Here is why there won't be detailed coverage of yesterday's hearing on Darius Upshaw

Preliminary hearing was scheduled for Darius Upshaw. He is charged with six counts of oral copulation of an intoxicated victim.

Mr. Russ Clanton is Upshaw's attorney. Deputy District Attorney Carolyn Schaffer is the prosecutor for the case.

Time estimate for the preliminary hearing was one day. It was set in Courtroom 3 for 9:15. The livestream was offline and there was testing going on; finally the livestream came on around 10 a.m. There was no audio. After alerting tech, that was fixed but they had a split screen, which makes it hard to see attorneys and makes audio harder.

Seeing a different defense counsel, I stopped watching. When I tried to check later, the court was offline again.

Have no idea what happened. Was the preliminary waived? Was it moved? With no access to the second floor and court via Zoom, it has added a lot of extra work so when I can, I will see if I can find out more information.

Five months into the pandemic, with Humboldt County not on the state watchlist and the COVID 19 stats, there is absolutely no reason the courts cannot open or have some access to the clerk's office and the second floor of the Courthouse.

It isn't just about court coverage. This is having an impact on attorneys and pro per defendants having access to information.

Arraignment on information is scheduled for September 8.

8/27 update: Upshaw was held to answer on all charges. Kent Falkenstine and Chris Ortega from Arcata Police Department testified. Defense introduced and after testimony admitted text messages from March 7 into evidence.

Previous post:
https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2020/08/all-day-time-estimate-for-darius.html?m=1