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The Orange County Register reports that during the four-plus years that the Tom and Jackie Hawks murder case was in the Orange County criminal courts, their boat, the “Well Deserved” was preserved as evidence – perhaps the largest single item ever saved in an Orange County criminal case.

In 2004 the Hawks were lured to sea by Skylar Deleon in an elaborate murder scheme to steal the yacht. The District Attorney’s case claimed that somewhere near Catalina, Deleon and accomplice John F. Kennedy subdued Thomas Hawks below deck with the help of a Taser gun while co-conspirator Alonso Machain grabbed Jackie Hawks in the galley and bound, blindfolded, gagged the couple as they were forced to sign sales documents. Then they were tied to a 55-pound anchor and thrown overboard.

Deleon and Kennedy were tried separately and convicted of two counts of first-degree murder and are awaiting possible death sentences later this month. Machain, cooperated with prosecutors and testified against the others in exchange for escaping a potential death sentence. He is expected to plead guilty and is looking at a life term in prison.

With all the trials over, the Well Deserved is no longer needed as evidence and it will soon be released to the Hawks’ sons Ryan and Matt. The long range plan, Ryan Hawks has said, is to sell the yacht — not because of what happened to their parents aboard it, but because they are not at a point in their lives where they can afford or maintain the yacht.

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Jose Anthony Verduzco was found guilty of killing the lover of his longtime girlfriend and plotting out the act beforehand. According to the Orange County Register, the Orange man looked straight ahead as the guilty verdict was read.

The District Attorney’s Office argued to the jury that Verduzco planned, confronted, shot and killed Miguel Angel Jimenez in the driveway outside Verduzco’s home in November, 2005. Conversely, throughout the trial, the defense maintained that Verduzco shot Jimenez in “the heat of passion”– a defense commonly-raised in first degree murder cases. The murder in this case occurred one week after Verduzco discovered that the girlfriend he had for 24 years was having an affair with Jimenez.

The jury apparently thought that a week was too much time for Verduzco to be so caught up in his anger so as not to be able to control his actions–which could warrant a conviction for a lesser charge. Instead the jury found that the killing was intentional and calculated, which justified a first degree murder conviction. Verduzco will be sentenced on April 1 and faces 50 years to life in state prison.

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A man suspected in a rash of bank robberies in Moreno Valley, Corona, Riverside and Norco was arrested last week by Moreno Valley police. According to The Press Enterprise, the FBI has been working on the case with police in Riverside and Corona–as well as Riverside County sheriff’s deputies in Norco and Moreno Valley–to track the robber down.

The robber was nicknamed the “neck brace bandit” because the bank robber who entered the banks wore a neck brace, a floppy hat and a bandage over his nose, and handed over a note demanding cash and threatened tellers and customers. The Neck Brace Bandit was seen last driving an older Mercedes with black chrome rims.

This week, Moreno Valley police stopped a Mercedes that matched that description for a traffic infraction and arrested the driver on suspicions he was involved in one of the robberies. Police said they found evidence related to the robberies — but not a neck brace — at the driver’s home.

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Two juveniles are in custody relating to allegations of a litany of street robberies committed over a one-month period in the Silver Lake and Echo Park areas of Los Angeles. The crimes appear to be gang related.

The L.A. Daily News reports that this weekend, LAPD gang officers arrested two juvenile gang members for allegedly committing a series of street robberies in late December and throughout January of this year. The suspects in the robberies targeted lone men walking on the street between midnight and 3:30 a.m. during this month-long time period.

Reports say that police served a search warrant at one of the juvenile’s residence and evidence recovered may be related to the robberies. Some of the items recovered included cellular phones, walkie-talkies, and several knives and guns that are believed to have been used during the commission of some of the Los Angeles robberies.

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On Wednesday, Los Angeles City Council agreed to pay nearly $13 million to people injured or mistreated in a 2007 May Day melee in MacArthur Park–bringing the total money spent over the last two weeks to settle lawsuits alleging LAPD misconduct to more than $30 million.
However, the L.A. Daily News reports that up until Wednesday’s announcement, the amount of money the City of Los Angeles has paid in lawsuits against the Los Angeles Police Department dropped over 90 percent between 2000 and 2008. The Daily News also has a database of nearly 1,600 LAPD lawsuits. The highlights? Two $950,000 settlements for 1999 and 2004 civil rights violations as well as $900,000 settlement in a 2004 sexual harassment case. The database can be found here.

