◼ Fortuna police looking for attempted murder suspect - The Times-Standard - Posted: 04/02/2011 02:42:19 AM PDT
The Fortuna Police Department is looking for a murder suspect who allegedly stabbed another man in Fortuna.
Officers responded to Redwood Memorial Hospital at about 5:50 p.m. Thursday, according to a press release. The victim, who was hospitalized for stab wounds to his chest and back, said he had been assaulted while seated in his vehicle on Kenmar Road and Renee Court.
The department is seeking information on Derek Wendell Bowman, 29, of Fortuna. Bowman has been identified as a suspect in the stabbing. He is on active parole and should be considered dangerous, the FPD release said.
Bowman was arrested in January by the California Highway Patrol during a multi-agency parolee search in connection with an armed robbery.
The department can be reached at its anonymous tip hotline at 800-78-CRIME or 1-800-782-7463. Informants may be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction, the release said.
Showing posts with label Bear River. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bear River. Show all posts
5.01.2008
ER - Gallegos sidesteps questions about possible conflict of interest in Bowman charges
Gallegos sidesteps questions about possible conflict of interest in Bowman charges
A large contribution to the successful 2006 re-election campaign of Humboldt County District Attorney Paul Gallegos has raised questions the DA has so far declined to answer, after it was learned that the son of the man chiefly responsible for the contribution subsequently escaped punishment on numerous criminal charges, including one alleging the statutory rape of a 14-year-old girl.
According to Fair Political Practices Commission filings, the donation, in the amount of $10,000, was the single largest monetary contribution received by the campaign of the incumbent DA from any contributor whose last name was not Gallegos.
FPPC documents indicate that the contribution was recorded April 29, and attributed to the Bear River Band of Rohnerville Rancheria, which is chaired by Leonard Bowman, father of Derek Bowman, 25, both of Loleta.
The younger Bowman’s association with law enforcement spans two states and 11 years, and includes as many as 40 criminal charges ranging from assault with a deadly weapon as a juvenile to three charges alleging violence against one adult and two juvenile females in 2006.
But on July 19, less than six weeks after Gallegos was re-elected, the DA’s Office gathered nine felonies and a handful of misdemeanors pending against Derek, and dismissed or suspended sentence on all of them in a single day.
According to publicly available court documents, recent charges against Derek included felony statutory rape, five counts of felony check fraud against local businesses, felony burglary, felony threats, felony battery, misdemeanor battery and misdemeanor resisting arrest.
Restitution orders for the check fraud cases were part of the July 19 deals, but the documents show that no jail time for any of the alleged offenses was requested by the DA’s Office.
For violation of probation on a previous charge, Derek was sentenced in July to 180 days, less time served, in the Humboldt County jail.
FOLLOWING THE MONEY
In a declaration in support of an arrest warrant on one of the charges against Derek, Humboldt County Sheriff’s Deputy Troy Garey wrote on June 26 that Cheree Bowie, the mother of Derek’s 17-year-old wife, told him that Derek had “been bragging that even if he was arrested, his dad would get him out of jail.”
In his report, Garey stated that he asked Bowie how she knew this.
“Bowie said the suspect’s father, Leonard Bowman, is the tribal chairperson on the Bear River reservation,” Garey wrote, “and he and the tribe and the Bear River Casino gave District Attorney Paul Gallegos $10,000 in his recent re-election campaign for DA. Bowie then hung up the phone.”
When The Eureka Reporter attempted to contact Bowman at the tribal office, a woman who answered the phone said that Bowman had no comment when he was told the call was regarding campaign contributions.
In all, the Bowmans, the tribe and an attorney employed by the casino contributed $11,100 to Gallegos’ campaign coffers, just under 10 percent of the total of all funds raised by the incumbent during the campaign, according to FPPC filings.
In addition to the $10,000 contribution in the name of the Rancheria, Leonard and his wife personally contributed $100, the FPPC documents show.
The same documents indicate Bear River attorney Michael Acosta contributed $1,000.
Contained in the court records is a letter to the Humboldt County Probation Department, dated Aug. 7 and written on Bear River Gaming Agency letterhead, in which Acosta requested that Derek be granted probation in lieu of the 180-day sentence.
Acosta stated in the letter that he would recommend reinstatement of Derek’s employment in the casino’s surveillance department should probation be granted.
Court documents state that Derek has been charged with violating the terms of his probation seven times in the past nine years.
FOLLOWING THE RULES
While there is no direct evidence that indicates Derek was treated differently because of the contributions, neither did Gallegos exercise any of the options available to him to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.
The simple explanation may be that he was not legally required to do so.
According to Del Norte County District Attorney Mike Riese, there is no rule requiring the removal or “recusal” of a DA from cases in which a possible conflict of interest is perceived.
Riese, who has no involvement in the Bowman cases and spoke only in general terms about recusal, said, “District attorneys have unfettered discretion under the government code. If we choose, we can recuse ourselves, we can ask the attorney general to come in or we can appoint a special prosecutor.”
But Riese reiterated that no district attorney in California would be under any legal obligation to choose any of those alternatives.
It is not known if Gallegos attempted to recuse himself from Derek’s criminal cases, but none of the 232 pages of court documents contained in the court files makes reference to a recusal.
Neither does Gallegos appear to have referred Derek’s cases for prosecution by the California State Attorney General’s Office, which retains concurrent jurisdiction in all cases prosecuted by California district attorneys and their deputies.
FOLLOWING COURT PRECEDENT
There is no evidence in any of the files that Gallegos was personally involved in Derek’s prosecution. However, according to numerous legal precedents, in cases in which there exists a possible conflict of interest, an entire DA’s Office is commonly recused.
In a recent example that presented a possible conflict for the Los Angeles County District Attorney, Deputy DA Matthew Monforton wrote a memorandum to county officials demanding recusal of all L.A. County prosecutors and referral of the case to the attorney general.
When a district attorney suffers from a conflict of interest, Monforton wrote, “appellate courts have imputed the conflict to all deputy district attorneys in the same county.”
Monforton cited People v. Lepe, a 1985 Imperial County case in which a conflict was perceived between District Attorney Thomas Storey and a defendant he had once represented as a defense attorney. The California Court of Appeals disqualified Storey, but didn’t stop there.
“As the deputies are hired by Storey, promoted by Storey and fired by Storey,” the court concluded, “we cannot say the office can be sanitized such to assume the deputy who prosecutes the case will not be influenced by the considerations that bar Storey himself from participation in the case.”
Again, in People v. Choi, Monforton wrote, San Francisco County District Attorney Terrence Hallinan recused himself to avoid a potential conflict, but the California Court of Appeals went further, stating that Hallinan’s entire office should have been recused because prosecutors are “hired, evaluated and promoted by the district attorney.”
The court documents indicate that Derek was at various times defended by what is called “conflict counsel,” meaning an alternative defense attorney was assigned to a particular case after the original public defender disclosed a possible conflict in handling the case.
But the same documents show that similar steps were not taken by prosecutors. Derek’s charges were handled by several prosecutors in the DA’s Office, including Assistant District Attorney Wes Keat, Deputy District Attorneys Maggie Fleming and Max Cardoza and former Deputy District Attorneys Nicole Hansen and Heather Gimle.
Gallegos declined to return repeated phone calls requesting comment for this report, and also declined to answer questions about the matter by e-mail.
In response to several specific inquiries regarding the $10,000 campaign contribution and the subsequent handling of Derek’s criminal cases, Gallegos stated in an e-mail only the following: “This office operates without fear or favor.”
FOLLOWING UP
During the 2006 DA campaign, former Deputy District Attorney Worth Dikeman, Gallegos’ opponent, called on the incumbent to recuse the DA’s Office in the Cheri Moore homicide and refer the case to the attorney general, accusing Gallegos of “making political hay” of the investigation.
“(Gallegos) has a history of rewarding his allies and punishing those who oppose him,” Dikeman said at a May 25 press conference.
“His history of questionable practices, his failure to expeditiously resolve this matter and his strained relationship with the rest of the law enforcement community, including the Eureka Police Officers Association, make this an appropriate case for the attorney general to exercise his discretion under the government code and take full charge of the investigation,” Dikeman said.
Dikeman has acknowledged that one possible factor in his most recent defeat by Gallegos was the extended protest in front of the Courthouse staged by Ellie Bowman, who is Derek’s mother and Leonard’s wife.
“It certainly isn’t helping,” Dikeman said in June.
Ellie was protesting comments Dikeman had made about prospective Native American jurors in the now infamous 1992 murder case against former Fortuna resident Richard Kesser.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found Sept. 11 in a six-to-five vote that some of Dikeman’s statements contained racial bias, and Kesser’s conviction could be headed for retrial as a result.
But Dikeman said at the time that Ellie had another reason to protest his candidacy. The deputy DA successfully prosecuted Ellie’s other son, Jeffrey Bowman, for the 1999 murder of Trinidad Rancheria member Julius Aubrey.
Jeffrey is currently serving a prison term of 25 years to life.
Jail officials said Friday that Derek was no longer in custody. Technically still booked, he was released Sept. 11 to serve the balance of his 180-day sentence in the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Work Alternative Program.
(Diane M. Batley, Rebecca S. Bender and Megan McCulloch contributed to this report.)
By Heather Muller, The Eureka Reporter
Published: Sep 26 2006, 12:19 AM · Updated: Sep 26 2006, 9:38 AM
Related stories:
ER - Bear River members seek chairperson's recall
ER - Gallegos sidesteps questions about possible conflict of interest in Bowman charges
ER - Questions without answers hinder our newsgathering
ER - Bowman story not accurate
ER - Contribution made because Gallegos was the better of the two
ER - Questions remain in DA's handling of Bowman charges
ER - Bear River official discusses financial contributions from tribe
ER - Tribe's contribution to DA's campaign was made by the Tribal Council, not Bowman
ER - Gallegos is 'public servant,' not Legal Spiegel
ER - It's telling that Gallegos witch hunt didn't start until firing of Dikeman
ER - Writer appreciates editor's note that identifies writers
ER - Residents deserve answers to questions asked of DA's Office
ER - Bitter? You bet!
TS - Donations not improper, says Bear River Band
TS - DA's office: State OK'd handling of plea deal
A large contribution to the successful 2006 re-election campaign of Humboldt County District Attorney Paul Gallegos has raised questions the DA has so far declined to answer, after it was learned that the son of the man chiefly responsible for the contribution subsequently escaped punishment on numerous criminal charges, including one alleging the statutory rape of a 14-year-old girl.
According to Fair Political Practices Commission filings, the donation, in the amount of $10,000, was the single largest monetary contribution received by the campaign of the incumbent DA from any contributor whose last name was not Gallegos.
FPPC documents indicate that the contribution was recorded April 29, and attributed to the Bear River Band of Rohnerville Rancheria, which is chaired by Leonard Bowman, father of Derek Bowman, 25, both of Loleta.
The younger Bowman’s association with law enforcement spans two states and 11 years, and includes as many as 40 criminal charges ranging from assault with a deadly weapon as a juvenile to three charges alleging violence against one adult and two juvenile females in 2006.
But on July 19, less than six weeks after Gallegos was re-elected, the DA’s Office gathered nine felonies and a handful of misdemeanors pending against Derek, and dismissed or suspended sentence on all of them in a single day.
According to publicly available court documents, recent charges against Derek included felony statutory rape, five counts of felony check fraud against local businesses, felony burglary, felony threats, felony battery, misdemeanor battery and misdemeanor resisting arrest.
Restitution orders for the check fraud cases were part of the July 19 deals, but the documents show that no jail time for any of the alleged offenses was requested by the DA’s Office.
For violation of probation on a previous charge, Derek was sentenced in July to 180 days, less time served, in the Humboldt County jail.
FOLLOWING THE MONEY
In a declaration in support of an arrest warrant on one of the charges against Derek, Humboldt County Sheriff’s Deputy Troy Garey wrote on June 26 that Cheree Bowie, the mother of Derek’s 17-year-old wife, told him that Derek had “been bragging that even if he was arrested, his dad would get him out of jail.”
In his report, Garey stated that he asked Bowie how she knew this.
“Bowie said the suspect’s father, Leonard Bowman, is the tribal chairperson on the Bear River reservation,” Garey wrote, “and he and the tribe and the Bear River Casino gave District Attorney Paul Gallegos $10,000 in his recent re-election campaign for DA. Bowie then hung up the phone.”
When The Eureka Reporter attempted to contact Bowman at the tribal office, a woman who answered the phone said that Bowman had no comment when he was told the call was regarding campaign contributions.
In all, the Bowmans, the tribe and an attorney employed by the casino contributed $11,100 to Gallegos’ campaign coffers, just under 10 percent of the total of all funds raised by the incumbent during the campaign, according to FPPC filings.
