San Diego Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog

A possible gang attack during the weekend of December 6 left two San Diego students dead. San Diego homicide detectives and witnesses said Monique Palmer, 17, and Michael Taylor, 15, were at a party attended by Lincoln High School students when three cars pulled up filled with suspected gang members. They pointed handguns and yelled gang challenges at party guests before driving away just before 1am.

A few minutes later, Palmer and Taylor left the party with a group of other students. Two men approached them at the corner of San Jacinto and Groveland drives and fired shots before fleeing south on San Jacinto. Palmer died at the scene of the shooting, while Taylor died at a nearby hospital soon after.

Police have not yet released a description of the shooters, but dozens of people gathered at the shooting site the following night to honor the two shooting victims.

Community reeling after 2 teenagers fatally shot, San Diego Tribune-Union, December 7, 2008

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Yesterday, a San Diego jury convicted a California man of murder. The 22-year old had fatally injured a professional surfer during a fight on the evening of May 24, 2007. Emery Kauanui sustained severe head trauma outside of his mother’s home in La Jolla and died in the hospital a few days later.

As a result, Seth Cravens, 22, has been convicted of second-degree murder, which carries a possible sentence of 15 years to life in prison. Cravens and his defense attorney claimed that he acted in self-defense when he punched Kaunaui. His lawyer said they plan to appeal the jury’s decision.

Craven’s sentencing is scheduled for January 12. In addition, Cravens faces charges of assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury and misdemeanor battery in connection with earlier incidents.

Man found guilty of second-degree murder in surfer's beating death, SignonSanDiego.com, November 18, 2008

San Diego jury finds man guilty of surfer's murder, Associated Press, November 18, 2008

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Last week, a graduate student at University of California San Diego reported being sexual assaulted. The 24-year-old told police that her attacker forced his way into her graduate-student housing and threatened her with a knife. Police say the suspect bound his sexual assault victim, possibly with duct tape.

The sexual assault victim notified police around 3:30 pm. She described her attacker as an white man in his twenties with a goatee. He was wearing a white San Diego Chargers t-shirt, baseball cap, and jeans and carrying a knife and a backpack.

San Diego Police are investigating the case along with campus police.

UCSD student says man sexually assaulted her, The Union-Tribune, November 8, 2008

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In San Diego, California, a study examining victims and suspects of violent crimes has revealed that about half of last year’s San Diego homicides with known motives were connected to gang violence. One hundred and five homicides occurred in San Diego County last year. Of those, 88 had a known motive and 41 were attributed to gang activity.

The study was released last week by the San Diego Association of Governments. The study also found that San Diego homicide victims tended to be older than in past years. In fact, 42% were between 25 and 39. The reason behind this trend is unknown.

In addition, the SANDAG study found that a quarter of female rape victims were under 18 and 85% of homicide victims were male. Children and younger teens were suspected in a third of the San Diego County robberies last year.

Gangs blamed in half of San Diego homicides, San Diego Union-Tribune, October 9, 2008

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In California, a woman accused of bombing the San Diego federal courthouse earlier this year could not explain to investigators why the explosion occurred. Rachelle Carlock, 31, blamed Ella Louise “Weezy” Sanders, 57, who is also charged in the bombing case. When pressed for a motive, Carlock reportedly said, “I don’t know why I did it. I really don’t.”

The two women will appear in court this week, facing charges of conspiracy, using a weapon of mass destruction, and other counts. They could face life in prison if convicted.

Eric Robinson, 43, who admitted to driving the getaway car following the bombing of the San Diego federal courthouse, faces a minimum sentence of 30 years in prison. His hearing is scheduled for January.

The defense attorney for one of the accused said the case is less complex than it may appear because, “there are some serious cognitive deficits that led to this case.”

Bombing suspect can't cite a motive, SignonSanDiego.com, October 5, 2008

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According to TMZ.com, the LA County District Attorney has rejected a domestic violence case against actor Chad Stansbury, the ex boyfriend of supermodel Angie Everhart.

Back in August, Everhart told police that Stansbury had choked her during an argument, then fled the scene. Stansbury was then arrested and booked on suspicion of domestic violence.

Stansbury is now off the book, because the D.A. concluded that there wasn’t enough evidence to prosecute. Everhart has reportedly started dating Joe Pesci again.

Officials: No Breath in Supermodel Choking Case, TMZ.com, October 1, 2008

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San Diego police are investigating allegations that a Scripps Ranch High School math teacher deliberately choked a student. School administrators put Peter Burrell on paid leave two weeks after the choking incident.

The conflict came as the result of a disagreement over seating arrangements and quickly escalated when Burrell reportedly picked the student up by his backpack and shirt, walked him outside the classroom, and started choking him. The school district said it handles its policy on punishing students on a case-by-case basis, but it does not allow corporal punishment.

The mother of Lammar Mainor, 15, was told by school officials that there were no school police to respond to the violent incident due to budget cuts. She then filed a report with San Diego police on September 16 after taking her son to see his pediatrician. The doctor’s report states that Mainor suffered from swelling around the trachea.

According to the district attorney’s office, Burrell may face battery charges.

Math Teacher Accused Of Choking Student, www.10News.com, September 30, 2008

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San Diego police arrested a man accused in a domestic violence assault after several hours of negotiations with the suspect. Officers ordered him to leave a house on Dunwood Way, but the 48-year-old man refused, holding off officers for several hours before he finally surrendered on a Friday morning in Bay Terraces in late August.

