"Deputy Mendes pushed aside the officer who had begun to handcuff Ray, declared “this one is all mine,” and snapped on a pair of handcuffs engraved with Mendes’ own name."

 

Second amended complaint filed today in Ray Christie's federal lawsuit against County of Humboldt, HCSO deputy and CALFire employee Travis Mendes, former Deputy DA and current Deputy Public Defender Adrian Kamada and Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal Does 1-10. I have the complaint which is 79 pages and am going through it and more details will be added on the blog throughout this evening.

This is just the introduction.

"This is a civil rights action about a man criminally charged and prosecuted on the basis of evidence a sheriff’s deputy deliberately fabricated. For four generations, the Christie family has raised cattle in Humboldt County. Raymond Frank Christie (“Ray”) built his business on a simple and lawful model: he bought the sick, injured, and unwanted animals that other ranchers culled from their herds, and he nursed them back to health. For more than fifteen years, the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office investigated the periodic complaints that Ray’s herds looked thin, or that carcasses were visible on his low-lying land, and every livestock deputy who looked reached the same conclusion: Ray was no animal abuser. 

2. That changed when Travis Mendes became the Humboldt County Livestock Deputy in late 2017. Deputy Mendes targeted Ray from his first days on the job. Deputy Mendes personally disliked Ray and, despite knowing that Ray was innocent, set out to bring Ray down. 

When his raiding party descended on Ray’s ranch in March 2018, Deputy Mendes pushed aside the officer who had begun to handcuff Ray, declared “this one is all mine,” and snapped on a pair of handcuffs engraved with Mendes’ own name."

I wish I could post the 79 page ruling.

Defendants game plan of Ray Christie's reckoning is not even one of the top 50 lines in exposing Humboldt County and the halls of Humboldt injustice.

Shannon Miranda, Blake Alexander and more new information in this filing.