A public hearing regarding the Humboldt County placement for sexually violent predator Joshua Cooley was scheduled for today in Courtroom 1 but it has been moved to Courtroom 4.
The location has been moved to the Board of Chambers previously for some hearings to accomodate the size of the crowd. Time estimate for today's hearing is two hours.
The case, the concerns, the search has been covered in detail several times on this blog.
There has been community outrage, decisions made not to place Cooley in Humboldt, then changed back to include Humboldt and several hearings. The basic information and position of the attorneys and the community has been the same.
I have been at every single hearing. Most of the media and community have not been present at most hearing except when there is a potential placement. This is a confidential case and there are no court minutes so attending the hearing is crucial. It is the only way to know when the next date is scheduled.
The other media does not show up at every hearing but like anyone in the public, they can view my blog and get the date. I put in the time and effort to be in court for the public. The time I put in on this case does not impact my coverage of cases scheduled at the same time only because I put in extra effort and time. I get that certain cases are confidential by law but there should be exceptions in homicide and sex offender cases.
The community would have never known about the placement in Humboldt had I not published that first post. The decision to have these public hearings would have never happened without that first post.
The community also never had input when the original decision was made by Judge John Feeney for outpatient program. While this is a particular type of case, why does a convicted criminal and a repeat offender who refuses to participate in treatment have more rights than law abiding citizens?
Most people are familiar with the case and all the details . If you have not been following this case regularly, you can access coverage on all posts and this case via the search feature on this blog. I have linked some posts below.
District Attorney Maggie Fleming is here. Deputy District Attorney Stacey Eads is in Courtroom 3 at the moment for Chad Smith's case and then she has trial assignment for Patricio Segura but she came over at 9:30.
Cooley's attorney, Conflict Counsel Supervising Attorney Meagan O'Connell was not there at 8:30. but she was there at 9:30.
DA Fleming told Judge Feeney only one doctor, Dr. Abrams recommended Cooley be released and even that doctor said to a treatment facility. Here is one link about the case, if you don't have time to read several posts.
https://casetext.com/case/people-v-cooley-48
Representatives from Liberty Healthcare including Rafael Loya and Cooley's grandparents and some family members are here. EPD Chief Steve Watson and Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal were there.
About 20 people from the Willow Creek community are here so far. "Was anyone notified? asked one woman before court. The only way people knew was because they were interviewed by HCSO deputies months ago.
Good question,this is a public hearing, why wasnt the community notified? At the last hearing, Mr. Loya asked before the last hearing about community reaction, see post linked below. Only I was at the last hearing.
After people filed into the court, Judge John Feeney said he just received pleadings and he had to call the civil calendar so the Cooley case won't be called until 9:30 a.m.
Some people had to leave for work so they left feedback with DA Maggie Fleming. And they rightfully were upset. The case could have been scheduled for a special set and proper notice given to the community. The court calendar for today was available last night so Judge Feeney saying he had 13 civil cases at 8:30 this morning is not a surprise. He could have instructed court admin to post a note about the hearing being delayed instead of having people wait around since 8 a.m.
I spoke to some of the community members and they were wondering how future power shutoffs will impact monitoring.
Recent posts:
https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2019/09/propertyin-humboldt-has-been-vetted-for.html?m=1#more
https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2019/08/only-potential-lead-to-place-sexually.html?m=1
https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2019/07/no-to-joshua-cooley-being-placed-in.html?m=1
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.