John Chiv: Two judges denied this last minute defense motion by the Public Defender for this alleged molestor, then hours wasted on intervention by the PD, this is why cases drag on for years and there is a backlog

May 8, 2025

Two judges denied this last minute defense motion by the Public Defender for this alleged molestor, then hours wasted on intervention by the PD, this is why cases drag on for years and there is a backlog

Manuel Garcia Avalos went from alleged molestor to convicted molestor in a few days. Like many inmates, he looks nothing like his booking photo. He has lost some weight, has glasses and is now clean shaven.

On 5/1, Judge Kaleb Cockrum denied Deputy Public Defender Wade Orbelian's motion to continue alleged molestor Garcia Avalos' jury trial scheduled for 5/12. The Public Defender's office disqualified him on 5/2.

On May 6, another defense motion was heard and denied by Presiding Judge Kelly Neel. This was on at the same time as a hearing on sexually violent predator Richard Stobaugh. Deputy District Attorney Whitney Timm had to waste hours on this and deal with the Stobaugh hearing.

Hours wasted by Mr. Orbelian and after two failed efforts, he requested an intervention. Filing last minute motions for discovery he received, ignoring filing a 827 petition even when he was told he should do so in 2022. Numerous continuances by defense, all documented in my previous coverage.

Mr. Orbelian informed Judge Neel he is going to file a Brady motion which he has not as of this afternoon and nothing in ecourt as of 5/3 at 10:20 a.m. If Mr. Orbelian files something again at the last minute , it more waste more litigating this issue and not sufficient time for the DA to respond. There is a Readiness Conference scheduled tomorrow afternoon with Judge Neel. Maybe a plea in the works?

5/9/25: After wasting all this time, Mr. Orbelian was out of the office today and Deputy Public Defender David Celli had to fill in for him. Not only did Ms. Timm have to correct Mr. Orbelian on record earlier this week, this case could have been resolved years ago. The defense offered a joke of 12 years. People had offered 20 to 30 years. Today all the PDs were soft spoken in court and subdued. The case was resolved with a plea for 30 years in prison. Garcia Avalos has to register as a sex offender and he waived his apellate right. Judge Neel advised that a petition could be filed to declare him a sexually violent predator if he is released on parole.

The plea was the right decision. One victim passed away waiting for the case to go to trial. If there had been another continuance, the other two victims were ready to give up after 4 years of waiting. They had to wait until the last minute today to find out that Monday's jury trial will not be happening.

In an interview with law enforcement, Garcia Avalos admitted Garcia Avalos admitted sending texts to the 12 year old alleged victim.

"I would like to caress your hot body" was one text. In another text, he mentions that "he touches her between her legs" and in yet another text that "he wants her hot body."

There is a constant backlog due to many issues with Humboldt Superior Court including short staffing, local rules, inefficiency of scheduling, California soft on crime legislation and misuse of the court system with agencies using the law to dump it on someone else from the State Hospital to the Humboldt Public Defender's office.