John Chiv: Motion to continue Stobaugh's hearing delayed this morning because he was not in court; public cannot comment via Zoom

May 7, 2025

Motion to continue Stobaugh's hearing delayed this morning because he was not in court; public cannot comment via Zoom

(Stobaugh's criminal case charges, counts he pleaded guilty to and dismissal )

Yesterday, Deputy District Attorney Whitney Timm filed supplemental comments on placement in sexually violent predator Richard Stobaugh's case.

I have done four detailed posts in the last week on various hearings on Stobaugh's proposed placement and I am not summarizing all that information again. No other media has been in court for these hearings. My coverage of today's hearing will have the context provided of what has happened in this case for the last week.

Today, at 8:30 a.m., there was a motion to continue scheduled. Deputy District Attorney Whitney Timm was present the People. Public Defender Luke Brownfield for Stobaugh. California Department of State Hospital's attorney Jane Hu appeared via Zoom. A man was who was there yesterday with DA Chief Investigator Kyla Baxley was there again today with a woman.

Judge Kaleb Cockrum said he had not had time to read the "hundreds of comments" filed by Ms. Timm yesterday. He asked Mr. Brownfield where Stobaugh was and that he needed to be here for today's hearings.

"I spoke with Mr. Stobaugh yesterday and had the expectation he would be here," said Mr. Brownfield. When asked to follow up, Mr. Brownfield said, "I don't know what more you want me to do."

Ms. Hu said there was a "Concerned Citizen" on Zoom who she does not think is Stobaugh. Judge Cockrum agreed. He told Ms. Timm, "the public cannot appear via Zoom."

Ms. Hu said, "I can work with Coalinga to get Mr. Stobaugh for the hearing." She asked if a video appearance was not possible if a "telephonic appearance was okay." Judge Cockrum said it would.

9:44 a.m.: 32 people are already here including Cal Poly Humboldt Police Chief Greg Allen and Eureka Mayor Kim Bergel. DA Investigator Greg Hill is here. Chief Investigator Baxley is having people sign up if they want to speak. She told the group she would prefer that the Manila residents be given preference. By 10:06 a.m. well over 50 people are here. By 10:15 when the courtroom opened, there were more than 100 people. The space outside Courtroom 1 and 2 was packed. Not everyone could be in the courtroom.

First District Supervisor Rex Bohn who said he would be there was not there this morning at 8:30 or 10:15 unless he arrived after 10:15 when we were all seated inside the courtroom and left. I doubt he was there because Rex would have stepped in to get the attention he likes. No other Humboldt County Supervisor showed up. I don't know if Sheriff William Honsal was still in Sacramento and that is not the reason he was not present today.

The motion to continue was continued from this morning until 10:15 for Judge Cockrum to read comments and for Ms. Hu to see if she can arrange Stobaugh's appearance.

10:15: Stobaugh was present. Motion to continue this hearing granted, placement hearing continued to July 14. There is another hearing on May 21 for the DA to provide evidence of potential child porn use by Stobaugh while he was at the State Hospital. I already reported on this in my regular coverage last week.

Most of the people interested and directly impacted were there in court. There has been other media coverage so in this post I am going to highlight what was left out.

Other than remarks by Judge Cockrum today and Ms. Timm and a couple of remarks by Mr. Brownfield, I have already reported on a lot that was said today including Ms. Hu's reason for motion to continue.

Judge Cockrum summarized the case and the procedure. Ms. Hu informed Ms. Timm that Stobaugh did not inform his treatment team about possessing child porn while he was at the State Hospital. The child porn possession was brought up last week in court by Ms. Timm and I was at that hearing. I reported it so it was not a surprise to Judge Cockrum today. Why wasn't the evidentiary hearing set when Ms. Timm brought this up last week?

Kudos to all the people who showed up in person today.

In addition to the "over 130 comments", another additional 350 comments were submitted.

I will highlight two of Judge Cockrum's quotes:

"We are here because of horrible, violent, unconscionable things Mr. Stobaugh did."

"This is a court hearing. This is not a townhall meeting."

Some people walked out of the courtroom after the motion to continue was granted and public comment restrictions at the July 14 hearing were announced. I don't blame them.