In addition to the $10,000 contribution in the name of the Rancheria, Leonard and his wife personally contributed $100, the FPPC documents show.
The same documents indicate Bear River attorney Michael Acosta contributed $1,000.
Contained in the court records is a letter to the Humboldt County Probation Department, dated Aug. 7 and written on Bear River Gaming Agency letterhead, in which Acosta requested that Derek be granted probation in lieu of the 180-day sentence.
Acosta stated in the letter that he would recommend reinstatement of Derek’s employment in the casino’s surveillance department should probation be granted.
Court documents state that Derek has been charged with violating the terms of his probation seven times in the past nine years.
FOLLOWING THE RULES
While there is no direct evidence that indicates Derek was treated differently because of the contributions, neither did Gallegos exercise any of the options available to him to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.
The simple explanation may be that he was not legally required to do so.
According to Del Norte County District Attorney Mike Riese, there is no rule requiring the removal or “recusal” of a DA from cases in which a possible conflict of interest is perceived.
Riese, who has no involvement in the Bowman cases and spoke only in general terms about recusal, said, “District attorneys have unfettered discretion under the government code. If we choose, we can recuse ourselves, we can ask the attorney general to come in or we can appoint a special prosecutor.”
But Riese reiterated that no district attorney in California would be under any legal obligation to choose any of those alternatives.
It is not known if Gallegos attempted to recuse himself from Derek’s criminal cases, but none of the 232 pages of court documents contained in the court files makes reference to a recusal.
Neither does Gallegos appear to have referred Derek’s cases for prosecution by the California State Attorney General’s Office, which retains concurrent jurisdiction in all cases prosecuted by California district attorneys and their deputies.
FOLLOWING COURT PRECEDENT
There is no evidence in any of the files that Gallegos was personally involved in Derek’s prosecution. However, according to numerous legal precedents, in cases in which there exists a possible conflict of interest, an entire DA’s Office is commonly recused.
In a recent example that presented a possible conflict for the Los Angeles County District Attorney, Deputy DA Matthew Monforton wrote a memorandum to county officials demanding recusal of all L.A. County prosecutors and referral of the case to the attorney general.
When a district attorney suffers from a conflict of interest, Monforton wrote, “appellate courts have imputed the conflict to all deputy district attorneys in the same county.”
Monforton cited People v. Lepe, a 1985 Imperial County case in which a conflict was perceived between District Attorney Thomas Storey and a defendant he had once represented as a defense attorney. The California Court of Appeals disqualified Storey, but didn’t stop there.
“As the deputies are hired by Storey, promoted by Storey and fired by Storey,” the court concluded, “we cannot say the office can be sanitized such to assume the deputy who prosecutes the case will not be influenced by the considerations that bar Storey himself from participation in the case.”
Again, in People v. Choi, Monforton wrote, San Francisco County District Attorney Terrence Hallinan recused himself to avoid a potential conflict, but the California Court of Appeals went further, stating that Hallinan’s entire office should have been recused because prosecutors are “hired, evaluated and promoted by the district attorney.”
The court documents indicate that Derek was at various times defended by what is called “conflict counsel,” meaning an alternative defense attorney was assigned to a particular case after the original public defender disclosed a possible conflict in handling the case.
But the same documents show that similar steps were not taken by prosecutors. Derek’s charges were handled by several prosecutors in the DA’s Office, including Assistant District Attorney Wes Keat, Deputy District Attorneys Maggie Fleming and Max Cardoza and former Deputy District Attorneys Nicole Hansen and Heather Gimle.
Gallegos declined to return repeated phone calls requesting comment for this report, and also declined to answer questions about the matter by e-mail.
In response to several specific inquiries regarding the $10,000 campaign contribution and the subsequent handling of Derek’s criminal cases, Gallegos stated in an e-mail only the following: “This office operates without fear or favor.”
FOLLOWING UP
During the 2006 DA campaign, former Deputy District Attorney Worth Dikeman, Gallegos’ opponent, called on the incumbent to recuse the DA’s Office in the Cheri Moore homicide and refer the case to the attorney general, accusing Gallegos of “making political hay” of the investigation.
“(Gallegos) has a history of rewarding his allies and punishing those who oppose him,” Dikeman said at a May 25 press conference.
“His history of questionable practices, his failure to expeditiously resolve this matter and his strained relationship with the rest of the law enforcement community, including the Eureka Police Officers Association, make this an appropriate case for the attorney general to exercise his discretion under the government code and take full charge of the investigation,” Dikeman said.
Dikeman has acknowledged that one possible factor in his most recent defeat by Gallegos was the extended protest in front of the Courthouse staged by Ellie Bowman, who is Derek’s mother and Leonard’s wife.
“It certainly isn’t helping,” Dikeman said in June.
Ellie was protesting comments Dikeman had made about prospective Native American jurors in the now infamous 1992 murder case against former Fortuna resident Richard Kesser.
The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals found Sept. 11 in a six-to-five vote that some of Dikeman’s statements contained racial bias, and Kesser’s conviction could be headed for retrial as a result.
But Dikeman said at the time that Ellie had another reason to protest his candidacy. The deputy DA successfully prosecuted Ellie’s other son, Jeffrey Bowman, for the 1999 murder of Trinidad Rancheria member Julius Aubrey.
Jeffrey is currently serving a prison term of 25 years to life.
Jail officials said Friday that Derek was no longer in custody. Technically still booked, he was released Sept. 11 to serve the balance of his 180-day sentence in the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Work Alternative Program.
(Diane M. Batley, Rebecca S. Bender and Megan McCulloch contributed to this report.)
By Heather Muller, The Eureka Reporter
Published: Sep 26 2006, 12:19 AM · Updated: Sep 26 2006, 9:38 AM
Related stories:
ER - Bear River members seek chairperson's recall
ER - Gallegos sidesteps questions about possible conflict of interest in Bowman charges
ER - Questions without answers hinder our newsgathering
ER - Bowman story not accurate
ER - Contribution made because Gallegos was the better of the two
ER - Questions remain in DA's handling of Bowman charges
ER - Bear River official discusses financial contributions from tribe
ER - Tribe's contribution to DA's campaign was made by the Tribal Council, not Bowman
ER - Gallegos is 'public servant,' not Legal Spiegel
ER - It's telling that Gallegos witch hunt didn't start until firing of Dikeman
ER - Writer appreciates editor's note that identifies writers
ER - Residents deserve answers to questions asked of DA's Office
ER - Bitter? You bet!
TS - Donations not improper, says Bear River Band
TS - DA's office: State OK'd handling of plea deal
3.27.2008
NCJ - Best enemies
October 5, 2006
Best enemies
by HANK SIMS
You may think it out of character,but we praise our brethren at rival media outlets sparingly, and in only cases of genuine merit. Develop a reputation as a glad-hander, a back-slapper or a scarlet-faced guffawer, and your colleagues in the trade will rightly shun you. They will think you a dolt, and they'll probably be correct. But when a piece comes along that absolutely astounds -- think of the McKinleyville Press story, a few months back, on the sisters that gave birth simultaneously in adjacent hospital rooms -- there's nothing for it but to send along an e-mail thanking the author for making us stop and marvel, for dissolving the confines of the cruel quotidian. We are readers, first and foremost, and also autonomous citizens of a democracy.
As it happens, we had occasion to send two notes of applause across the bay last week -- one to Heather Muller of the Eureka Reporter and one to Kimberly Wear of the Times-Standard, who we hope shared it with her deskmate Chris Durant. In these cases, the awe was not inspired by the subject matter of the stories -- each of them "hard news" pieces -- but from the reporters' immense enterprise in ferreting out some obscure data and presenting it well, in service of the county. Their stories centered on political donations to District Attorney Paul Gallegos, and how they affected or didn't affect a criminal case prosecuted by his office.
On Tuesday, the Reporter published the outcome of several criminal cases, including nine felony counts, against Derek Bowman, son of Leonard and Ellie Bowman of Loleta. The younger Bowman had been charged with check fraud, burglary, domestic battery, drug possession and unlawful intercourse with a 14-year-old girl, among other things. All of the charges were either dropped, or Bowman plead guilty to them in exchange for a suspended sentence. Then he was given 180 days in prison for violation of probation. The Reporter wondered whether the seemingly lenient sentence might have anything to do with the fact that the Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria, which Leonard Bowman chairs, had donated $10,000 to Gallegos' last political campaign, or the fact that Ellie Bowman had protested outside the courthouse against the candidacy of Deputy DA Worth Dikeman, who had challenged Gallegos. (Earlier, Dikeman had successfully prosecuted another Bowman son for murder.) Gallegos did not respond to the paper's questions about the case, despite apparently having been given ample opportunity to do so.
The next day, the Times-Standard came out with a story in response. In it, Deputy DA Max Cardoza, who had tried the Bowman case and a 25-year veteran of the office, strongly denied that political considerations had played any role in the case's outcome. It quoted from an internal memo written by Gallegos that requested that both he and Dikeman be "screened" from the case. (Strangely, the memo was written after the case had already been settled).
The appearance of the Times-Standard story set off a great hue and cry, with letters from Gallegos' campaign manager, Alison Sterling Nichols, demanding that the Reporter retract its "factually incorrect" story. She didn't point out any actual incorrect facts, because there weren't any. There were holes in the story, but they should be lain squarely at the feat of Gallegos, who chose to respond to the paper's many questions with a non-responsive, fatuous one-liner. ("This office operates without fear or favor.") The Reporter ran the story it had, and if we lived in a real city rather than a small town, few people would have had any serious objection. But Sterling Nichols and others chose to use the occasion to demonstrate, once again, that they simply have a hard time wrapping their heads around the fact that Gallegos is part of the government. You want the media to ask hard questions of the government, right?
If this turns out to be a growing trend, this business of public officials turning up their nose at one or another of the daily papers, we're going to need both of them to report any story. If you haven't already sold your soul to one of the various political factions in town, you might want to step back a bit and take the long view. Though it looks like competition on the surface, and while their publishers no doubt wouldn't mind stealing a great big helping of advertising cash off each others' plates, the two newspapers function in cooperation, not competition. They're both getting to the bottom of things, together. Good cop, bad cop. Thesis, antithesis, synthesis.
Hey, you're a confirmed paranoid, right? You're certain that The Man is messing with your head, aren't you? If you're reading this in Humboldt County, chances are you fit one or both of these descriptions. So try this out for size -- a candidate in the upcoming election has planted an operative inside the Humboldt County Elections Office. It has possibilities, doesn't it? You can work with it, can't you?
We're sure you can. So, check it: Kelly Sanders is an administrative analyst who has worked with the office for about a year, according to Elections chief Lindsey McWilliams. She's the former director of the Redwood Coast Dixieland Jazz Festival. She also happens to be the sister of Bonnie Neely, the 4th District supervisor who is currently seeking reelection.
It's not like she just answers phones, either. (Though if she did answer a phone, what would she say?) In fact, this time around she's going to be in charge of the county's super-scary new voting booths aimed at helping disabled citizens cast their ballot. What's so scary about that, you ask? Not the technology itself -- though it is freaking terrifying -- but the fact that the county's existing electronic vote-counting apparatuses can't process its votes. That means that elections staffers will have to hand-copy every vote cast at the disabled-access machines to one of the county's AccuVote ballots. This leaves the inescapable conclusion that Sanders, and possibly other of her colleagues, have the means, the will and the secret Illuminati brainwash training to throw the election!
Please, please, please take a deep breath, Lindsey McWilliams begs. In fact, the re-voting system will have checks, counter-checks and built-in redundancies that will make any vote-rigging virtually impossible. There'll be two sets of eyes on it at all times, and there'll be a paper trail of the original votes cast at the disabled-access machines (which aren't manufactured by Diebold, if that's what you're worried about).
That's leaving aside the fact that Sanders is a human being, one who probably has at least as much honor as you or me. "Rumors to the contrary, Kelly Sanders is not an android and has no moving electronic parts that I know of," the ever-quotable McWilliams confirmed. (Likely story!) And she's sensible, too -- so sensible that she declined to speak with us when we asked.
In fact, we don't expect any great outburst of elections freak-out over this one. Because why? Because the demographics are such that most of the elections critics around here are Neely voters anyway. No harm, no foul. But just imagine what you'd get if there were a Flemming or a Bass in the office.
We finally got a chance to talk with Dennis Cunningham last week. Cunningham's a San Francisco attorney who has developed a reputation as something of a superlawyer in claims cases against government agencies, usually on the behalf of activists and others. He's had a couple of Humboldt County-related cases in the past, and they were both big ones: the Pepper Spray lawsuit against two Humboldt County police agencies, which resulted in a win for the activists whose eyeballs police had swabbed with the noxious substance, and the similarly victorious Judi Bari-Darryl Cherney civil rights lawsuit against the Oakland Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The word we had was that Cunningham was considering filing a wrongful death suit against the Eureka Police Department over the Cheri Lyn Moore incident (see "Cause of Death," Sept. 21).
