John Chiv: No to Joshua Cooley being placed in Tehama County, no to transient release in Humboldt, future options being explored are Sacramento and Humboldt

Jul 19, 2019

No to Joshua Cooley being placed in Tehama County, no to transient release in Humboldt, future options being explored are Sacramento and Humboldt

Placement review hearing for sexually violent predator Joshua Cooley took place this morning. Out of county placements have been explored and so have Humboldt County placements and that continues to be the case after today's hearing.

At the beginning of the hearing, Judge Feeney said the Tehama County option was being abandoned due to opposition from the citizens. That was his tentative decision.

Since majority of the people in court had traveled from Tehama County, Judge Feeney gave them the chance to speak.

Tehama County District Attorney Matthew Rogers, an attorney and a 14 year old girl spoke about their concerns. Tehama County's concerns are the same as Humboldt County. A petition with 1,213 signatures was signed by people from Tehama County. "To say that Tehama County is adamantly opposed is an understatement," said Mr. Rogers. "This issue has galvanized our community."

Tehama County no longer being an option to place Cooley ended up being his final decision.

Conflict Counsel Supervising Attorney Ms. Meagan O'Connell was court appointed to represent Cooley. She said, "Given the nature of the case, given Mr. Cooley's status, no matter where he will be placed, there will be opposition."

Mentioning that it has been three years since Judge Feeney ordered the release of Cooley from Coalinga State Hospital, Ms. O'Connell said, "I can't do anything other than file a writ."

The Humboldt County transient release option is off the table after Judge Feeney heard from Rafael Loya frpm Liberty Healthcare and Humboldt County District Attorney Maggie Fleming.

DA Maggie Fleming said the People continue to oppose Cooley's release into the community but are "particularly concerned about transient release."

Mr. Loya, again today, described the monitoring program. DA Fleming reiterated Cooley's refusal to participate in treatment.

Loya said, "Eventually, Mr. Cooley will go back to the hospital, then his release will be unconditional. I want the community to realize the significance of the decision today." If he is released unconditionally, there will be no supervision.

Humboldt County citizens, EPD Chief Steve Watson, EPD Captain Patrick O'Neill, First District Supervisor Rex Bohn, Deputy DA Stacey Eads and DA Investigator Kyla Baxley were in court.

If you have not been following the case regularly on the blog, recent posts are linked below. I have covered the background in detail many times, often being the only media to cover a hearing. In fact, until I broke the story, this case was not covered locally or on the public radar.

The community concerns are the same every hearing, the information from Liberty Healthcare is essentially the same every hearing and the attorney arguments have been the basically the same and all this has covered in detail several times on the blog.

This is a post from the Take Back Eureka page on July 18.