Liberty Healthcare was exposed for their shitty assessment of the Manila house. If it was not for the public comment, Judge Cockrum wouldn't have known the information from the Executive Director of Friends of the Dunes about the many events and children present a block from this proposed placement. The people who took time to write and show up have done more for this community in a few days than the so called leadership and business owners of this county.

After this post, I did this other post later this evening about Liberty Healthcare.

Proposed placement information should be released before a Judge makes his ruling to release any sexual violent predator. I said this several times last week to DA's office, law enforcement and community members.

California Senator Brian Jones audit and information in that post is important for community members to read.

Ms. Timm was correct that the California Department State of Hospitals should be withdrawing their request to release Stobaugh.

CA Department of State Hospitals did not redact Stobaugh's Social Security number. Liberty Healthcare has been through this process with sexually violent predator Joshua Cooley. They know the challenges of a placement in Humboldt County.

Maybe Gavin Newsom and Rob Bonta should stop their daily lawsuit of suing Trump and take care of business in their own backyard first?They won't respond and I have brought this to the attention of Senator Brian Jones. I doubt Jared Huffman or Mike McGuire will do diddly. When Humboldt County Supervisors don't even bother to show up and make an appearance for a few minutes, why should the state care?

The public gets information from me based on covering Humboldt court regularly for 11 years. I will say what other media will not or say privately because I am not beholden to any local interest or corporate overlords. I covered this case for 4 other hearings since last week when no other media was present. Before you react to other media coverage on what I can only describe as Judge Cockrum venting today in front of the public and the showdown between Judge Cockrum and the DA's office where Judge Cockrum shut them down because he wears a robe, you should read all coverage, including mine.

LOCO's Ryan Burns has some of the quotes and information that I am also going to add but not everything I will add. Ryan Burns coverage was more comprehensive than Thad's from North Coast Journal. Doesn't really matter what Times Standard writes because they have a paywall and a dwindling readership. North Coast News did a better job than Redwood News. As of last night, there was nothing on RHBB. This morning I read Ryan Hutson's coverage on RHBB and she did include that the possession of child porn was not known by the DA at the time the decision was made for conditional release. This is why people who read more than one local media source are better informed.

I am not adding the summary of the court case by Judge Cockrum that Ryan included because you can read it in other coverage and because I have added court documents and his charges. People can also go check out court records themselves. What Ryan and Thad and most other media left out is Ms. Timm's response to Judge Cockrum's court statement that the DA included confidential victim testimony. Ms. Timm responded that the testimony was from a public trial. For 11 years I have covered case after case about predators and the DA's office is very protective of survivors. Judge Cockrum trying to diss the DA and going on this long explaination was time the public could have commented or we all who don't get a taxpayer salary could have worked. On 5/9, the DA filed a redacted supplemental comment. The file is still with Judge Cockrum.

Media and public doesn't have the court file or the documents to check Judge Cockrum's claim since this case has been in court for a week. The media and public cannot see every record and filing in this type of case or any case. If it is testimony from a public court trial, it is not confidential. Isn't that misinformation further stoking the fear and anger the public rightfully feels?

Judge Cockrum used the word misinformation today targeting HCSO without mentioning them and calling out the DA's office. What did Judge Cockrum not mention today? Judge Cockrum did not mention that new evidence could factor in his final decision. Go read my previous past posts. Last week, he said he made the decision to conditionally release Stobaugh based on information provided. Is it the DAs fault that Stobaugh was not forthcoming with his treatment team or that the State Hospital did not check if Stobaugh had access to child porn? Judge Cockrum did not even release the subpoenaed records to the DA until yesterday. He expects a lot when it was under his control when to release the records.

Ms. Timm had to appear on another case yesterday for an alleged molestor and waste hours because Deputy Public Defender Wade Orbelian filed yet another last minute motion and once again could not prove good cause. This motion was denied by Judge Cockrum last week and the Public Defender's office disqualified him a day later. Yesterday Judge Neel made the same ruling as Judge Cockrum because the PD's office is in denial they dropped the ball on a 4 year old case. Then Mr. Orbelian requested an intervention yesterday. Ms. Timm had to deal with that case, Stobaugh and her regular workload This is in addition to Ms. Timm's regular workload. Some Humboldt Superior Court judges grant needless and multiple continuances often within days and weeks. Maybe if Humboldt Superior Court managed time more efficiently, everything could be done to the perfect standard required by Judge Cockrum who knows the chaotic environment attorneys have to work in daily. It is easy for Judge Cockrum to criticize others while taking zero responsibility for why things are so rushed. Humboldt "local court rules" do not help.