Is he going to sue? The answer appears to be maybe. The six-month anniversary of the incident is next Saturday, and that's the deadline to file a wrongful death claim. Cunningham said that his partner, Gordon Kaupp, has been looking into the case, but that as far as he knew, no one in his office has been able to contact Moore's son -- the only relative with standing to file a claim. Cunningham said that he was unaware that the deadline was approaching so soon -- he thought that the shooting had happened in July. "We'll have to make our move," he said.
If a suit is filed, it will further buttress local doctor Ken Miller's second career -- third career? -- as a midwife of politically charged litigation. Miller was the one who brought the now-dormant Headwaters lawsuit to the office of District Attorney Paul Gallegos. Cunningham said that Miller had been working with Kaupp on the potential Moore lawsuit.
Best enemies
by HANK SIMS
You may think it out of character,but we praise our brethren at rival media outlets sparingly, and in only cases of genuine merit. Develop a reputation as a glad-hander, a back-slapper or a scarlet-faced guffawer, and your colleagues in the trade will rightly shun you. They will think you a dolt, and they'll probably be correct. But when a piece comes along that absolutely astounds -- think of the McKinleyville Press story, a few months back, on the sisters that gave birth simultaneously in adjacent hospital rooms -- there's nothing for it but to send along an e-mail thanking the author for making us stop and marvel, for dissolving the confines of the cruel quotidian. We are readers, first and foremost, and also autonomous citizens of a democracy.
As it happens, we had occasion to send two notes of applause across the bay last week -- one to Heather Muller of the Eureka Reporter and one to Kimberly Wear of the Times-Standard, who we hope shared it with her deskmate Chris Durant. In these cases, the awe was not inspired by the subject matter of the stories -- each of them "hard news" pieces -- but from the reporters' immense enterprise in ferreting out some obscure data and presenting it well, in service of the county. Their stories centered on political donations to District Attorney Paul Gallegos, and how they affected or didn't affect a criminal case prosecuted by his office.
On Tuesday, the Reporter published the outcome of several criminal cases, including nine felony counts, against Derek Bowman, son of Leonard and Ellie Bowman of Loleta. The younger Bowman had been charged with check fraud, burglary, domestic battery, drug possession and unlawful intercourse with a 14-year-old girl, among other things. All of the charges were either dropped, or Bowman plead guilty to them in exchange for a suspended sentence. Then he was given 180 days in prison for violation of probation. The Reporter wondered whether the seemingly lenient sentence might have anything to do with the fact that the Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria, which Leonard Bowman chairs, had donated $10,000 to Gallegos' last political campaign, or the fact that Ellie Bowman had protested outside the courthouse against the candidacy of Deputy DA Worth Dikeman, who had challenged Gallegos. (Earlier, Dikeman had successfully prosecuted another Bowman son for murder.) Gallegos did not respond to the paper's questions about the case, despite apparently having been given ample opportunity to do so.
The next day, the Times-Standard came out with a story in response. In it, Deputy DA Max Cardoza, who had tried the Bowman case and a 25-year veteran of the office, strongly denied that political considerations had played any role in the case's outcome. It quoted from an internal memo written by Gallegos that requested that both he and Dikeman be "screened" from the case. (Strangely, the memo was written after the case had already been settled).
The appearance of the Times-Standard story set off a great hue and cry, with letters from Gallegos' campaign manager, Alison Sterling Nichols, demanding that the Reporter retract its "factually incorrect" story. She didn't point out any actual incorrect facts, because there weren't any. There were holes in the story, but they should be lain squarely at the feat of Gallegos, who chose to respond to the paper's many questions with a non-responsive, fatuous one-liner. ("This office operates without fear or favor.") The Reporter ran the story it had, and if we lived in a real city rather than a small town, few people would have had any serious objection. But Sterling Nichols and others chose to use the occasion to demonstrate, once again, that they simply have a hard time wrapping their heads around the fact that Gallegos is part of the government. You want the media to ask hard questions of the government, right?
If this turns out to be a growing trend, this business of public officials turning up their nose at one or another of the daily papers, we're going to need both of them to report any story. If you haven't already sold your soul to one of the various political factions in town, you might want to step back a bit and take the long view. Though it looks like competition on the surface, and while their publishers no doubt wouldn't mind stealing a great big helping of advertising cash off each others' plates, the two newspapers function in cooperation, not competition. They're both getting to the bottom of things, together. Good cop, bad cop. Thesis, antithesis, synthesis.
Hey, you're a confirmed paranoid, right? You're certain that The Man is messing with your head, aren't you? If you're reading this in Humboldt County, chances are you fit one or both of these descriptions. So try this out for size -- a candidate in the upcoming election has planted an operative inside the Humboldt County Elections Office. It has possibilities, doesn't it? You can work with it, can't you?
We're sure you can. So, check it: Kelly Sanders is an administrative analyst who has worked with the office for about a year, according to Elections chief Lindsey McWilliams. She's the former director of the Redwood Coast Dixieland Jazz Festival. She also happens to be the sister of Bonnie Neely, the 4th District supervisor who is currently seeking reelection.
It's not like she just answers phones, either. (Though if she did answer a phone, what would she say?) In fact, this time around she's going to be in charge of the county's super-scary new voting booths aimed at helping disabled citizens cast their ballot. What's so scary about that, you ask? Not the technology itself -- though it is freaking terrifying -- but the fact that the county's existing electronic vote-counting apparatuses can't process its votes. That means that elections staffers will have to hand-copy every vote cast at the disabled-access machines to one of the county's AccuVote ballots. This leaves the inescapable conclusion that Sanders, and possibly other of her colleagues, have the means, the will and the secret Illuminati brainwash training to throw the election!
Please, please, please take a deep breath, Lindsey McWilliams begs. In fact, the re-voting system will have checks, counter-checks and built-in redundancies that will make any vote-rigging virtually impossible. There'll be two sets of eyes on it at all times, and there'll be a paper trail of the original votes cast at the disabled-access machines (which aren't manufactured by Diebold, if that's what you're worried about).
That's leaving aside the fact that Sanders is a human being, one who probably has at least as much honor as you or me. "Rumors to the contrary, Kelly Sanders is not an android and has no moving electronic parts that I know of," the ever-quotable McWilliams confirmed. (Likely story!) And she's sensible, too -- so sensible that she declined to speak with us when we asked.
In fact, we don't expect any great outburst of elections freak-out over this one. Because why? Because the demographics are such that most of the elections critics around here are Neely voters anyway. No harm, no foul. But just imagine what you'd get if there were a Flemming or a Bass in the office.
We finally got a chance to talk with Dennis Cunningham last week. Cunningham's a San Francisco attorney who has developed a reputation as something of a superlawyer in claims cases against government agencies, usually on the behalf of activists and others. He's had a couple of Humboldt County-related cases in the past, and they were both big ones: the Pepper Spray lawsuit against two Humboldt County police agencies, which resulted in a win for the activists whose eyeballs police had swabbed with the noxious substance, and the similarly victorious Judi Bari-Darryl Cherney civil rights lawsuit against the Oakland Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The word we had was that Cunningham was considering filing a wrongful death suit against the Eureka Police Department over the Cheri Lyn Moore incident (see "Cause of Death," Sept. 21).
Is he going to sue? The answer appears to be maybe. The six-month anniversary of the incident is next Saturday, and that's the deadline to file a wrongful death claim. Cunningham said that his partner, Gordon Kaupp, has been looking into the case, but that as far as he knew, no one in his office has been able to contact Moore's son -- the only relative with standing to file a claim. Cunningham said that he was unaware that the deadline was approaching so soon -- he thought that the shooting had happened in July. "We'll have to make our move," he said.
If a suit is filed, it will further buttress local doctor Ken Miller's second career -- third career? -- as a midwife of politically charged litigation. Miller was the one who brought the now-dormant Headwaters lawsuit to the office of District Attorney Paul Gallegos. Cunningham said that Miller had been working with Kaupp on the potential Moore lawsuit.
8.22.2007
DA candidates bring big dollars to county race
from the Times-Standard | News Articles | by James Faulk | May 26, 2006
More than $200,000 raised in campaign for county's top cop
EUREKA -- The money in the district attorney campaign is already more than double the amount spent in the 2002 race.
But the cash pales in comparison to that of the recall election two years ago.
According to figures received by filing deadline Thursday, incumbent District Attorney Paul Gallegos has so far topped his opponent, but not by much.
Gallegos raised $116,005 overall this year -- $84,067 in cash, and $31,937 in in-kind donations. He's spent $127,665, and has $6,197 remaining on hand.
His largest contributors include attorney Michael Acosta with Bear River at $1,000; Sonia Baur of Garberville at $1,000; the Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria at $10,000; C. Bowen of Berkeley at $5,000; Richard Cogswell and Ester Saunoras of Petrolia at $7,000; Orlando P. Gallegos of New Mexico at $10,000; Rory Hanson, a Eureka attorney, at $2,137; Law Offices of Jennifer Keller in Irvine at $2,500; Michael Shellenberger of El Cerrito at $1,000; Dana Soria and Mary Smith of Fortuna at $1,085; Tracy Katelman of Eureka, owner of Evergreen Forestry, at $1,786; and Rob Then of Whitethorn at $3,586.
He also received dozens of auction donations and three loans totaling $3,200.
Challenger and Deputy District Attorney Worth Dikeman has raised a total of $103,769 so far this year, $79,771 of it in cash. Of that, he's spent $73,499. As of May 20, he still had $37,785 on hand.
His biggest contributors were the Humboldt Deputy Sheriff's Organization, $1,000; Robin Arkley of Arcata, $6,000; former Fortuna Councilwoman Debi August, $1,550; T Garvey of Bayside, $1,730; S. Morris Logging and Contracting of Arcata, $1,900; TT Construction of Orleans, $1,000; Tomac LLC of Arcata, $5,000; and Jennifer Dikeman of Vallejo, $1,000.
SJR Masonry and Gold Coast Services also gave Dikeman a $2,000 custom-built barbecue.
Dikeman's donors include a long list of law enforcement officials, as well, from Neal Hubbard of the Eureka Police Department to Steve Knight of the Humboldt County Sheriff's Department.
In the recall election, the amount raised by all parties approached nearly $700,000.
In 2002, Gallegos only raised about $50,000 to beat Terry Farmer, who also raised about $50,000 in that election.
from the Times-Standard | News Articles | by James Faulk | May 26, 2006
More than $200,000 raised in campaign for county's top cop
EUREKA -- The money in the district attorney campaign is already more than double the amount spent in the 2002 race.
But the cash pales in comparison to that of the recall election two years ago.
According to figures received by filing deadline Thursday, incumbent District Attorney Paul Gallegos has so far topped his opponent, but not by much.
Gallegos raised $116,005 overall this year -- $84,067 in cash, and $31,937 in in-kind donations. He's spent $127,665, and has $6,197 remaining on hand.
His largest contributors include attorney Michael Acosta with Bear River at $1,000; Sonia Baur of Garberville at $1,000; the Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria at $10,000; C. Bowen of Berkeley at $5,000; Richard Cogswell and Ester Saunoras of Petrolia at $7,000; Orlando P. Gallegos of New Mexico at $10,000; Rory Hanson, a Eureka attorney, at $2,137; Law Offices of Jennifer Keller in Irvine at $2,500; Michael Shellenberger of El Cerrito at $1,000; Dana Soria and Mary Smith of Fortuna at $1,085; Tracy Katelman of Eureka, owner of Evergreen Forestry, at $1,786; and Rob Then of Whitethorn at $3,586.
He also received dozens of auction donations and three loans totaling $3,200.
Challenger and Deputy District Attorney Worth Dikeman has raised a total of $103,769 so far this year, $79,771 of it in cash. Of that, he's spent $73,499. As of May 20, he still had $37,785 on hand.
His biggest contributors were the Humboldt Deputy Sheriff's Organization, $1,000; Robin Arkley of Arcata, $6,000; former Fortuna Councilwoman Debi August, $1,550; T Garvey of Bayside, $1,730; S. Morris Logging and Contracting of Arcata, $1,900; TT Construction of Orleans, $1,000; Tomac LLC of Arcata, $5,000; and Jennifer Dikeman of Vallejo, $1,000.
SJR Masonry and Gold Coast Services also gave Dikeman a $2,000 custom-built barbecue.
Dikeman's donors include a long list of law enforcement officials, as well, from Neal Hubbard of the Eureka Police Department to Steve Knight of the Humboldt County Sheriff's Department.
In the recall election, the amount raised by all parties approached nearly $700,000.
In 2002, Gallegos only raised about $50,000 to beat Terry Farmer, who also raised about $50,000 in that election.
