Appellate court asked to reconsider Judge Guerrero's ruling calcoastnews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from calcoastnews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
March 13, 2021
The 2nd District Court of Appeal determined this week that the San Luis Obispo County Superior Court Appellate Division will hear the Attorney General and District Attorney’s appeals of Judge Matthew Guerrero’s recusal of all county prosecutors in the cases of a group of Black Lives Matter protestors who detained people on Highway 101 last July.
In early January, state and local prosecutors filed two appeals each, one in the felony case against Robert Lastra the protester who allegedly smashed a car window onto a 4-year-old boy and one in the misdemeanor filings against the remaining six defendants. Generally, the 2nd District Court of Appeal hears felony appeals while a panel of three SLO County Superior Court judges rules on misdemeanor appeals.
San Luis Obispo BLM protesters want to sack judge, refuse diversion
March 4, 2021
By KAREN VELIE
Attorneys for several Black Lives Matter protesters expressed interest on March 3 in disqualifying San Luis Obispo County Superior Court Judge Rita Federman from the case, while at the same time displaying no interest in a diversion program that could lead to the charges being dropped against some defendants.
Curtis Briggs, one of Tianna Arata’s attorneys, said he wanted first to clarify Judge Federman intended to remain on the case, and then planned to file a peremptory challenge against her. Federman replaced Judge Matt Guerrero after he was reassigned to family court more than a month ago.
During a virtual appearance in the San Luis Obispo County Superior Court on March 3, the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney s Office recommended a misdemeanor diversion for five of the seven local Black Lives Matter protesters charged with endangering and violating the personal liberty of nonparticipants in a protest last July. Citing the community s division over the case, Deputy District Attorney Delaney Henretty made the request, asking the court to consider the defendants Marcus Montgomery, Amman Asfaw, Joshua Powell, Sam Grocott, and Jerad Hill lack of criminal history and the belief that their actions were done to stop racial discrimination, a worthy goal.
Published date: 2 March 2021 22:52 UTC | Last update: 1 month 1 week ago
The US intelligence report on the murder of Jamal Khashoggi stated what many experts, advocates and lawmakers had been saying for more than two years - that the assassination could not have taken place without the approval of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Releasing the report of the US Office of Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) was still significant in that it represented the first official, public acknowledgement of bin Salman s role by the US government. This is a test of our humanity
- Congresswoman Ilhan Omar
Despite declassifying the findings, the Biden administration decided against imposing sanctions on the crown prince, known as MBS, to avoid a rupture in US-Saudi ties.