What misinformation is Judge Cockrum talking about? There was no misinformation. HCSO should not have given out court email address. Other than that, the only chaos and confusion that has been created is four hearings before today and unnecessary hearings due to the way scheduling is done by the local courts and Judge Cockrum who could have granted the motion to continue yesterday. If he did not want to "embarass" the DA's office, the motion to continue could have been granted yesterday and the considerate thing to do instead of wasting everyone's time today. He wanted to vent and he wears the robe and he got to have his say at one hearing while restricting others' ability to speak.

Judge Cockrum made his decision not to allow comments via Zoom last week. Acting like he has no control over Zoom and to mute someone or make them exit Zoom is misinformation. Glad to see comments online call him out about Zoom. To allow comment at all was his preference but he reluctantly caved. He pretended there was no statutory requirement when a simple google search says by law public can comment on a placement for a sexually violent predator. People showed up in person to speak. Then he placed restrictions and a cap of two hours. Judge Cockrum just does not want to be bothered and face the public about his decision to conditionally release Stobaugh. He disrespected the attorneys, he disrespected the DA's office, he took a dig at HCSO and he disrespected the taxpayers who pay his salary.

We are all under stress Judge Cockrum and the rest of us are not making over $230,000 plus that you were in 2023 in Humboldt (2023 is the last salary information I could find) and we don't have a robe or judicial immunity. We do have to live in a small, rural community with the consequences of your decision and ruling. Who do you think pays your salary Judge Cockrum? I have no respect for you anymore after your behavior with this Stobaugh case and how you handled the placement hearing.

I don't know what is going on with Judge Cockrum but I am not the only one who notices an unfortunate change and arrogance in him. This is the same judge I have watched in several trials, including sex abuse cases and he used to be patient and respectful. When he was a defense attorney, he was the first lawyer to make me look at the defense perspective. I don't even recognize the person he is now and was when he first became a judge.

I know Judge Cockrum is very particular about what is on record due to issues with appeal but most of what was said on record had nothing to do with an appeal. We know Stobaugh's record, the court could have issued a press release stating what the rules would be for this hearing the day before. Humboldt Superior Court didn't have a problem sending out an email about not sending communication to the court regarding the Stobaugh placement. It isn't the public's fault that it was not assigned to Judge Cockrum until last Friday.

The people who showed up today are committed, dedicated residents of this County and voters. They deserved better.

To paraphrase Judge Cockrum, this is a court hearing, not a therapy session where you use your robe to attack people actually trying to keep the community safe from a predator.

The people who showed up in court today are not there every day. Attorneys and the rest of people like law enforcement, probation who are at the Courthouse everyday are used to the local courts wasting their time. The people who took time off from work and took time off their busy schedule were lectured to by a judge who was dismissive and disrespectful about a situation he could have avoided by granting and addressing the motion to continue yesterday. That would have allowed the time for the State Hospital to read all comments and deadlines would have been met. That would have not resulted in a last minute disappointment. Judge Cockrum made the choice to grandstand at what was supposed to be a placement hearing about a sexually violent predator.

The way Judge Cockrum spoke to Ms. Timm and DA Eads today was disrespectful. It isn't the first time he has done this because he spoke to now Judge, then April Van Dyke in open court very disrespectfully.

Both these women have done more than Judge Cockrum on a regular basis to protect women and children in this community from predators and other violent criminals.

If Judge Cockrum is stressed and overworked, take it up with your fellow judges and court administration. Which Humboldt judge isn't overworked and stressed? 825 5th street is a toxic, den of evil that sucks all the positivity out of the strongest person.

If Judge Cockrum is so miserable, he is free not to run for re-election. If he does, I hope someone with a chance to win runs against him. As Gregory Kreis found out, a sitting judge with all the money and so called court connections can lose with the right candidate.

3:48 p.m.: I have included court minutes for those who just want a summary of what happened today. The two owners of 2171 Peninsula Drive are Alexander Oberg-Wood and Jordan O'Briain. They don't even live in Humboldt according to records from the Assessors. They live in El Cajon. They just want the money.