8.15.2007
TS - Inmate who escaped from Sempervirens caught
Inmate who escaped from Sempervirens caught
Chris Durant/The Times-Standard
Article Launched: 08/15/2007 04:15:46 AM PDT
A man who escaped from Sempervirens Hospital while he was an inmate at the Humboldt County Jail was arrested in Manila Tuesday by Humboldt County Sheriff's detectives .
Derek Wendell Bowman, 26, answered the door of a Manila home and was arrested just before 3:30 p.m.
He escaped from the mental hospital on Aug. 5.
The Sheriff's Department said Detective Troy Garey received information that Bowman was hiding at the house on the 100 block of Phillips Court.
Garey, other detectives and a U.S. marshal arrived at the home and Bowman was arrested without any problems.
He was booked into the jail on suspicion of escape and for a series of charges pending while he was in custody the first time, which include forgery and resisting arrest.
In August 2006, Bowman was sentenced to 180 days in jail for forgery, second-degree burglary, interfering with a police officer and possession of drug paraphernalia convictions.
He is not eligible for bail.
Chris Durant/The Times-Standard
Article Launched: 08/15/2007 04:15:46 AM PDT
A man who escaped from Sempervirens Hospital while he was an inmate at the Humboldt County Jail was arrested in Manila Tuesday by Humboldt County Sheriff's detectives .
Derek Wendell Bowman, 26, answered the door of a Manila home and was arrested just before 3:30 p.m.
He escaped from the mental hospital on Aug. 5.
The Sheriff's Department said Detective Troy Garey received information that Bowman was hiding at the house on the 100 block of Phillips Court.
Garey, other detectives and a U.S. marshal arrived at the home and Bowman was arrested without any problems.
He was booked into the jail on suspicion of escape and for a series of charges pending while he was in custody the first time, which include forgery and resisting arrest.
In August 2006, Bowman was sentenced to 180 days in jail for forgery, second-degree burglary, interfering with a police officer and possession of drug paraphernalia convictions.
He is not eligible for bail.
7.30.2007
ER Op-Ed - Tribe's contribution to DA's campaign was made by the Tribal Council, not Bowman
Tribe's contribution to DA's campaign was made by the Tribal Council, not Bowman
by Illene Callahan, 9/30/2006
This letter is in regard to a very misleading, biased article written by Heather Muller.
A contribution was made to Mr. Gallegos’ campaign; however, it was made by the tribe and not by Leonard Bowman. We have five Tribal Council members; they are the representatives of the tribe. Leonard Bowman merely presented the check to campaign headquarters.
Many contributions have been made to various programs in Fortuna and Loleta, as mandated by National Indian Gaming. Why is there no mention of these? The Loleta Fire Department accepted a contribution. Does this mean they cannot put out any other fires, only ours?
This whole article does not speak will for the mentality of this reporter.
As for Derek Bowman’s transgressions and brushes with the law, they are neither Mr. or Mrs. Bowman’s transgressions.
In case none of you noticed, all young people of today think they know everything and we parents are old fogies who try to give them unwanted advice that they totally disregard.
They stand in front of you and lie and tell you they will abide by your rules, and then they go out the door and do just exactly as they please or as their companions want them to do.
The only reason some of them have clean records is because they haven’t yet been caught.
The contribution was made long before Derek was arrested and the election of the district attorney had long been decided. Our tribal members did not stuff the ballot boxes to ensure a win for Mr. Gallegos so he could protect any one of us.
However, we all tend to pull together to try to help our tribal members in all ways, again and again if necessary. It is our heritage, taught to us by our ancestors.
I am definitely tired of reading about Ellie Bowman’s one-person protest about Worth Dikeman. There were three other tribal members there every day, of which I was one. None of us were protesting about Jeff Bowman’s conviction; rather, we were protesting the words that came out of Mr. Dikeman’s mouth.
I could not believe that a person in his position would be so racially biased. I guess I should have remembered that this is Humboldt County.
My own personal opinion is that the investigators did not do a thorough investigation in Jeff’s case or he wouldn’t have been convicted for that crime.
In response to Try Gary’s report based on Cheree Bowie’s telephone conversation, did he call her or did she call him? Mr. Gary, as a deputy sheriff, receives numerous calls from citizens in this area. It is strange that none of these other telephone conversations have been placed in The Eureka Reporter by Heather Muller.
It is also strange that Mr. Gary would believe the insinuations made by Ms. Bowie.
I believe there is a section in your U.S. Constitution that there is still free speech in this country. Mr. Acosta, as a citizen, can contribute to any cause that he deems fit.
He is also free to write letters regarding any person or cause. Nothing in his letter requested that Derek Bowman be set free. It only asked for consideration of a probationary period and it did not mention any contribution that was made by the tribe.
My estimation of Ms. Muller as a reporter or investigator is very negative at this point. If she is a Dikeman supporter, she should come out and say so, not fill the newspaper with innuendos, insinuations and half-truths. That type of reporting belongs in the National Enquirer or some other scandal sheet.
It is also a shame that she had to resort to using three other women to help her. Perhaps they could have written some articles to help people, instead of trying to demean them.
Perhaps Ms. Muller’s attacks on Mr. Gallegos are purely personal. Most women who go on a vendetta against a male public person are either jealous or envious of their wives, girlfriends, etc. Everyone is aware of the old adage, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”
Maybe I should investigate her family, relatives and friends for mud to sling at her under the guise of journalism.
I invite Ms. Muller to interview me on any subject concerning this article. She is to bring a picture ID, and my words, when printed, had better be mine.
(Editor’s note: Illene Callahan is the aunt of Tribal Chairman Leonard Bowman.)
Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.
Related stories:
ER - Bear River members seek chairperson's recall
ER - Gallegos sidesteps questions about possible conflict of interest in Bowman charges
ER - Questions without answers hinder our newsgathering
ER - Bowman story not accurate
ER - Contribution made because Gallegos was the better of the two
ER - Questions remain in DA's handling of Bowman charges
ER - Bear River official discusses financial contributions from tribe
ER - Tribe's contribution to DA's campaign was made by the Tribal Council, not Bowman
ER - Gallegos is 'public servant,' not Legal Spiegel
ER - It's telling that Gallegos witch hunt didn't start until firing of Dikeman
ER - Writer appreciates editor's note that identifies writers
ER - Residents deserve answers to questions asked of DA's Office
ER - Bitter? You bet!
TS - Donations not improper, says Bear River Band
TS - DA's office: State OK'd handling of plea deal
by Illene Callahan, 9/30/2006
This letter is in regard to a very misleading, biased article written by Heather Muller.
A contribution was made to Mr. Gallegos’ campaign; however, it was made by the tribe and not by Leonard Bowman. We have five Tribal Council members; they are the representatives of the tribe. Leonard Bowman merely presented the check to campaign headquarters.
Many contributions have been made to various programs in Fortuna and Loleta, as mandated by National Indian Gaming. Why is there no mention of these? The Loleta Fire Department accepted a contribution. Does this mean they cannot put out any other fires, only ours?
This whole article does not speak will for the mentality of this reporter.
As for Derek Bowman’s transgressions and brushes with the law, they are neither Mr. or Mrs. Bowman’s transgressions.
In case none of you noticed, all young people of today think they know everything and we parents are old fogies who try to give them unwanted advice that they totally disregard.
They stand in front of you and lie and tell you they will abide by your rules, and then they go out the door and do just exactly as they please or as their companions want them to do.
The only reason some of them have clean records is because they haven’t yet been caught.
The contribution was made long before Derek was arrested and the election of the district attorney had long been decided. Our tribal members did not stuff the ballot boxes to ensure a win for Mr. Gallegos so he could protect any one of us.
However, we all tend to pull together to try to help our tribal members in all ways, again and again if necessary. It is our heritage, taught to us by our ancestors.
I am definitely tired of reading about Ellie Bowman’s one-person protest about Worth Dikeman. There were three other tribal members there every day, of which I was one. None of us were protesting about Jeff Bowman’s conviction; rather, we were protesting the words that came out of Mr. Dikeman’s mouth.
I could not believe that a person in his position would be so racially biased. I guess I should have remembered that this is Humboldt County.
My own personal opinion is that the investigators did not do a thorough investigation in Jeff’s case or he wouldn’t have been convicted for that crime.
In response to Try Gary’s report based on Cheree Bowie’s telephone conversation, did he call her or did she call him? Mr. Gary, as a deputy sheriff, receives numerous calls from citizens in this area. It is strange that none of these other telephone conversations have been placed in The Eureka Reporter by Heather Muller.
It is also strange that Mr. Gary would believe the insinuations made by Ms. Bowie.
I believe there is a section in your U.S. Constitution that there is still free speech in this country. Mr. Acosta, as a citizen, can contribute to any cause that he deems fit.
He is also free to write letters regarding any person or cause. Nothing in his letter requested that Derek Bowman be set free. It only asked for consideration of a probationary period and it did not mention any contribution that was made by the tribe.
My estimation of Ms. Muller as a reporter or investigator is very negative at this point. If she is a Dikeman supporter, she should come out and say so, not fill the newspaper with innuendos, insinuations and half-truths. That type of reporting belongs in the National Enquirer or some other scandal sheet.
It is also a shame that she had to resort to using three other women to help her. Perhaps they could have written some articles to help people, instead of trying to demean them.
Perhaps Ms. Muller’s attacks on Mr. Gallegos are purely personal. Most women who go on a vendetta against a male public person are either jealous or envious of their wives, girlfriends, etc. Everyone is aware of the old adage, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”
Maybe I should investigate her family, relatives and friends for mud to sling at her under the guise of journalism.
I invite Ms. Muller to interview me on any subject concerning this article. She is to bring a picture ID, and my words, when printed, had better be mine.
(Editor’s note: Illene Callahan is the aunt of Tribal Chairman Leonard Bowman.)
Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.
Related stories:
ER - Bear River members seek chairperson's recall
ER - Gallegos sidesteps questions about possible conflict of interest in Bowman charges
ER - Questions without answers hinder our newsgathering
ER - Bowman story not accurate
ER - Contribution made because Gallegos was the better of the two
ER - Questions remain in DA's handling of Bowman charges
ER - Bear River official discusses financial contributions from tribe
ER - Tribe's contribution to DA's campaign was made by the Tribal Council, not Bowman
ER - Gallegos is 'public servant,' not Legal Spiegel
ER - It's telling that Gallegos witch hunt didn't start until firing of Dikeman
ER - Writer appreciates editor's note that identifies writers
ER - Residents deserve answers to questions asked of DA's Office
ER - Bitter? You bet!
TS - Donations not improper, says Bear River Band
TS - DA's office: State OK'd handling of plea deal
7.12.2007
ER - Murder retrial begins Monday
Murder retrial begins Monday
by Kara Machado, 7/7/2007
Proceedings are scheduled to begin Monday in the new trial of two codefendants accused of a November 1991 Fortuna murder.
Richard Craig Kesser, 47, and Jennifer Gayle Leahy, 37, will appear in court Monday to begin the process of their second chance to prove they are not guilty.
The case is scheduled to be presided over by Humboldt County Superior Court Judge Dale A. Reinholtsen, according to Humboldt County Assistant District Attorney Wes Keat.
Kesser is represented by Humboldt County Chief Conflict Counsel Glenn Brown and Leahy is represented by Eureka-based attorney Neal Sanders.
Humboldt County DA Paul Gallegos is planning on prosecuting the case, confirmed Humboldt County Deputy DA Allan Dollison Friday.
A compilation of past reports indicates Kesser and Leahy plotted to kill Kesser’s former wife, Mary, for her insurance money and that they hired Stephen Duane Chiara — who was convicted of Kesser’s wife’s murder in November 1991.
A document from the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals indicates Kesser, Leahy and Chiara were all found guilty of first-degree murder with special circumstances — the special circumstances were not specified in the appellate court document — and were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Kesser, Leahy and Chiara all had state court appeals denied, but only Kesser and Leahy went on to appeal in federal court, Dollison confirmed.
In September, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Kesser’s and Leahy’s 1992 murder convictions — when it was ruled that former Humboldt County Deputy DA Worth Dikeman had made racially based remarks during the jury selection process, past reports indicate.
Dikeman has denied being racially biased in the jury selection process.
Dollison said jury selection in the new trial for Kesser and Leahy is expected to last about a month and that the trial is expected to last “anywhere from four to six months.”
“The original trial — with the three defendants and all-day trial proceedings and 88 witnesses — took six months,” Dollison said. “The new trial, with two defendants, will have upwards of probably 65 to 70 witnesses in total — the prosecution will have about 55 to 56 witness — but will only consist of half-day (trial) proceedings.”
Dollison said both defense attorneys will have the opportunity to make opening statements to jurors, can call their own witnesses when presenting their cases on behalf of their clients and will each have the opportunity to make closing arguments about the case to the jury.
