Chai Her should be thanking the Judge, his attorney and the People that despite his stupidity, he got a second chance

Preliminary hearing was scheduled for kidnapping suspect Chai Her this morning. Dates were eventually rescheduled and in Her's best interest but it took minutes of conversation with his attorney and two chances given to him by Visiting Judge Garrett Olney  to get to the final outcome.

Her is charged with three felonies: Count 1 kidnapping; Count 2 with false imprisonment; Count 3 fleeing while being pursued by law enforcement and a special allegation of a prior conviction in Humboldt for PC 459-PC460 (a), burglary.

Deputy District Attorney Roger Rees is the prosecutor for the case. Deputy Conflict Counsel Owen Tipps is Her's attorney.

Both sides were ready to proceed. Mr. Tipps told Judge Olney that he had not received the bodycam footage or 911 recording but that was because despite the People's request, they had not received it from the arresting agency. Mr. Tipps said he wanted to request a continuance but Her insisted on going forward today.

"The dashcam would be very relevant to Count 3 so you have a right to a continuance but you wish to proceed today?"

Her was adamant. Mr. Tipps spoke with him p at the counsel table mentioning that going forward today was against his advice. Her wouldn't budge.

If you read previous coverage, you know the alleged victim had written a letter on behalf of Her for OR/bail and Her seemed to think her testimony would help him. This is based on what Mr. Tipps said next,  "She has nothing to do with the evading." Mr. Tipps tried to explain to Her the prison sentence he potentially faced for that count. Still Her wanted his day in court today. "We can proceed today but it is against my advice."

Mr. Rees told Judge Olney that the People had offered to resolve the case if Her pleaded guilty to a lesser charge to Count 1, pleaded guilty to Count 3 as charged, Count 2 would be dismissed. Her has a prior strike and he is still getting this offer because ,"there are evidentiary issues with the alleged victim."

"That appears to the Court a very generous offer," said Judge Olney. He gave Her a chance to talk to Mr. Tipps again while he heard a parole hearing.

This was a very busy morning with several cases and preliminary hearings. Her seems to be clueless about the seriousness of the charges. He just got more time to consider his future.

Alleged victim is Jennifer Talynn Hurn. She was not in court last time and had to be called again today because she did not show up.

 Today, his sister was not in court; his brother accompanied his mother. EPD Officer Joshua Horn is one of the People's witnesses.

Intervention was rescheduled to January 6; preliminary hearing to January 8. The People's offer remains open until the preliminary hearing.
Previous post:
https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2019/12/kidnapping-suspects-preliminary-hearing.html?m=1#more