ER - Yunque trial records to be 'destroyed'

Yunque trial records to be 'destroyed'
by Kara Machado, 4/24/2007

Due to a judge’s ruling Tuesday, Carol Ann Yunque will have a clean record.

Humboldt County Superior Court Judge John T. Feeney found good cause Tuesday — “due to the facts of the case” — to grant a motion that finds Yunque “factually innocent” of the charges she was acquitted of following a jury trial in January.

In addition, Feeney found good cause for the “sealing and ultimate destruction of the records in (the) Yunque case.”

Tuesday’s motion was filed by Yunque’s former trial attorney, Humboldt County Alternate Conflict Counsel Mark C. Bruce.

Yunque’s case stems from a Jan. 27, 2006, incident in which it had been alleged that Yunque, 59, of Princeton, N.J., assaulted Kathleen McLaughlin, 55, of Port Orford, Ore., at a mutual friend’s house in Fortuna.

McLaughlin claimed Yunque punched her, causing two fractures to McLaughlin’s jaw and chin area and the misalignment of her bottom teeth.

Throughout the course of Yunque’s trial, Bruce maintained McLaughlin had been the aggressor and that Yunque acted in self-defense. And, Bruce maintained that Yunque did not “punch McLaughlin, but slapped her.”

At the end of the trial, a jury found Yunque not guilty of felony battery with serious bodily injury.

Bruce said, in talking with jurors after they had been released from their trial duties, “it was very clear to them that (Yunque) acted in self-defense.”

If convicted of the charges against her, Yunque could have faced a maximum penalty of three years in prison, Bruce said.

After court Tuesday, Bruce said he was pleased with Feeney’s decision.

“The judge quite properly granted the motion,” Bruce said. “It’s not often a judge grants these motions and it’s not often that a district attorney will agree (with the motion).

“(Yunque) is going to be very happy with this. I’m certain she’s going to be fully vindicated.”

Humboldt County Deputy District Attorney Jeffrey Schwartz, who prosecuted the case, said, “The people did not oppose Ms. Yunque’s motion because the jurors determined that her conduct in striking the victim was justified based on self-defense.

“The defense of self-defense is an age-old principle and maxim of English and American jurisprudence,” Schwartz said. “I respect a person’s right to defend one’s self in a lawful manner.

“The jury’s finding entitles Ms. Yunque the opportunity to have her record cleared.”

Bruce said Yunque has since moved back home to the East Coast and “on with her life.”

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