Brown could not be reached for comment by the end of business day Friday.
Sanders, who confirmed he was also Leahy’s attorney in the first trial, declined to comment about the case.
Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.
by Kara Machado, 7/7/2007
Proceedings are scheduled to begin Monday in the new trial of two codefendants accused of a November 1991 Fortuna murder.
Richard Craig Kesser, 47, and Jennifer Gayle Leahy, 37, will appear in court Monday to begin the process of their second chance to prove they are not guilty.
The case is scheduled to be presided over by Humboldt County Superior Court Judge Dale A. Reinholtsen, according to Humboldt County Assistant District Attorney Wes Keat.
Kesser is represented by Humboldt County Chief Conflict Counsel Glenn Brown and Leahy is represented by Eureka-based attorney Neal Sanders.
Humboldt County DA Paul Gallegos is planning on prosecuting the case, confirmed Humboldt County Deputy DA Allan Dollison Friday.
A compilation of past reports indicates Kesser and Leahy plotted to kill Kesser’s former wife, Mary, for her insurance money and that they hired Stephen Duane Chiara — who was convicted of Kesser’s wife’s murder in November 1991.
A document from the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals indicates Kesser, Leahy and Chiara were all found guilty of first-degree murder with special circumstances — the special circumstances were not specified in the appellate court document — and were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Kesser, Leahy and Chiara all had state court appeals denied, but only Kesser and Leahy went on to appeal in federal court, Dollison confirmed.
In September, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Kesser’s and Leahy’s 1992 murder convictions — when it was ruled that former Humboldt County Deputy DA Worth Dikeman had made racially based remarks during the jury selection process, past reports indicate.
Dikeman has denied being racially biased in the jury selection process.
Dollison said jury selection in the new trial for Kesser and Leahy is expected to last about a month and that the trial is expected to last “anywhere from four to six months.”
“The original trial — with the three defendants and all-day trial proceedings and 88 witnesses — took six months,” Dollison said. “The new trial, with two defendants, will have upwards of probably 65 to 70 witnesses in total — the prosecution will have about 55 to 56 witness — but will only consist of half-day (trial) proceedings.”
Dollison said both defense attorneys will have the opportunity to make opening statements to jurors, can call their own witnesses when presenting their cases on behalf of their clients and will each have the opportunity to make closing arguments about the case to the jury.
Brown could not be reached for comment by the end of business day Friday.
Sanders, who confirmed he was also Leahy’s attorney in the first trial, declined to comment about the case.
Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.
7.10.2007
About politicizing a case
Elections should focus on the good record of candidate
5/27/2006
Dear Editor,
I realize that in writing this letter it is not helping my cause in trying to keep my family’s name and the circumstance regarding my son’s 14-year-old trial out of public scrutiny. That is not possible now, as Ellie Bowman and Madison Ayala have taken it upon themselves to pass out fliers in front of the Courthouse regarding this case.
They have not taken into consideration, nor have they contacted me as to how this would affect my feelings or the feelings of my grandson, whom I have been raising since this tragedy.
They state that this is not politically motivated. Why then, after this length of time, have they taken it upon themselves to bring anything about this case up now? Yes, Mr. Worth Dikeman was the prosecuting attorney in the case and yes, he obtained a conviction and yes, it is something I have to live with every day, but he was doing the job he was appointed to do and I will never fault him for that, not as it seems Ellie Bowman is doing because of the conviction of her son.
During the trial and for all the years that have gone by, Mr. Dikeman has shown me and my family the greatest respect and compassion. He has shown interest in how my grandson was doing in school, how I was doing and always had a great concern for our family. I doubt if there are many attorneys on either side who do that. I deeply resent the fact that to win an election people have to use tactics that can hurt other people instead of running on their supposedly good record.
Joanne Kesser
Fortuna
5/27/2006
Dear Editor,
I realize that in writing this letter it is not helping my cause in trying to keep my family’s name and the circumstance regarding my son’s 14-year-old trial out of public scrutiny. That is not possible now, as Ellie Bowman and Madison Ayala have taken it upon themselves to pass out fliers in front of the Courthouse regarding this case.
They have not taken into consideration, nor have they contacted me as to how this would affect my feelings or the feelings of my grandson, whom I have been raising since this tragedy.
They state that this is not politically motivated. Why then, after this length of time, have they taken it upon themselves to bring anything about this case up now? Yes, Mr. Worth Dikeman was the prosecuting attorney in the case and yes, he obtained a conviction and yes, it is something I have to live with every day, but he was doing the job he was appointed to do and I will never fault him for that, not as it seems Ellie Bowman is doing because of the conviction of her son.
During the trial and for all the years that have gone by, Mr. Dikeman has shown me and my family the greatest respect and compassion. He has shown interest in how my grandson was doing in school, how I was doing and always had a great concern for our family. I doubt if there are many attorneys on either side who do that. I deeply resent the fact that to win an election people have to use tactics that can hurt other people instead of running on their supposedly good record.
Joanne Kesser
Fortuna
1.27.2007
TS -'Sovereign nations' waving wads of money
Not mentioned in this Op-Ed is the additional $10,000 given to Paul Gallegos by the Bear River Tribe.
'Sovereign nations' waving wads of money'Sovereign nations' waving wads of money
Article Launched: 10/13/2006 04:18:18 AM PDT
Leo Sears/For The Times-Standard
Unhappy with failed attempts to gain a third casino, the Agua Caliente tribe flexed its “sovereign nation” political muscle as no local government can. As reported in the Los Angeles Times, they gave the local Republican Party $450,000, which then began an advertising blitz in support of State Sen. Jim Battin and Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia. Battin and Garcia led the tribe's efforts to construct a third casino and increase their present 2,000 slot machines to 5,000.
Unlike our local tribes who claim their political donations aren't meant to buy favorable treatment, tribal chairman Richard Milanovich was upfront about it, reportedly saying, "That's why we help this woman (Garcia) get reelected every two years."
The political contributions of our local tribes, including the $25,000 to Humboldt County Supervisor Bonnie Neely and $10,000 to District Attorney Paul Gallegos, pale in comparison to the $1.3 million in direct donations that Battin has taken from tribes with casinos. But the perspective is the same, and the local political donations are undoubtedly only opening antes.
The Hoopa tribe has sought voting membership on the HCAOG (Humboldt County Association of Governments) for years -- but not as an equal. They refuse to waive any of their unfettered ability to play their “sovereign nation card” anytime they choose.
The tribe (a member of HCAOG's technical advisory committee) maintains that they are a government, and governments don't have to be identical to be a voting member of the joint-powers authority. With the special interest legislation they obtained designating them as a public agency, they may be legally correct. But it would be like letting the fox nest with the chickens.
Any attempt to equate our city and county governments with tribal sovereign nation status is ludicrous. Counties and cities embrace all of their residences, and are restricted by the Brown Act. A tribe represents a very narrowly defined ethnic group that decides its own membership, and is allowed to play by very different rules.
The present voting members of HCAOG all have to play by the same rules and none can, to quote Supervisor Roger Rodoni, “wave money in the air to get the votes they want.”
The media has referred to Rodoni as being caustic and vulgar regarding the machinations surrounding a voting membership for Hoopa. It seems that's what was necessary to get past the mantra of “it's the right thing to do” and into the public arena of debate about what's best for the entire county.
HCAOG is an important regional association that decides where state transportation monies are spent. It generally chugs along under its joint powers authority, with the give and take of equals and little public note. But the public needs to wake up to the ramification of tribes becoming voting members without waiving of their sovereign nation status.
Like the Aqua Caliente in Riverside, Hoopa has the potential, as a sovereign nation, to become Humboldt's 800-pound gorilla waving wads of money under the noses of our politicians.
Leo Sears writes a weekly Times-Standard column on issues of local interest. He can be reached at lsjb@cox.net
'Sovereign nations' waving wads of money'Sovereign nations' waving wads of money
Article Launched: 10/13/2006 04:18:18 AM PDT
Leo Sears/For The Times-Standard
Unhappy with failed attempts to gain a third casino, the Agua Caliente tribe flexed its “sovereign nation” political muscle as no local government can. As reported in the Los Angeles Times, they gave the local Republican Party $450,000, which then began an advertising blitz in support of State Sen. Jim Battin and Assemblywoman Bonnie Garcia. Battin and Garcia led the tribe's efforts to construct a third casino and increase their present 2,000 slot machines to 5,000.
Unlike our local tribes who claim their political donations aren't meant to buy favorable treatment, tribal chairman Richard Milanovich was upfront about it, reportedly saying, "That's why we help this woman (Garcia) get reelected every two years."
The political contributions of our local tribes, including the $25,000 to Humboldt County Supervisor Bonnie Neely and $10,000 to District Attorney Paul Gallegos, pale in comparison to the $1.3 million in direct donations that Battin has taken from tribes with casinos. But the perspective is the same, and the local political donations are undoubtedly only opening antes.
The Hoopa tribe has sought voting membership on the HCAOG (Humboldt County Association of Governments) for years -- but not as an equal. They refuse to waive any of their unfettered ability to play their “sovereign nation card” anytime they choose.
The tribe (a member of HCAOG's technical advisory committee) maintains that they are a government, and governments don't have to be identical to be a voting member of the joint-powers authority. With the special interest legislation they obtained designating them as a public agency, they may be legally correct. But it would be like letting the fox nest with the chickens.
Any attempt to equate our city and county governments with tribal sovereign nation status is ludicrous. Counties and cities embrace all of their residences, and are restricted by the Brown Act. A tribe represents a very narrowly defined ethnic group that decides its own membership, and is allowed to play by very different rules.
The present voting members of HCAOG all have to play by the same rules and none can, to quote Supervisor Roger Rodoni, “wave money in the air to get the votes they want.”
The media has referred to Rodoni as being caustic and vulgar regarding the machinations surrounding a voting membership for Hoopa. It seems that's what was necessary to get past the mantra of “it's the right thing to do” and into the public arena of debate about what's best for the entire county.
HCAOG is an important regional association that decides where state transportation monies are spent. It generally chugs along under its joint powers authority, with the give and take of equals and little public note. But the public needs to wake up to the ramification of tribes becoming voting members without waiving of their sovereign nation status.
Like the Aqua Caliente in Riverside, Hoopa has the potential, as a sovereign nation, to become Humboldt's 800-pound gorilla waving wads of money under the noses of our politicians.
Leo Sears writes a weekly Times-Standard column on issues of local interest. He can be reached at lsjb@cox.net
1.05.2007
ER - Two from Leonard Bowman's Aunt
Tribe's contribution to DA's campaign was made by the Tribal Council, not Bowman
by Illene Callahan, 9/30/2006
This letter is in regard to a very misleading, biased article written by Heather Muller.
A contribution was made to Mr. Gallegos’ campaign; however, it was made by the tribe and not by Leonard Bowman. We have five Tribal Council members; they are the representatives of the tribe. Leonard Bowman merely presented the check to campaign headquarters.
Many contributions have been made to various programs in Fortuna and Loleta, as mandated by National Indian Gaming. Why is there no mention of these? The Loleta Fire Department accepted a contribution. Does this mean they cannot put out any other fires, only ours?
This whole article does not speak will for the mentality of this reporter.
As for Derek Bowman’s transgressions and brushes with the law, they are neither Mr. or Mrs. Bowman’s transgressions.
In case none of you noticed, all young people of today think they know everything and we parents are old fogies who try to give them unwanted advice that they totally disregard.
They stand in front of you and lie and tell you they will abide by your rules, and then they go out the door and do just exactly as they please or as their companions want them to do.
The only reason some of them have clean records is because they haven’t yet been caught.
The contribution was made long before Derek was arrested and the election of the district attorney had long been decided. Our tribal members did not stuff the ballot boxes to ensure a win for Mr. Gallegos so he could protect any one of us.
However, we all tend to pull together to try to help our tribal members in all ways, again and again if necessary. It is our heritage, taught to us by our ancestors.
I am definitely tired of reading about Ellie Bowman’s one-person protest about Worth Dikeman. There were three other tribal members there every day, of which I was one. None of us were protesting about Jeff Bowman’s conviction; rather, we were protesting the words that came out of Mr. Dikeman’s mouth.
I could not believe that a person in his position would be so racially biased. I guess I should have remembered that this is Humboldt County.
My own personal opinion is that the investigators did not do a thorough investigation in Jeff’s case or he wouldn’t have been convicted for that crime.
In response to Try Gary’s report based on Cheree Bowie’s telephone conversation, did he call her or did she call him? Mr. Gary, as a deputy sheriff, receives numerous calls from citizens in this area. It is strange that none of these other telephone conversations have been placed in The Eureka Reporter by Heather Muller.
It is also strange that Mr. Gary would believe the insinuations made by Ms. Bowie.
