Today's Sacramento Bee carries "Did Yolo judge err in removing juror in death penalty case?" It's by Hudson Sangree.
Later this week, Yolo Superior Court Judge Paul K. Richardson will make a life-or-death decision when he sentences convicted cop killer Marco Antonio Topete.
Should he follow a jury's recommendation that Topete be executed for gunning down Yolo County Sheriff's Deputy Jose Antonio Diaz on a dirt road near Dunnigan in June 2008? Or should he find that mitigating circumstances, including Topete's troubled upbringing, weigh in favor of a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole?
Topete's sentencing hearing begins Thursday and is scheduled to continue for two days.
Before Richardson gets to the sentencing, however, he will have to deal with a motion for a new trial brought by Topete's lawyers. They claim Richardson erred when he removed a juror during death penalty deliberations in November for what he found was her lack of English language skills.
And:
Richardson called her into court and questioned her about her language skills. When asked, she agreed they were a problem. "I'm afraid that I could misunderstand some points, and my evaluation wouldn't be proper," she told the judge. The judge dismissed her, and the newly constituted jury soon returned a death verdict.
That was on Nov. 16. In the meantime, another juror came forward and told defense lawyers that the woman was well educated and her language skills were fine. She had wanted off the jury because she was the sole holdout for life without parole, he said.
In his written declaration, he said he supported the death verdict but was concerned "that the law was not properly administered in this case." The juror's statement was a key element of the defense motion for a new trial.
Among the factors Richardson may have to consider when he weighs that motion is a recent state Supreme Court decision that overturned a death sentence for the first time in two years. The reason: The Los Angeles judge in the case wrongly removed a juror during guilt deliberations, the high court said.
Related posts are in the judiciary and jury indexes.
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