Kathleen Bryson scores two wins for Hoopa member Sherlette Colegrove; provides additional facts regarding 2011 case

On May 21, Judge John Feeney sentenced Sherlette Colegrove, a sixth generation member of the Hoopa Tribe to 5 years of formal supervised probation.

Colegrove’s attorney is Kathleen Bryson. Ms. Bryson has represented Colegrove on two cases now and has successfully resolved both cases in Colegrove’s favor.

The charge in the case was vehicular manslaughter and a special allegation of fleeing the crime scene. Ms. Bryson said Colegrove only pled to the manslaughter charge, not to any special allegation.

Deputy District Attorney Luke Brownfield prosecuted the case. He was not present in court that day as he was sick. DDA Roger Rees was handling Mr. Brownfield’s cases in Courtroom 1.

Ms. Bryson also brought up some other terms in the conditions by Probation that she had discussed with her client. She said regarding the no alcohol condition, Ms. Colegrove has no issue with alcohol. She mentioned a motion that had been previously filed for use of marijuana by Ms. Colegrove; she addressed another Probation condition regarding use of knives and instruments and said that for cultural reasons, Ms. Colegrove uses instruments to gather herbs related to tribal practices. Judge Feeney referred the matters regarding use of knives and medical marijuana to Probation. He granted the modifications for three other terms that Ms. Bryson requested on behalf of Colegrove.

Certain monetary fines were imposed. Ms. Colegrove had served 33 days in jail, with 33 days for good time credit. Bail bond was exonerated.

Mr. Brownfield did not respond to questions by deadline except to say that he had been out sick.

Previously, he had indicated to me that he would provide some input to the Court on sentencing on May 21. There were no notes for Mr. Rees in the file and so the People submitted to the Court’s decision. Mr. Rees did provide some input to the Court on May 21 regarding modification of terms recommended by Probation. Mr. Brownfield was also not in court on May 7, when Judge Feeney decided tentatively to grant probation. ADA Kelly Neel was present for the People on that day.

March 26 was when Mr. Brownfield was last in court for this case and Mr. Brownfield had objected to the sentencing being continued. Judge Feeney granted defense’s request to continue sentencing because Ms. Bryson had just received the Probation report and she said she needed time to prepare a formal written statement to advocate for her client.

On May 7, Judge Feeney had said he was leaning towards granting Colegrove formal supervised probation. Judge Feeney had referred the case back to Probation for terms and conditions. Judge Feeney said his decision was different before he received the statement of mitigation. He also reviewed toxicology results, letters from Joe Thompson, Andrew Issac, Colegrove, her mother, family and community members.

Ms. Neel's only input on May 7 was to ask that the police reports and toxicology results be sealed.

Ms. Bryson responded to my questions and also provided some facts so I have updated certain details from previous reports to include those changes.

“I am really pleased with Judge Feeney's decision in Sherlette Colegrove's case.  The accident analysis conducted by Joe Thompson, a local expert, demonstrated that Ms. Colegrove only had a few seconds to react to Mr. Aguilar's presence on the narrow Hoopa road.  Mr. Aguilar walked with his back to the oncoming traffic and his blood contained six times a potential lethal dose of methamphetamine,” said Ms. Bryson. “ Ms. Colegrove's actions were clearly not deliberate.  She is a very good person who serves her family, her local church and her tribe with distinction."

This is the second time Ms. Bryson has secured a win for Colegrove. In December 2011, Colegrove was charged with Felony.  Assault with a Deadly weapon other than a firearm. She was held to answer on the charges in the Preliminary Hearing but the case was dismissed after the preliminary hearing.

DA Candidate Allan Dollison prosecuted that case. He said that at the preliminary hearing, the testimony of two witnesses was “shaky” and he could not prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. He requested that the case be dismissed  “in the interest of justice.”

According to community reports, Ms. Colegrove had assaulted someone in Willow Creek. The alleged victim was an undocumented Mexican immigrant who was the significant other of Colegrove's sister.

The case was dismissed by Judge Feeney.  Ms. Bryson said that Colegrove was “accused in a restraining order of having her sister threaten someone else with what Ms. Colegrove would do to them" and Ms. Bryson said that "Ms. Colegrove was not even there at the time the threat was made."

The undocumented immigrant in question, said Ms. Bryson, had been deported three times and came back to deal heroin to Ms. Colegrove’s sister.