I believe there is a section in your U.S. Constitution that there is still free speech in this country. Mr. Acosta, as a citizen, can contribute to any cause that he deems fit.
He is also free to write letters regarding any person or cause. Nothing in his letter requested that Derek Bowman be set free. It only asked for consideration of a probationary period and it did not mention any contribution that was made by the tribe.
My estimation of Ms. Muller as a reporter or investigator is very negative at this point. If she is a Dikeman supporter, she should come out and say so, not fill the newspaper with innuendos, insinuations and half-truths. That type of reporting belongs in the National Enquirer or some other scandal sheet.
It is also a shame that she had to resort to using three other women to help her. Perhaps they could have written some articles to help people, instead of trying to demean them.
Perhaps Ms. Muller’s attacks on Mr. Gallegos are purely personal. Most women who go on a vendetta against a male public person are either jealous or envious of their wives, girlfriends, etc. Everyone is aware of the old adage, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”
Maybe I should investigate her family, relatives and friends for mud to sling at her under the guise of journalism.
I invite Ms. Muller to interview me on any subject concerning this article. She is to bring a picture ID, and my words, when printed, had better be mine.
(Editor’s note: Illene Callahan is the aunt of Tribal Chairman Leonard Bowman.)
Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.
Writer questions why Bowman's arrest was singled out in paper
12/29/2006
Dear Editor,
The police-beat arrest list for Dec. 9 was published in the Times-Standard newspaper on Dec. 12. The names of 20 people were on that list. Why then was Derek Bowman’s arrest the only one that was published in The Eureka Reporter? The names of the other 19 people were not published, and neither was their race nor their father’s name. Is this racial discrimination or what?
All of the reservations that have casinos have made substantial contributions to this county for various projects and causes — and probably more to the city of Eureka than any other town, yet we are still being harassed and demeaned by any and all means that The Eureka Reporter can find.
By the way, just for your information, the members of the Bear River Band are also descendants of the Wiyot Tribe. Maybe a trip to the library would help you to get your facts straight. The members of the Table Bluff Reservation are not the only Wiyots in this area, as both newspapers imply in the articles that they publish.
Ilene J. Callahan
Eureka
Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.
by Illene Callahan, 9/30/2006
This letter is in regard to a very misleading, biased article written by Heather Muller.
A contribution was made to Mr. Gallegos’ campaign; however, it was made by the tribe and not by Leonard Bowman. We have five Tribal Council members; they are the representatives of the tribe. Leonard Bowman merely presented the check to campaign headquarters.
Many contributions have been made to various programs in Fortuna and Loleta, as mandated by National Indian Gaming. Why is there no mention of these? The Loleta Fire Department accepted a contribution. Does this mean they cannot put out any other fires, only ours?
This whole article does not speak will for the mentality of this reporter.
As for Derek Bowman’s transgressions and brushes with the law, they are neither Mr. or Mrs. Bowman’s transgressions.
In case none of you noticed, all young people of today think they know everything and we parents are old fogies who try to give them unwanted advice that they totally disregard.
They stand in front of you and lie and tell you they will abide by your rules, and then they go out the door and do just exactly as they please or as their companions want them to do.
The only reason some of them have clean records is because they haven’t yet been caught.
The contribution was made long before Derek was arrested and the election of the district attorney had long been decided. Our tribal members did not stuff the ballot boxes to ensure a win for Mr. Gallegos so he could protect any one of us.
However, we all tend to pull together to try to help our tribal members in all ways, again and again if necessary. It is our heritage, taught to us by our ancestors.
I am definitely tired of reading about Ellie Bowman’s one-person protest about Worth Dikeman. There were three other tribal members there every day, of which I was one. None of us were protesting about Jeff Bowman’s conviction; rather, we were protesting the words that came out of Mr. Dikeman’s mouth.
I could not believe that a person in his position would be so racially biased. I guess I should have remembered that this is Humboldt County.
My own personal opinion is that the investigators did not do a thorough investigation in Jeff’s case or he wouldn’t have been convicted for that crime.
In response to Try Gary’s report based on Cheree Bowie’s telephone conversation, did he call her or did she call him? Mr. Gary, as a deputy sheriff, receives numerous calls from citizens in this area. It is strange that none of these other telephone conversations have been placed in The Eureka Reporter by Heather Muller.
It is also strange that Mr. Gary would believe the insinuations made by Ms. Bowie.
I believe there is a section in your U.S. Constitution that there is still free speech in this country. Mr. Acosta, as a citizen, can contribute to any cause that he deems fit.
He is also free to write letters regarding any person or cause. Nothing in his letter requested that Derek Bowman be set free. It only asked for consideration of a probationary period and it did not mention any contribution that was made by the tribe.
My estimation of Ms. Muller as a reporter or investigator is very negative at this point. If she is a Dikeman supporter, she should come out and say so, not fill the newspaper with innuendos, insinuations and half-truths. That type of reporting belongs in the National Enquirer or some other scandal sheet.
It is also a shame that she had to resort to using three other women to help her. Perhaps they could have written some articles to help people, instead of trying to demean them.
Perhaps Ms. Muller’s attacks on Mr. Gallegos are purely personal. Most women who go on a vendetta against a male public person are either jealous or envious of their wives, girlfriends, etc. Everyone is aware of the old adage, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”
Maybe I should investigate her family, relatives and friends for mud to sling at her under the guise of journalism.
I invite Ms. Muller to interview me on any subject concerning this article. She is to bring a picture ID, and my words, when printed, had better be mine.
(Editor’s note: Illene Callahan is the aunt of Tribal Chairman Leonard Bowman.)
Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.
Writer questions why Bowman's arrest was singled out in paper
12/29/2006
Dear Editor,
The police-beat arrest list for Dec. 9 was published in the Times-Standard newspaper on Dec. 12. The names of 20 people were on that list. Why then was Derek Bowman’s arrest the only one that was published in The Eureka Reporter? The names of the other 19 people were not published, and neither was their race nor their father’s name. Is this racial discrimination or what?
All of the reservations that have casinos have made substantial contributions to this county for various projects and causes — and probably more to the city of Eureka than any other town, yet we are still being harassed and demeaned by any and all means that The Eureka Reporter can find.
By the way, just for your information, the members of the Bear River Band are also descendants of the Wiyot Tribe. Maybe a trip to the library would help you to get your facts straight. The members of the Table Bluff Reservation are not the only Wiyots in this area, as both newspapers imply in the articles that they publish.
Ilene J. Callahan
Eureka
Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.
12.13.2006
Derek Bowman arrested on warrants
Derek Bowman arrested on warrants
http://www.eurekareporter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?ArticleID=18405
12/12/2006
Derek Bowman was arrested late last week on two warrants and remained in custody Tuesday.
On Friday, Humboldt County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Bowman, 25, of Loleta, on no bail warrants for second degree burglary and forgery.
Bowman is the son of Leonard Bowman, the chairperson of the Bear River Band of Rohnerville Rancheria.
In July, Bowman was sentenced to 180 days, less time served, in the Humboldt County jail for a probation violation. However, according to jail personnel, he was released Sept. 11 to serve the rest of his time in the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Work Alternative Program.
His most recent arrest violates the terms of his SWAP.
Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.
Related stories:
ER - Bear River members seek chairperson's recall
ER - Gallegos sidesteps questions about possible conflict of interest in Bowman charges
ER - Questions without answers hinder our newsgathering
ER - Bowman story not accurate
ER - Contribution made because Gallegos was the better of the two
ER - Questions remain in DA's handling of Bowman charges
ER - Bear River official discusses financial contributions from tribe
ER - Tribe's contribution to DA's campaign was made by the Tribal Council, not Bowman
ER - Gallegos is 'public servant,' not Legal Spiegel
Ethical quagmire created by Gallegos' acceptance of casino's contribution
ER - It's telling that Gallegos witch hunt didn't start until firing of Dikeman
ER - Writer appreciates editor's note that identifies writers
ER - Residents deserve answers to questions asked of DA's Office
ER - Bitter? You bet!
TS - Donations not improper, says Bear River Band
TS - DA's office: State OK'd handling of plea deal
NCJ - Best enemies
http://www.eurekareporter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?ArticleID=18405
12/12/2006
Derek Bowman was arrested late last week on two warrants and remained in custody Tuesday.
On Friday, Humboldt County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Bowman, 25, of Loleta, on no bail warrants for second degree burglary and forgery.
Bowman is the son of Leonard Bowman, the chairperson of the Bear River Band of Rohnerville Rancheria.
In July, Bowman was sentenced to 180 days, less time served, in the Humboldt County jail for a probation violation. However, according to jail personnel, he was released Sept. 11 to serve the rest of his time in the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Work Alternative Program.
His most recent arrest violates the terms of his SWAP.
Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.
Related stories:
ER - Bear River members seek chairperson's recall
ER - Gallegos sidesteps questions about possible conflict of interest in Bowman charges
ER - Questions without answers hinder our newsgathering
ER - Bowman story not accurate
ER - Contribution made because Gallegos was the better of the two
ER - Questions remain in DA's handling of Bowman charges
ER - Bear River official discusses financial contributions from tribe
ER - Tribe's contribution to DA's campaign was made by the Tribal Council, not Bowman
ER - Gallegos is 'public servant,' not Legal Spiegel
Ethical quagmire created by Gallegos' acceptance of casino's contribution
ER - It's telling that Gallegos witch hunt didn't start until firing of Dikeman
ER - Writer appreciates editor's note that identifies writers
ER - Residents deserve answers to questions asked of DA's Office
ER - Bitter? You bet!
TS - Donations not improper, says Bear River Band
TS - DA's office: State OK'd handling of plea deal
NCJ - Best enemies
12.11.2006
ER - Questions remain in DA's handling of Bowman charges
Questions remain in DA's handling of Bowman charges
by Heather Muller , 9/29/2006
Humboldt County District Attorney Paul Gallegos declined again Thursday to answer specific questions raised by The Eureka Reporter regarding a possible conflict of interest in the DA’s Office, while statements by two Gallegos subordinates answered some questions and raised others.
The controversy centers around a $10,000 contribution made to Gallegos’ re-election campaign by the Bear River Band of Rohnerville Rancheria, chaired by Leonard Bowman.
On July 19, less than six weeks after the election, Leonard’s son, Derek Bowman, received a plea deal from the DA’s Office involving nine felony and two misdemeanor charges, in which seven of the charges were dropped and sentences on the remaining charges were suspended.
Derek received jail time only for a 12th charge, a violation of the terms of his probation. Judge Timothy Cissna sentenced him to 180 days, less time served, in the Humboldt County jail. According to jail personnel, he was released Sept. 11 to serve the rest of his time in the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Work Alternative Program.
In a heated letter Tuesday to The Eureka Reporter, Deputy District Attorney Max Cardoza denied that there was any connection between the Bear River campaign contribution and the handling of Derek’s cases by the DA’s Office.
Cardoza, one of five attorneys in the DA’s Office named in court documents as having handled Derek’s charges, stated that Gallegos had taken appropriate measures to remove himself from the July 19 plea deal.
“Included with the files was a copy of a memo from Mr. Gallegos to Assistant District Attorney Wes Keat suggesting that neither he (Mr. Gallegos) nor former Deputy District Attorney Worth Dikeman should have anything to do with the matters because of the potential conflict or appearance of conflict involved therein.”
But a few hours later, Cardoza sent a second e-mail to The Eureka Reporter stating that he had written the above “without reviewing the files in their entirety.”
In fact, Cardoza wrote, he did not see the recusal memo when he originally had stated, because it was not written by Gallegos until July 24, five days after the plea deal was presented in court.
“So, the bottom line is, I was wrong about when I originally saw Paul’s memo,” Cardoza wrote. But, he added, the error didn’t change what he called “the basic fact: Paul never spoke to me about the cases before I entered into the plea agreement and he authored the memo without knowing that pleas had been entered.”
Assistant District Attorney Wes Keat said in a Wednesday phone call that additional measures were taken to ensure Derek was treated the same as any other defendant.
Keat said he called the California Attorney General’s Office in July and “ran the scenario by” a man whose name he didn’t remember on a date he didn’t recall.
When asked if attorneys typically keep records of phone calls like these, Keat said he had no record of the call but knew that he had made it to the AG’s San Francisco office.
“The other paper was incorrect in the information they printed. I didn’t call Sacramento, I called San Francisco. … Usually, I talk to a lady called Joyce Blair, a supervising deputy attorney general. But she was not in the office, and a gentleman was.”
Keat said the call had been made in mid-July. When asked if he could be more specific about the date, he replied, “I think it was on the 19th,” which is the same day the plea deal was presented in court.
Keat said he did not know if the call had been made before or after the deal was presented.
“When we looked at the files, we reached the conclusion that it was all happening simultaneously,” he said. “The gist, though, is that Cardoza did it all independently.”
