumbo jet could fly through and a state Supreme Court eager to play lawmakers – have done just that. Last week the state high court majority decided that shoplifting does not just refer to swiping merchandise from a store. The 5-2 decision involved a case of one Giovanni Gonzales convicted of felony burglary.

State courts must be willing to go beyond the U.S. Supreme Court in protecting individual rights, California Supreme Court Justice Goodwin Liu said Thursday. “A state court can provide protection for basic liberties that otherwise would go unprotected in that state,” Liu, an appointee of Gov. Jerry Brown, said in remarks prepared for a speech at New York University in honor of the late Supreme Court Justice William Brennan.

A San Francisco federal judge dismissed an American Civil Liberties Union challenge Monday to a federally assembled police database of “suspicious activities” allegedly linked to terrorism, saying the government has broad authority to keep track of potential threats. The lawsuit was filed in 2014 on behalf of five Californians who said they landed on the list for innocent conduct.

Federal Judge John A. Kronstadt has set a deadline of 11:59 PM, May 1st, 2017, for the NRA to amend its lawsuit seeking concealed carry permits to challenge California’s bans on openly carrying firearms in public for self-defense. After the NRA’s loss last year before an en banc panel of the 9th circuit court of appeals in the case of Peruta v. San Diego which held that there is no right to concealed carry under the Second Amendment, the NRA filed another lawsuit in Federal court which argued that people have a right to carry firearms in public in some manner and since California has banned Open Carry, the Los Angeles County Sheriff must issue concealed carry permits.

In late 2006, Aaron Krowne, a computer scientist and mathematician, started a website that documented the real-time destruction of the subprime mortgage lending industry. The Mortgage Lender Implode-O-Meter caught on like wildfire with financial market voyeurs, regularly reaching 100,000 visitors. West Coast lenders, some may recall, were the first to fall in what eventually totaled 388 casualties. A year earlier, to much less fanfare, Jack Dean launched another website in anticipation of the different kind of wave washing up on the California coastline.

A Republican newcomer now leads the pack of candidates trailing frontrunner Gavin Newsom in next year’s race for California governor, according to a new statewide poll Wednesday. Among the five announced candidates, Newsom, who as lieutenant governor has been grooming himself for the top elected position, is out ahead with support from 28 percent of voters, the Berkeley IGS Poll found.

A state program to reduce a whole slew of traffic and other types of fines that people have not been paying is coming to a stop on April 3. The Department of Motor Vehicles Traffic Amnesty Program allows those who have certain unpaid traffic or non-traffic tickets that were due on or before Jan. 1, 2013, to get their debt reduced or driver’s license (if it was suspended) reinstated. These tickets can range from speeding or running a red light to jaywalking or hunting without a license.