Yesterday, as soon as I walked into Courtroom 5, Michael Black tried to talk to me. "Hey, how are you doing?" I obviously did not respond. There is a sign saying no comunication between inmates and custody. He had 5 cases on calendar yesterday.
Two of his arrests were merged into one case. Retired Judge Marilyn Miles was waiting on a few attorneys so court was not in session. Black kept talking then he commented on something Retired HCSO Deputy Greg Bickel, the court bailiff said to Deputy District Attorney Candace Myers. "Yeah, can you put on some nice music" Bickel who is working as extra help said, "Mike, we are in court."
Black then said, "I don't want to be here. I rather be dead."
"I think some of these DAs should be locked in, " continued Black. "Isn't that right Adrian?" Deputy Public Defender Adrian Kamada was seated at the counsel table. Mr. Kamada used to be a Deputy District Attorney. Black kept standing up, disrupting proceedings. They had to get extra bailiffs to watch him.
Then while Judge Miles was trying to complete arraignment, Black faked retching and was put into holding until his case could be called again. He caused so much confusion that Judge Miles temporarily got distracted and forgot that we were waiting for Ms. Sullivan. Black's antics delayed Ms. Andrea Sullivan who was waiting on Zoom to appear. I stepped outside and checked with Ms. Sullivan and found out she was in the "waiting room." Took me 30 seconds while Bickel had been radioing to see where Ms. Sullivan is for the past 5 minutes instead of looking at Zoom.
Judge Miles is one of my favorites from the past bench and we are lucky she comes in to help out. She deserves better than disorganized Barney Fife who can't get inmates in and outside court with three bailiffs helping. The calendar was not even that busy.
I had to tell one of the other bailiffs, HCSO Deputy Luke Mathieson she was on Zoom because Bickel was too busy preening around the courtroom saying hi to people and taking advantage that he is a former court bailiff and older deputy.
The other deputies had to keep an eye on Black and other inmates, Deputy Mathieson was multitasking including checking on a guy snoring who was sitting behind me in the courtroom. If Bickel wants to double dip into the system after retirement, he needs to do more than go through the motions to earn that money.
If Bickel is going to do extra help, he also needs to get with the program and be more organized. The younger bailiffs run the courtrooms better than all these retired, extra help deputies who are more interested in socializing and admit they are just there for some extra cash like Tim Jones. He is related by marriage to Humboldt Superior Court Operations Manager Kelly Nyberg. Jones walks around angry all the time unless you are one of the few chosen ones. I have information about many law enforcement and "musical chair" hires like Jones which only confirm my hunch about these people. This friends and family and who knows Rex and Billy nepotism hiring can grumble in private or start doing their job professionally. It wouldn't be an issue if we hired people based on skill and performance in Humboldt.
Conflict Counsel Supervising Attorney Meagan O'Connell had to stop Judge Miles mid court since Black was making spontaneous comments detrimental to his case. Between the snoring guy and Black acting out and riling up other inmates, it was distracting and hard for anyone including Judge Miles to hear what was going on. Bickel, the court bailiff in charge should have maintained decorum. The court clerk and reporter had to work in this chaotic environment.
Judge Miles had already cautioned Black once to wait for his attorney. Finally,due to disruptive behavior and was removed from court and placed into holding. His bail bondsman from Aladdin surrendered him to jail and all his bail bonds have been exonerated. Judge Miles put provisional bail on the cases he was arraigned on and let bail on the older cases remain as set. Later, Judge Miles said Black is on no bail until competency is restored.
Black has been arrested 6 times this year. I have included charges and court documents in prior coverage and some in this post. I have no control when the DA files. They chose to file a ton of other cases that I have been checking on for months. Some of these cases are being charged and filed by former Deputy DA Wes Keat remotely.
"I met Mr. Black over the weekend," said Ms. Sullivan. "I will be declaring doubt."
After Ms. Sullivan declared doubt, Black said, "I am not a 100% clear. We discussed mental health diversion. I have doubt. I don't want to be trapped in semantic logic. I am uncomfortable."
Judge Miles stopped Black and said to him that he was in court for many cases with serious charges including criminal threats.
Ms. Sullivan said there is a real estate proceeding going on right now and escrow cannot close due to misunderstanding about liens.
Judge Miles questioned him but eventually declared doubt and criminal proceedings were suspended. He will be evaluated by Dr. Rassti. On 9/10, receipt of doctor's reports and hearing on PC 1275 bail hold and PC 1269c increase in bail requested by the DA. Black is on no bail status until competency is determined. OR/bail will resume if criminal proceedings are reinstated.
Black argued with Judge Miles about the bail surrender. He argued about charges. He argued about his attorney declaring doubt. Ms. Sullivan has known him for years since 2008 and represented him previously. She met with him in jail over the weekend and made this decision based on observations.
Judge Miles asked him if he had ever had mental health treatment before. Black responded, "I smoke weed."
Before you check court records posted below, the rest of the post is for Mike Black's family and for specific readers who seem to have an inability to read or just don't care. You can thank those readers for the delays in cases and updates you are still waiting for today and this week. It will take me working 24/7 through another weekend thanks to the constant interruptions. I have said some of this before but since there is extra Humboldt drama lately and people don't listen; those people need to be called out again.
Some of the challenges and disrespect I write about include what law enforcement, court staff, the DAs office, public defenders and private defense attorneys go through and can't say to clueless, ungrateful people.
Many of you in Humboldt have no idea what it is like to be in the midst of the den of evil in a small, rural community rife with corruption. You are entitled fools who have never had a job or income that wasn't built out of weed or family money or inheritance or you are retired or some other reason where you don't work. You have plenty to say online or via text or in person about everything and everyone in Humboldt but won't lift a finger or be part of productive solutions. You talk about me and others you have never met relying often on biased parties and the Humboldt gossip insider cabal that is allergic to truths and facts.