Also on Wednesday, Blair at the AG’s San Francisco office confirmed by phone that she had not received a call from Keat, and added that she had not heard from other deputy attorneys general in the office that such a call had been received. She told The Eureka Reporter that she would “ask around” to see if anyone remembered Keat’s call.
On Thursday, Blair called back and said she had no information about who might have taken the call. “This is a big office,” she said.
Cardoza’s Tuesday letter additionally criticized The Eureka Reporter for declining to speak with him directly, as one of the attorneys in the DA’s Office who handled Derek’s charges.
“I find it rather telling,” Cardoza wrote, “that, to my knowledge, no one from your newspaper attempted to contact me regarding the facts of this matter prior to the publication of the article.”
A request for comment Thursday was declined by Cardoza.
In an e-mail exchange with The Eureka Reporter, Cardoza explained that he had a busy court calendar, and added, “As far as my responsibility to the media is concerned, I invite your attention to the California Public Records Act, the California Rules of Professional Conduct, the American Bar Association Model Code of Professional Responsibility and the National Prosecution Standards. I will continue to fulfill my responsibilities as set forth therein to all media outlets, including yours. If you feel I am in violation of any or all of those directives, I suggest you file a formal complaint with the California State Bar.”
When asked by e-mail if his refusal to comment contradicted the point raised in his criticism of the original story, and if professional standards would have precluded his response, Cardoza replied, “No, and I would thank you not to bother me with any further clumsy attempts to put words in my mouth.”
Cardoza referred to what he called the “sloppiness” of the original story and suggested that this newspaper might not have contacted him prior to its publication because information contradicting “preconceived notions” might have been received.
“I referred you to the various sources of professional standards for prosecutors so that, if possible, you could educate yourself on a prosecutor’s professional and ethical responsibilities when it comes to dealing with the media,” Cardoza wrote. “If you do so, perhaps you will refrain from making any future ham-handed attempts to strong-arm me into giving you what you want when you want it.”
Numerous requests for comment on the original story were made to Gallegos, whose campaign received the contribution. Messages were left at his direct office phone line, at the general phone line at the DA’s Office, at his cell phone number and at his e-mail address. Instead of answering specific questions forwarded to him by e-mail after he declined to speak directly, Gallegos sent an e-mail message that stated only the following: “This office operates without fear or favor.”
Early Thursday afternoon, The Eureka Reporter again requested responses to specific questions from Gallegos and Keat. A short time later, Gallegos responded in brief (see below).
Court documents state that among charges against Derek dismissed as part of the plea agreement were felony threat of death or great bodily injury to a 17-year-old girl, felony domestic battery against a different 17-year-old girl and misdemeanor battery against Bowman’s mother-in-law, Cheree Bowie.
The first of those charges, California Penal Code 422, is a “strike” felony under the California Three Strikes Law. Court files show that in the third charge, Derek was accused of hitting Bowie in the face three times as she was held down by her daughter and a second female.
(Rebecca S. Bender contributed to this report.)
District Attorney Gallegos responds in e-mail exchange
To Paul Gallegos and Wes Keat, from Heather Muller
If either of you has time to speak today regarding a follow-up on our Sept. 26 story, please contact me at your convenience.
From Wes, we’re hoping to learn if he has any additional details about the phone call he reported making to the Attorney General’s San Francisco office. We have not been able to confirm with that office that the call occurred.
From Paul or Wes, we’d like to know if the plea deal reached in the Derek Bowman case was typical of the kinds of deals reached by the DA’s Office — nine felonies, two misdemeanors, an extensive criminal history and no time requested except on a separate probation violation. An explanation is warranted.
We would also like to clarify a statement made by Max Cardoza, who evidently is declining to speak to us. He said that Bowman was now a convicted felon, which I think is technically, although not entirely, accurate. Is it not true that because of the way his sentence was suspended, those charges would be reduced to misdemeanors at the conclusion of his probation?
We are also waiting for the district attorney to address specific questions previously raised by this newspaper and sent to him by e-mail Sept. 22. If those questions need to be resubmitted, please advise.
To Heather Muller, from Paul Gallegos
As I said before, my office operates without fear or favor. Max Cardoza is (a) highly qualified, experienced, aggressive prosecutor whose judgment I respect and trust.
To Paul Gallegos, from Glenn Franco Simmons
We are not doubting anyone’s professionalism. We only want some answers to our questions. As the leader of your organization, we contacted you. If you are directing us to contact Mr. Cardoza, then perhaps I should send you the e-mails he sent me basically stating that he won’t speak to us. Why won’t anyone answer our questions?
To Glenn Franco Simmons, from Paul Gallegos
Both I and my attorneys have always made ourselves extremely available to your reporters and you. This e-mail further confirms that.
Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.
by Heather Muller , 9/29/2006
Humboldt County District Attorney Paul Gallegos declined again Thursday to answer specific questions raised by The Eureka Reporter regarding a possible conflict of interest in the DA’s Office, while statements by two Gallegos subordinates answered some questions and raised others.
The controversy centers around a $10,000 contribution made to Gallegos’ re-election campaign by the Bear River Band of Rohnerville Rancheria, chaired by Leonard Bowman.
On July 19, less than six weeks after the election, Leonard’s son, Derek Bowman, received a plea deal from the DA’s Office involving nine felony and two misdemeanor charges, in which seven of the charges were dropped and sentences on the remaining charges were suspended.
Derek received jail time only for a 12th charge, a violation of the terms of his probation. Judge Timothy Cissna sentenced him to 180 days, less time served, in the Humboldt County jail. According to jail personnel, he was released Sept. 11 to serve the rest of his time in the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Work Alternative Program.
In a heated letter Tuesday to The Eureka Reporter, Deputy District Attorney Max Cardoza denied that there was any connection between the Bear River campaign contribution and the handling of Derek’s cases by the DA’s Office.
Cardoza, one of five attorneys in the DA’s Office named in court documents as having handled Derek’s charges, stated that Gallegos had taken appropriate measures to remove himself from the July 19 plea deal.
“Included with the files was a copy of a memo from Mr. Gallegos to Assistant District Attorney Wes Keat suggesting that neither he (Mr. Gallegos) nor former Deputy District Attorney Worth Dikeman should have anything to do with the matters because of the potential conflict or appearance of conflict involved therein.”
But a few hours later, Cardoza sent a second e-mail to The Eureka Reporter stating that he had written the above “without reviewing the files in their entirety.”
In fact, Cardoza wrote, he did not see the recusal memo when he originally had stated, because it was not written by Gallegos until July 24, five days after the plea deal was presented in court.
“So, the bottom line is, I was wrong about when I originally saw Paul’s memo,” Cardoza wrote. But, he added, the error didn’t change what he called “the basic fact: Paul never spoke to me about the cases before I entered into the plea agreement and he authored the memo without knowing that pleas had been entered.”
Assistant District Attorney Wes Keat said in a Wednesday phone call that additional measures were taken to ensure Derek was treated the same as any other defendant.
Keat said he called the California Attorney General’s Office in July and “ran the scenario by” a man whose name he didn’t remember on a date he didn’t recall.
When asked if attorneys typically keep records of phone calls like these, Keat said he had no record of the call but knew that he had made it to the AG’s San Francisco office.
“The other paper was incorrect in the information they printed. I didn’t call Sacramento, I called San Francisco. … Usually, I talk to a lady called Joyce Blair, a supervising deputy attorney general. But she was not in the office, and a gentleman was.”
Keat said the call had been made in mid-July. When asked if he could be more specific about the date, he replied, “I think it was on the 19th,” which is the same day the plea deal was presented in court.
Keat said he did not know if the call had been made before or after the deal was presented.
“When we looked at the files, we reached the conclusion that it was all happening simultaneously,” he said. “The gist, though, is that Cardoza did it all independently.”
Also on Wednesday, Blair at the AG’s San Francisco office confirmed by phone that she had not received a call from Keat, and added that she had not heard from other deputy attorneys general in the office that such a call had been received. She told The Eureka Reporter that she would “ask around” to see if anyone remembered Keat’s call.
On Thursday, Blair called back and said she had no information about who might have taken the call. “This is a big office,” she said.
Cardoza’s Tuesday letter additionally criticized The Eureka Reporter for declining to speak with him directly, as one of the attorneys in the DA’s Office who handled Derek’s charges.
“I find it rather telling,” Cardoza wrote, “that, to my knowledge, no one from your newspaper attempted to contact me regarding the facts of this matter prior to the publication of the article.”
A request for comment Thursday was declined by Cardoza.
In an e-mail exchange with The Eureka Reporter, Cardoza explained that he had a busy court calendar, and added, “As far as my responsibility to the media is concerned, I invite your attention to the California Public Records Act, the California Rules of Professional Conduct, the American Bar Association Model Code of Professional Responsibility and the National Prosecution Standards. I will continue to fulfill my responsibilities as set forth therein to all media outlets, including yours. If you feel I am in violation of any or all of those directives, I suggest you file a formal complaint with the California State Bar.”
When asked by e-mail if his refusal to comment contradicted the point raised in his criticism of the original story, and if professional standards would have precluded his response, Cardoza replied, “No, and I would thank you not to bother me with any further clumsy attempts to put words in my mouth.”
Cardoza referred to what he called the “sloppiness” of the original story and suggested that this newspaper might not have contacted him prior to its publication because information contradicting “preconceived notions” might have been received.
“I referred you to the various sources of professional standards for prosecutors so that, if possible, you could educate yourself on a prosecutor’s professional and ethical responsibilities when it comes to dealing with the media,” Cardoza wrote. “If you do so, perhaps you will refrain from making any future ham-handed attempts to strong-arm me into giving you what you want when you want it.”
Numerous requests for comment on the original story were made to Gallegos, whose campaign received the contribution. Messages were left at his direct office phone line, at the general phone line at the DA’s Office, at his cell phone number and at his e-mail address. Instead of answering specific questions forwarded to him by e-mail after he declined to speak directly, Gallegos sent an e-mail message that stated only the following: “This office operates without fear or favor.”
Early Thursday afternoon, The Eureka Reporter again requested responses to specific questions from Gallegos and Keat. A short time later, Gallegos responded in brief (see below).
Court documents state that among charges against Derek dismissed as part of the plea agreement were felony threat of death or great bodily injury to a 17-year-old girl, felony domestic battery against a different 17-year-old girl and misdemeanor battery against Bowman’s mother-in-law, Cheree Bowie.
The first of those charges, California Penal Code 422, is a “strike” felony under the California Three Strikes Law. Court files show that in the third charge, Derek was accused of hitting Bowie in the face three times as she was held down by her daughter and a second female.
(Rebecca S. Bender contributed to this report.)
District Attorney Gallegos responds in e-mail exchange
To Paul Gallegos and Wes Keat, from Heather Muller
If either of you has time to speak today regarding a follow-up on our Sept. 26 story, please contact me at your convenience.
From Wes, we’re hoping to learn if he has any additional details about the phone call he reported making to the Attorney General’s San Francisco office. We have not been able to confirm with that office that the call occurred.
From Paul or Wes, we’d like to know if the plea deal reached in the Derek Bowman case was typical of the kinds of deals reached by the DA’s Office — nine felonies, two misdemeanors, an extensive criminal history and no time requested except on a separate probation violation. An explanation is warranted.
We would also like to clarify a statement made by Max Cardoza, who evidently is declining to speak to us. He said that Bowman was now a convicted felon, which I think is technically, although not entirely, accurate. Is it not true that because of the way his sentence was suspended, those charges would be reduced to misdemeanors at the conclusion of his probation?
We are also waiting for the district attorney to address specific questions previously raised by this newspaper and sent to him by e-mail Sept. 22. If those questions need to be resubmitted, please advise.
To Heather Muller, from Paul Gallegos
As I said before, my office operates without fear or favor. Max Cardoza is (a) highly qualified, experienced, aggressive prosecutor whose judgment I respect and trust.
To Paul Gallegos, from Glenn Franco Simmons
We are not doubting anyone’s professionalism. We only want some answers to our questions. As the leader of your organization, we contacted you. If you are directing us to contact Mr. Cardoza, then perhaps I should send you the e-mails he sent me basically stating that he won’t speak to us. Why won’t anyone answer our questions?
To Glenn Franco Simmons, from Paul Gallegos
Both I and my attorneys have always made ourselves extremely available to your reporters and you. This e-mail further confirms that.
Copyright (C) 2005, The Eureka Reporter. All rights reserved.
12.03.2006
ER - Two protestors call Dikeman a "racist"; he disagrees
Two protestors call Dikeman a "racist"; he disagrees
News Articles | from the Eureka Reporter |
by Christine Bensen-Messinger | May 20, 2006
Two county residents stood outside of the Humboldt County Courthouse Friday morning with signs encouraging people not to vote for Humboldt County District Attorney candidate Worth Dikeman because they say he is “racist.”
