Former Sheriff deputy held to answer on charges against 1 victim, insufficient evidence for other victim's charges

Former Sheriff Deputy Jason Daniels was charged with three felony counts for the preliminary hearing: Count 1 penetration by a foreign object and Counts 2 and 3 sexual battery. People represented by Mr. Andrew Isaac. Defense attorneys Julia Fox and Steven Betts from the Bay area.

The Judge rejected defense's arguments about "consent issue" regarding Count 1 and Count 2 which related to the first victim. The defense tried to make issue of a statement that Jane Doe's ex boyfriend had given and that she got into the car with Daniels after the assault. Jane Doe's testimony in court this morning refutes this assertion by defense and explains the event of the night and her state of mind.

Judge Michael Beecher said he found "sufficient credible evidence" to support the charges and that he found the victim's testimony "credible."

Defense Counsel got third Count dismissed citing Calcrim Code that "there was no skin to skin contact." Mr. Betts said that Daniels touched Jane Roe "over her sweater" and that the People had failed to prove the elements that needed to be met. From Mr. Issac's remarks in Court, it looks like lesser charges for the second victim could be filed as a misdemeanor when Daniels is arraigned on information for the jury trial. That charge does not require "skin to skin contact" to occur.

Arraignment on information for jury trial on April 7 in Courtroom 5 at 2 p.m..

Second victim referred to as Jane Roe was in a car with a male friend driving near Samoa bridge. The friend was lost and was driving slowly and he pulled over. Suddenly, lights came on and they saw Jason Daniel's police car. It was late at night. First Daniels spoke with the driver, then he asked Jane Roe if she was on probation. She was and for possession of heroin. He asked her to get out of the car and asked her "if she had anything that might hurt me or stick me." She told him needles and put them on the seat of the car. He had her approach him and he was standing at the back of the car. Daniels told her that he wanted to search her. She didn't think anything of it. She had been searched before but by a female officer. He had "her up against the car, facing the car by the trunk," Jane Roe testified. She was bent over with her hands on the car. While searching her, "he groped me." Jane Roe told Mr. Isaac that Daniels touched her breasts over her sweater. It was not a pat down, "he rubbed my breasts".

She said she was "wierded out." Daniels kept insisiting she "was holding out on him" and that she was hiding more stuff. He asked her to empty her pockets. Finding nothing, he still pressed her about concealing something. Jane Roe said she told him that she would pull down her pants to prove that he was wrong. And he took her up on that offer. She pulled her pants were down to her knees,  and said, "he bent over and said, 'You look really good down there."

"I felt violated but I was too scared to tell him that," said Roe. "I was on my period" and he commented on her tampon string." Jane Roe said that "I was looking at his name tag and he had it covered. I knew the whole thing was not right."

Daniels let her go and she and her friend drove away. Jane Roe said that except for her boyfriend, Brian Griesbach, she did not talk to anyone about this incident. While she was in jail last year, her boyfriend encouraged her to talk to her lawyer, Mr. Marek Reavis.When Mr. Issac asked her why she did not go to the police right after the incident, she said, "He is a cop and I'm just a normal person." She did not think anyone would believe her over Daniels.

The People had both victims testify. The defense did not cross examine the second victim. As their evidence, the defense called the DA investigator Kyla Baxley in this case to the stand as their only evidence. She testified that when she interviewed the first victim's ex-boyfriend that Jose Garcia confirmed to Investigator Baxley that after the alleged assault Jane Doe did tell him about the incident with Daniels. However Garcia who had broken up with Jane Doe when he was interviewed, told Investigator Baxley that Jane Doe told him, "an officer had felt her up that night and she liked it." This was the only statement that Mr. Betts asked of Investigator Baxley.

On cross examination, Mr. Isaac asked Ms. Baxley how Garcia seemed about the victim and her alleged assault and Investigator Baxley said, "he was indifferent." Garcia's statement contradicts the victim's testimony.

Through Mr. Issac, both victim's assked the Judge, that they did not wish to speak to the defense counsel or a defense investigator. This is according to the Victim's Rights in California, link below.

http://oag.ca.gov/victimservices/content/bill_of_rights