The original order came at 3pm and by 8:40pm, police called in SWAT officers because they believed the domestic violence suspect may have had a weapon. At 2:45am, the man surrendered and was booked into county jail on charges of domestic violence assault.

Domestic violence occurs when a battery is directed towards a spouse, former spouse, or someone the suspect dates or has dated in the past. It is a misdemeanor that carries with it a maximum sentence of one year in county jail, plus a one year domestic violence program.

Domestic violence suspect surrenders after lengthy standoff, SignonSanDiego.com, August 29, 2008

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In Jacumba, California, a man convicted of child molestation was arrested earlier this month on suspicion of violating the terms of his release. Following a 1987 conviction for molesting two young girls, he was sentenced to three years in prison after which he had been sent to live in the East County community under court-ordered supervision. He was also convicted of failing to register in San Diego County as a sex offender in 1996.

Police picked up Gary Gene Snavely, 45, around 5pm after the Sheriff’s Department received notification that Snavely was not following his prescribed treatment. He was booked in San Diego Central Jail and will be held pending court hearings. He is not under suspicion of committing any new crimes; instead, he is being held for failure to follow his treatment plan.

California law requires sexually violent predators to return to the county where they committed their crimes after a treatment program at a state hospital. A sexually violent predator is defined as someone who has been convicted of a violent sex crime and has been diagnosed with a mental disorder.

Child molester under supervision arrested, SignOnSanDiego.com, September 12, 2008

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Sheriff’s homicide detectives in San Diego arrested a suspect in the July murder of a Pala Indian Reservation teen. A Pala security officer discovered the body of Devin Blackowl, 18, in a dirt lot on July 24.

Detectives believe that the murderer and the victim knew each other, but they have not found a motive behind the slaying.

The 29-year-old slaying suspect was already booked into Central Jail on one count of murder, so detectives did not have to look too far to find him. Sheriff’s homicide Lt. Dennis Brugos said detectives took John Edward Maxcy into custody at Donovan State Prison for an unrelated criminal offense.

Maxcy was scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon in the North County courthouse in Vista.

Suspect arrested in July slaying on Pala Reservation, SignonSanDiego.com, September 16, 2008

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Last Friday in San Diego, four twentysomething men who attended La Jolla High School together were sentenced for their role in the death of 24-year-old Emery Kauanui. What began as a bar brawl in 2007 left Kauanui bleeding with severe head trauma outside his mother’s house. The former professional surfer died at the hospital a few days later after he was taken off life support.

Three of the men pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter: Eric House, 21, Orlando Osuna, 23, and Matthew Yanke, 22. Earlier this summer, Osuna and Yanke also pleaded guilty to unrelated counts of misdemeanor battery. Henri Hendricks, 22, pleaded guilty to being an accessory to the death and to an unrelated misdemeanor battery.

The judge assigned to the case considered the defendants’ previously clean records and the lack of evidence that any of the four had delivered the fatal blow to Kaunanui. They were sentenced to between 90 and 349 days in jail, which was less than the prosecution had hoped for. However, all face three years of probation.

A fifth defendant, Seth Cravens, is thought to be the ringleader of the group and has pleaded not guilty to murder. He awaits trial on October 14.

Jail terms for 4 San Diego men in surfer's death, Associated Press, September 5, 2008

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On Friday, the body of a man suspected of killing a 74-year-old grandmother was found in the unincorporated part of Calimesa, California. Jeff Nolen, 38, had been identified by a San Diego Country sheriff as the live-in boyfriend of the slain women’s granddaughter and the father of the granddaughter’s three children.

The name of the elderly murder victim has not been released, but the Medical Examiner’s Office said she had been strangled and was believed to be dead for several days before her body was discovered last Thursday when San Diego County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a request for a welfare check.

The granddaughter, 32-year-old Amy Jo Mitchell, was arrested last week on suspicion of financial abuse of an elder. She was being held in lieu of $50,00 bail and is scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon. The cause of death for her boyfriend Nolen has not been released to the public.

Suspect in Fallbrook case is discovered dead, SignonSanDiego.com, September 6, 2008

Suspect Wanted in Girlfriend's Grandmother's Murder, CBS8.com, September 5, 2008

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A few weeks ago, California’s high court ruled 4-3 that Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger had wrongly denied parole to a convicted murderer. The court’s decision stated that the governor must consider not only the nature of the crime, but must also demonstrate “some evidence” that the person in question is a danger to public safety, when overturning Board of Parole Hearings’ decisions.

This ruling comes in response to the Board of Parole Hearing’s decision to grant parole to Sandra Davis Lawrence, 61, in 2005. Lawrence had been convicted of first degree murder for killing her lover’s wife and served 23 years in jail. Because she had no record of discipline problems while in jail, expressed remorse for her crime, and showed no signs of being a public danger, the Board opted to grant Lawrence parole.

In 2006, Schwarzenegger attempted to veto that decision based on the nature of the murder, calling it “a cold, premeditated murder carried out in an especially cruel manner and committed for an incredibly petty reason.” The divided court ruled that while the crime is a factor in parole decisions, it should not disqualify parole grants to murderers who are serving out a life sentence.

Court rules governor wrongly denied killer parole, Associated Press, August 21, 2008

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