click to enlarge Photo By Jayson Mellom
FAR FROM OVER SLO County District Attorney Dan Dow and the California Attorney General appeal SLO County judge s ruling to disqualify the district attorney s office from prosecuting the case against Tianna Arata and six other defendants. On Jan. 8, the Attorney General s Office and the District Attorney s Office filed separate appeals of the Dec. 11, 2020, order recusing the DA s Office from the case. SLO Superier Court Judge Matthew Guerrero s order disqualified the entire SLO County District Attorney s Office due to a clear conflict of interest based in part on an email paid for by SLO County District Attorney Dan Dow s re-election campaign. The email was sent out to his supporters by Dow and his wife, Wendy Dow, less than 48 hours after his office charged Ara
–California Attorney General Xavier Becerra’s Office last week appealed a judge’s order that disqualified the San Luis Obispo District Attorney’s Office from prosecuting Tianna Arrata and several other defendants. Arrata and the defendants allegedly committed criminal acts during a July protest in San Luis Obispo.
The filings read, in part, “The Attorney General of the State of California appeals, pursuant to Penal Code section 1424, subdivision (a)(1) and (2), and in accordance with section 1466, subdivision (a)(1) to the Appellate Division of the San Luis Obispo County Superior Court, from the Court‘s December 11, 2020 order recusing the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office…”
Cover Design by Alex Zuniga Everybody knows that the COVID-19 pandemic is the biggest story of 2020, with social and political tensions coming in a very close second and almost certainly intertwined with the pandemic. Although California also had another record fire season in 2020, SLO County thankfully didn t. The happiest county on the California coast made national news several times this past year with SLO County Sheriff Ian Parkinson s and District Attorney Dan Dow s stance against Black Lives Matter protesters and COVID-19 regulations, the arrest and prosecution of protest leader Tianna Arata, and COVID-19 positive case numbers taking up the bulk of that national attention. Local residents seemed to take issue with everything facing each other in the streets with protests and anti-protests, bickering online in divergent Facebook groups and catty Instagram stories, shouting about COVID
What s more awkward than being
SLO County Distirct Attorney Dan Dow and getting dismissed from an obviously political case because you were too obvious about your politics? click to enlarge Being
SLO County Sheriff Ian Parkinson in an extremely uncomfortable attempt at a public relations video, saying, I m white, and I m American, and you are safe with us, while standing in Avila Beach. The video, which the
SLO County Sheriff s Office posted to its
Facebook feed, is making the rounds. People who love Parkinson are praising it, and those who can t stand the guy are making fun of it. Next level copaganda, commented
After a San Luis Obispo Superior Court judge disqualified the SLO County District Attorney s Office from prosecuting Tianna Arata and her co-defendants, the California Attorney General s Office is asking for 30 days to decide whether it will take over the cases. click to enlarge File Photo By Jayson Mellom
NEXT STEPS SLO SLO County Superior Court Judge Matthew Guerrero disqaulifies SLO County District Attorney s office from prosecuting Tianna Arata s multiple co-defendent case because of emails for campaign donations released 48 hours after charging Arata. Deputy Attorney General William Frank told the courtroom on Dec. 15 that he was just assigned the multiple co-defendant case against protesters charged in relation to a July 21 march that blocked Highway 101 traffic and was slated to receive the co