Former HCOE teacher Ronald Young enters guilty plea to spousal abuse, false imprisonment and criminal threats

Instead of the contempt hearing scheduled a day before his jury trial, the victim, who was sitting next to me in court with a friend, watched as her ex-husband plead guilty to three counts.

Ronald Young, a former Humboldt County Office of Education teacher who was charged with four felonies and a misdemeanor, had his jury trial scheduled to start tomorrow.

He was charged with Count 1  Penal Code 220 (a) 1 Rape, Count 2  Penal Code 243.4 (a) Sexual battery, Count 3  Penal Code 236 False imprisonment, Count 4 273.5 (a) Inflict Corporal injury on a spouse/cohabitant and Count 5  591.5 Damage/destroy Wireless Communication.

He plead guilty to three felonies this afternoon Count 4 Inflict Corporal injury on a spouse/cohabitant  , Count 3 False imprisonment and a Count 6 of  Penal Code 422, criminal threats.

Counts 1, 2 and 5 were dismissed.

He is too register as a sex offender and while he could be sentenced to prison, the plea deal will most likely be for formal supervised probation. If he successfully completes probation, he will no longer be required to register as a sex offender.

He has to do a 52 week certified batterer's program and pay certain mandatory fines that are for crimes related to domestic violence, and he will be served with a mandatory criminal protective order. At the time of plea, "county jail time remained open" said Judge Cissna.

 He is to pay restitution to the victim and at sentencing, he will make a payment of $10,000. He could be required to pay $10,000 fine for each felony.

If the plea is accepted, he will serve a total of five years and 8 months. Judge Cissna  explained that the plea was the maximum of 4 years for the felony of spousal abuse and 8 months each consecutively for the other two counts.

This is a conditional plea that was entered today in front of Judge Timothy Cissna. After Probation weighs in on a pre-sentencing report, Judge Cissna can accept or reject the plea.

The plea deal was reached after DDA Kelly Neel consulted with the victim. I know this firsthand from the victim, whose story I have shared in my coverage.

Sentencing is August 19 at 2 p.m. in Courtroom 4.


Previous posts (with other links):

http://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2015/07/defense-files-ordervof-contempt-in.html