Most of you have no idea what it it is to deal with crime, criminals and a broken criminal justice system day after day. You have no respect that others working in a stressful, constantly changing work environment also have lives, challenges, bills to pay, errands to run, medical appointments and are human beings. There are days where we go from dawn to late night without a break for a glass of water, food or to use the restroom. Yet, some of you are so self absorbed that you just demand, take, attack, snark online misdirecting your anger and misery and refusing to see beyond your selfish bubbles of existence.
We are people doing our jobs; it isn't personal. This is Humboldt specific and includes some people who have left but still have associations here. Not all Humboldt readers are like this but enough of you are and you drain all the positivity I work hard at every day like an app draining a phone battery. My readers across the country and in other parts of California don't act like this and they value my time and work and have boundaries. I worked in media and reporting local news for years in Philadelphia and Atlanta and my experience was different. I was published in national magazine and my experience was positive.
Once again, in what is an extremely busy month, people keep distracting, interrupting and hindering my ability to work. In the last 24 hours and constantly this month, some people have been selfish, tone deaf, unprofessional repeatedly. It is unfair to me, my advertisers, my regular readers and anyone who respects and values me.
If you are being ignored, banned for breaking moderation rules for attacking other readers or not reading updates you want; look in the mirror.
Besides Black's 6 arrests and 5 cases, James Mason 4 cases which was a complicated verdict with the bifurcation phase there are 20 other cases daily. This after being in courtrooms all day. Posting and updating keeps getting delayed because of selfish people. I have people emailing me constantly about Black for months and some freaking out unnecessarily. I get other emails which are a waste of time and misuse of contact information for valid tips or sales. I have people trying to talk to me while I am trying to check the computer for court records, in between court, a busy day and access is limited and in demand.
I have to do extra work checking names and information left out of press releases. I have people texting and wanting to chat on busy days where I have been going non stop for hours. The challenges to get information have increased over the years and some of you still want instant information and details and for free.
I will respond to messages to a point. If you abuse that privilege and use me and hinder my work, then I stop replying. You don't get to cost me money, time or impact my health. Why do any of you think you can treat me disrespectfully and feel entitled to anything from me?
People are getting court records for free, live coverage for free. You are getting accurate coverage on this blog. You are not getting attorney names misspelled like LOCO did yesterday with Smits listed as Smith and not even knowing or adding that Ray Christie entered a plea in December 2023. You are not getting inaccurate representation of the Cuevas case in TS. An article done days later after my live coverage and post. This despite these media looking at court records. TS didn't even have the Landergen verdict until days later. You get analysis on this blog that makes people think I am lawyer and compliments from lawyers and judges nationwide. You get live, detailed coverage for free.
These factual mistakes are serious and those media outlets don't even fix them later. These media outlets are not interacting with you personally on a regular basis, helping you with questions about the local courts or doing live, regular coverage of multiple courtrooms simultaneously. They get paid a regular steady paycheck. I do my own sales and work. When do you think I have the time to do that with my schedule lately? I don't. This is for the trolls and insiders who nit pick on posts if they don't read like a college essay proofread by AI. Get over it. It is live reporting, 24/7 without any time or breaks. Come do what I do for 10 years with all the challenges I have faced; especially monetarily.
I am not polishing every post, worrying about neat little, sanitized sentence structure on days and after weeks of working 24/7 posting live. The irony of getting criticized by people who live on Facebook, social media and sit around doing nothing and can't spell or speak proper English.
I usually list court records chronologically but while working 24/7 on busy days, week after week, with no funding and support from the majority of this community, agencies and people who profit daily from the detailed information I provide; I am not going to spoon feed you.
Advertise, subscribe or make a donation. The people who demand the most are the ones who just go silent when it comes to giving money and don't even have the decency to leave me alone.
While just doing this post, there have been constant interruptions. When I am cranky like this, it is usually days of Humboldt darkness repeatedly draining me. Blocking and ignoring does not work. This is not just about one case. Court coverage is not easy work or for the fainthearted. Law enforcement trying to protect fools like you isn't easy. People need to get off Facebook and stop creating unneccessary drama and hysteria. I walk around town, I am in court and at the courthouse and I use my name. People recognize me. While doing this blog for 10 years, I have been threatened so many times. It has not stopped me from living my life or taking reasonable precautions for my safety. Some of you expect the DA, law enforcement and for some unrealistic reason me to protect you when you don't file reports, don't use legal options and hide anonymously behind a screen. You want me to risk and print what you say and still whine because some friend or family member gets you riled up. Pray, meditate, grow up and start taking responsibility instead of expecting others to save you.
Mike Black's family, you need to work with Ms. Sullivan instead of enabling your out of control family member who has been in and out of the system for years. There are many people who would like to have her as an attorney and her advocating for mental health treatment. Your family member is lucky that Ms. Sullivan and Judge Miles protected his rights yesterday and followed procedure despite his antics in court. I don't think he deserves to get mental health diversion or temporarily be sent away just to return to Humboldt in a few months and endanger more people. I don't care why he spiraled. He has admitted in open court to weed; what else is he on? Based on his criminal record and his antics in court yesterday, he deserves no sympathy. As one of my readers asked, how many chances does a person get? Black has had plenty. Where were his family members or friends yesterday?
I have never received so many emails on any case. Black almost made me feel sorry for Russ Clanton and that should tell readers what he is like. People get pissed when I call out the families in Humboldt but this case is one of many because of Humboldtia denial, bad parenting and enablers. Money and resources wasted that could be used to improve lives.
Earlier post:
https://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2024/08/reader-thanks-me-for-detailed-coverage.html?m=1
**I did another post earlier today that has links to all my Mike Black coverage for years**
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