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A few months ago, I posted on the backlog of DNA testing by the L.A. County Sherriff’s office- and how these backlogs are causing investigations to be dropped by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office because the statute of limitation has run. This week, the Los Angeles Times reports that initial tallies of cases that are affected by the backlog were underestimated. To date, there are 815 sexual assault cases with untested DNA and the statute of limitations has expired on 51 of these cases.

One Sheriff’s County supervisor said that currently 4,738 of the sexual assault kits in county storage facilities remain untested – and about 20% of them are from other police agencies in the county that rely on the sheriff’s crime laboratory for DNA testing. And apparently over 100 of these cases are within six months of the ten year statute of limitations that prosecutors have to file a felony.

These are troubling statistics. On one hand, this evidence may contain the “smoking gun” to put a sexual predator behind bars and keep our communities safe. On the other hand, who knows what sort of exonerating evidence is contained in those nearly 4,800 kits. Either way, it is contrary to how law enforcement should be handling investigations and someone needs to find the resources to get through this backlog quickly and efficiently.

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If you have been arrested for a criminal charge in Orange County, your first appearance in court is called an “arraignment.” At an arraignment, a judge or magistrate informs a defendant what charges are being brought against him and what constitutional rights a defendant has- such as a right to counsel and the right to a jury trial. In misdemeanors where the prosecution is seeking jail time or in felonies, if a defendant cannot afford and attorney, a public defender will be appointed. Usually, a defendant has to complete an affidavit of indingency in order for a public defender to be appointed.

Defendants also enter a plea at the arraignment. A defendant has three plea options: a Not Guilty Plea, a Guilty Plea and a plea of no contest–sometimes called a “nolo” or “nolo contendre” plea. A Nolo plea has the same effect as a guilty plea except the conviction cannot be used against the defendant in a civil suit.

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Two sale-hungry women took power shopping to a new level this weekend when eight people were arrested at the Del Amo Fashion Center in Torrance after a crowd of 300 to 400 people gathered outside a movie theater to watch the women fight over clothes. The L.A. Times reports that six adults and two juveniles were arrested for allegedly assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest after the fight.

According to reports, when police arrived to break up the brawl at about 9:15 p.m. Saturday, friends of the combatants began fighting with officers and because of the size of the crowd, all available Torrance units were called. They had to also had to call for backup from units in Hawthorne, Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach, Gardena, El Camino College and El Segundo.

Two Torrance officers were injured, Anderson said. One was hit in the face, and the other hurt his knee. Assaulting a police officer is a felony and if convicted, could subject a person to prison time.

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A Pasadena woman was raped this week and Los Angeles Police are still looking for her attacker. The Daily News reports that the victim was picked up by a motorist in a Ford F150 from a bus stop on Colorado Boulevard early Friday morning. After getting into the truck, the suspect drove the woman to an isolated location where he beat and sexually assaulted her.
According to police, after the rape, the attacker bound the victim’s hands and dropped her off at a secluded spot near La Tuna Canyon Road. The suspect was described as a 40ish, 5-foot, 10-inch white male — possibly of Hispanic descent – weighing 285 pounds, with brown hair, blue eyes and wearing a Dodgers’ baseball hat. Police asked anyone with any information regarding the attack to call the Pasadena Police Department at (626) 744-4522.
There are few crimes more repulsive to the public than sex offenses- which is why a person charged with these crimes cannot afford to do anything but fight hard to get the best possible result. Fighting hard means challenging every part of the case, from identification, to scientific evidence to prior acts and witness statements. Do not attempt to handle this matter by yourself. If you have been charged with a sex crime, Orange County Sexual Assault Attorney William Weinberg can help you fight your charges. Please call (714) 834-1400 to discuss your case.

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A 15-year-old boy was arrested on a Metrolink train bound for Santa Clarita for carrying an automatic rifle. The Antelope Valley boy, whose name was withheld because he is a minor, was released from custody a week ago before being picked up on the gun charges. The Daily News reports that a train rider overheard the boy bragging about the gun and notified the conductor, who called sheriff’s deputies.

Under California law, juvenile offenders do not commit crimes–they commit “delinquent acts”– and some of these actions would constitute crimes if committed by an adult. The trial phase of a youth offender case is a “jurisdictional” hearing. This means that the judge hears the evidence and determines whether the child is delinquent. The court may then take whatever action it deems to be in the child’s best interest. This can range from community service to spending time at the California Youth Authority, which is essentially juvenile prison. The theoretical purpose of the juvenile penal code is to rehabilitate, not punish.

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