“Mr. Dikeman is very prejudice against Native Americans,” said Ellie Bowman, who lives on the Rohnerville Rancheria in Loleta.
Dikeman said he respected the women’s right to freedom of speech, but saw it as a personal attack launched by the people running his opponent Paul Gallegos’ campaign.
“I think this is a (Richard) Salzman, (Alison) Sterling-Nichols trick,” he said. “It is a personal attack and it is the sleaziest of tactics.”
But the women said they were not involved in Gallegos’ campaign and Gallegos’ campaign manager Nichols agreed.
“They’re not representing the campaign, but I have seen the quote that they found offensive and I can understand why they are upset and, of course, support anyone’s first amendment right to speak out,” she said.
Bowman and Madison Ayala, who lives on the Table Bluff reservation, handed out fliers to passersby titled, “Why I am here protesting at the courthouse today.”
The fliers included quotes the women said came from statements Dikeman made after excusing Native American jurors from the jury of a Fortuna man, Richard Craig Kesser, and his codefendants, Jennifer Gayle Leahy and Stephen Chiara. Kesser and his fiancée, Leahy, were convicted in 1992 of hiring Chiara to murder Kesser’s ex-wife.
“My experience is that Native Americans who are employed by the tribe are a little more prone to associate themselves with the culture and beliefs of the tribe … and that they are sometimes resistive of the criminal justice system,” a quote allegedly from Dikeman states.
But Dikeman said his quotes were taken out of context and he does not exclude jurors based on race, religion or sexual preference.
“Bad jurors come in all shapes, sizes, nationalities and colors,” he said. “It’s wrong to systematically exclude a group and I don’t do it because it’s wrong.”
The motion for a new trial based on the allegations that Dikeman excluded Native Americans based on their race was denied by the Humboldt County Superior Court Judge who heard it, the 1st District Court of Appeals, the Federal District Court and the 9th District Circuit Court of Appeals, he said.
Last year, a fifth motion to grant Kesser a retrial was heard by a group of 9th Circuit Court of Appeals judges in a petition debunk, which means more than the normal three judges hear the motion. A decision has not yet been released, he said.
While she was leaning toward voting for DA incumbent Paul Gallegos already, Bowman said now there is no question in her mind for whom she will vote, and she is planning to encourage others to vote for Gallegos as well.
“I’ll be out here everyday, rain or shine, until the election,” she said.
Ayala said she used to be uninterested in the DA’s race, but now she is planning to encourage others to vote for Gallegos.
“It more hit home for me because he said, ‘All Native American’s are unfit (to serve on a jury),’” she said, adding that she is Native American and goes to school and works. “He’s outing one race and that’s not fair. I don’t want a District Attorney who’s racist.”
But Dikeman said he does not exclude jurors based on their race and never would.
“It is wrong to systematically exclude groups from the jury pool. I don’t do it,” he said. “I haven’t done it and I will never do it.”
News Articles | from the Eureka Reporter |
by Christine Bensen-Messinger | May 20, 2006
Two county residents stood outside of the Humboldt County Courthouse Friday morning with signs encouraging people not to vote for Humboldt County District Attorney candidate Worth Dikeman because they say he is “racist.”
“Mr. Dikeman is very prejudice against Native Americans,” said Ellie Bowman, who lives on the Rohnerville Rancheria in Loleta.
Dikeman said he respected the women’s right to freedom of speech, but saw it as a personal attack launched by the people running his opponent Paul Gallegos’ campaign.
“I think this is a (Richard) Salzman, (Alison) Sterling-Nichols trick,” he said. “It is a personal attack and it is the sleaziest of tactics.”
But the women said they were not involved in Gallegos’ campaign and Gallegos’ campaign manager Nichols agreed.
“They’re not representing the campaign, but I have seen the quote that they found offensive and I can understand why they are upset and, of course, support anyone’s first amendment right to speak out,” she said.
Bowman and Madison Ayala, who lives on the Table Bluff reservation, handed out fliers to passersby titled, “Why I am here protesting at the courthouse today.”
The fliers included quotes the women said came from statements Dikeman made after excusing Native American jurors from the jury of a Fortuna man, Richard Craig Kesser, and his codefendants, Jennifer Gayle Leahy and Stephen Chiara. Kesser and his fiancée, Leahy, were convicted in 1992 of hiring Chiara to murder Kesser’s ex-wife.
“My experience is that Native Americans who are employed by the tribe are a little more prone to associate themselves with the culture and beliefs of the tribe … and that they are sometimes resistive of the criminal justice system,” a quote allegedly from Dikeman states.
But Dikeman said his quotes were taken out of context and he does not exclude jurors based on race, religion or sexual preference.
“Bad jurors come in all shapes, sizes, nationalities and colors,” he said. “It’s wrong to systematically exclude a group and I don’t do it because it’s wrong.”
The motion for a new trial based on the allegations that Dikeman excluded Native Americans based on their race was denied by the Humboldt County Superior Court Judge who heard it, the 1st District Court of Appeals, the Federal District Court and the 9th District Circuit Court of Appeals, he said.
Last year, a fifth motion to grant Kesser a retrial was heard by a group of 9th Circuit Court of Appeals judges in a petition debunk, which means more than the normal three judges hear the motion. A decision has not yet been released, he said.
While she was leaning toward voting for DA incumbent Paul Gallegos already, Bowman said now there is no question in her mind for whom she will vote, and she is planning to encourage others to vote for Gallegos as well.
“I’ll be out here everyday, rain or shine, until the election,” she said.
Ayala said she used to be uninterested in the DA’s race, but now she is planning to encourage others to vote for Gallegos.
“It more hit home for me because he said, ‘All Native American’s are unfit (to serve on a jury),’” she said, adding that she is Native American and goes to school and works. “He’s outing one race and that’s not fair. I don’t want a District Attorney who’s racist.”
But Dikeman said he does not exclude jurors based on their race and never would.
“It is wrong to systematically exclude groups from the jury pool. I don’t do it,” he said. “I haven’t done it and I will never do it.”
ER - Second news release countering racism allegations issued
Second news release countering racism allegations issued
from the Eureka Reporter | by Heather Muller | May 22, 2006
The dispute stemming from two protesters’ allegations of racism against district attorney candidate Worth Dikeman continued through the weekend, with Dikeman’s campaign issuing a second news release countering the allegations and questioning the protest’s timing.
As previously reported in The Eureka Reporter, Ellie Bowman and Madison Ayala have been picketing in front of the Humboldt County Courthouse in Eureka since Friday, holding signs and passing out fliers stating Dikeman is a “racist.”
The women claim Dikeman discriminated against Native Americans during jury selection in the trial of Richard Kesser, a Native American man from Fortuna.
The fliers contained statements Dikeman allegedly made questioning the fitness of Native Americans employed by the tribe to serve on Kesser’s jury. Kesser was convicted of hiring another man to murder Kesser’s ex-wife, but the case has been appealed numerous times based on assertions by the defense that Dikeman excluded jurors on the basis of race.
At the center of the issue is what is known as a “Wheeler Motion,” which is a motion brought during jury selection when one side claims the other has violated the Constitution by challenging jurors because of their race, gender, religion or other constitutionally protected characteristic.
In Petition for Rehearing papers filed by Kesser’s defense and obtained by The Eureka Reporter, Dikeman was accused of striking three Native American and one other non-white juror from Kesser’s jury. The papers stated that these were the only four minority jurors in the jury pool.
In explaining his challenges, Dikeman is quoted in the papers referring to one of the Native American jurors as “darker skinned,” and describing Native Americans employed by the tribe as “resistive of the criminal justice system generally and somewhat suspicious of the system.”
In a Friday news release, the Dikeman campaign stated, “Four courts have found that Dikeman acted properly and without racial animus,” including the Humboldt County Superior Court, the California Supreme Court of Appeal for the First District, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
But it was a different trial that Dikeman’s campaign referred to in a second release Saturday.
“You may wish to know a little more about Ellie Bowman,” the release stated, referring to one of the protesters accusing Dikeman of discrimination.
“Worth Dikeman successfully prosecuted her son, Jeff Bowman, for murder. Bowman went to prison for 25 years to life for the murder of a Trinidad Rancheria tribe member named Julius Aubrey,” the release stated.
Newspaper reports from 2001 indicate that Jeffrey Bowman and two co-defendants were convicted of first-degree murder, burglary and attempted robbery in the stabbing death of Aubrey.
In a Friday news release, the Dikeman campaign called the women’s allegations “a sleazy Gallegos/Salzman/Sterling-Nichols campaign tactic,” referring to Gallegos’ former and current campaign managers Richard Salzman and Alison Sterling Nichols, respectively, “and only demonstrates how desperate they’ve become.”
Nichols called the statement “ridiculous.”
“The Gallegos campaign doesn’t need to tell Native Americans when they should be offended,” she said.
But the debate didn’t end there. Dikeman’s release went on to state, “In fact, only one attorney in the history of Humboldt County has ever had a Wheeler Motion granted against him.”
That attorney, according to the release, was District Attorney Paul Gallegos.
In the case of People v. Mika Myers, the release stated, Judge John Feeney found Gallegos guilty of using peremptory challenges to dismiss prospective jurors based on their race.
Gallegos was quick to note that this was a case that he, as a defense attorney, had tried against Dikeman.
“I was representing a Native American,” Gallegos said, “and Worth was trying to make sure there were no Native Americans on the jury.”
Gallegos said he used some of his peremptory challenges against white jurors — 11 of whom had already been selected for the 12-member panel — because his client wanted to have at least one Native American on the jury.
“I was trying to have a more racially diverse jury,” Gallegos said.
Dikeman insisted that he has never excluded jurors on the basis of race.
“I don’t do it, I haven’t done it and I will never do it,” he said.
A fifth motion to grant Kesser a new trial is pending.
printer friendly version
from the Eureka Reporter | by Heather Muller | May 22, 2006
The dispute stemming from two protesters’ allegations of racism against district attorney candidate Worth Dikeman continued through the weekend, with Dikeman’s campaign issuing a second news release countering the allegations and questioning the protest’s timing.
As previously reported in The Eureka Reporter, Ellie Bowman and Madison Ayala have been picketing in front of the Humboldt County Courthouse in Eureka since Friday, holding signs and passing out fliers stating Dikeman is a “racist.”
The women claim Dikeman discriminated against Native Americans during jury selection in the trial of Richard Kesser, a Native American man from Fortuna.
The fliers contained statements Dikeman allegedly made questioning the fitness of Native Americans employed by the tribe to serve on Kesser’s jury. Kesser was convicted of hiring another man to murder Kesser’s ex-wife, but the case has been appealed numerous times based on assertions by the defense that Dikeman excluded jurors on the basis of race.
At the center of the issue is what is known as a “Wheeler Motion,” which is a motion brought during jury selection when one side claims the other has violated the Constitution by challenging jurors because of their race, gender, religion or other constitutionally protected characteristic.
In Petition for Rehearing papers filed by Kesser’s defense and obtained by The Eureka Reporter, Dikeman was accused of striking three Native American and one other non-white juror from Kesser’s jury. The papers stated that these were the only four minority jurors in the jury pool.
In explaining his challenges, Dikeman is quoted in the papers referring to one of the Native American jurors as “darker skinned,” and describing Native Americans employed by the tribe as “resistive of the criminal justice system generally and somewhat suspicious of the system.”
In a Friday news release, the Dikeman campaign stated, “Four courts have found that Dikeman acted properly and without racial animus,” including the Humboldt County Superior Court, the California Supreme Court of Appeal for the First District, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
But it was a different trial that Dikeman’s campaign referred to in a second release Saturday.
“You may wish to know a little more about Ellie Bowman,” the release stated, referring to one of the protesters accusing Dikeman of discrimination.
“Worth Dikeman successfully prosecuted her son, Jeff Bowman, for murder. Bowman went to prison for 25 years to life for the murder of a Trinidad Rancheria tribe member named Julius Aubrey,” the release stated.
Newspaper reports from 2001 indicate that Jeffrey Bowman and two co-defendants were convicted of first-degree murder, burglary and attempted robbery in the stabbing death of Aubrey.
In a Friday news release, the Dikeman campaign called the women’s allegations “a sleazy Gallegos/Salzman/Sterling-Nichols campaign tactic,” referring to Gallegos’ former and current campaign managers Richard Salzman and Alison Sterling Nichols, respectively, “and only demonstrates how desperate they’ve become.”
Nichols called the statement “ridiculous.”
“The Gallegos campaign doesn’t need to tell Native Americans when they should be offended,” she said.
But the debate didn’t end there. Dikeman’s release went on to state, “In fact, only one attorney in the history of Humboldt County has ever had a Wheeler Motion granted against him.”
That attorney, according to the release, was District Attorney Paul Gallegos.
In the case of People v. Mika Myers, the release stated, Judge John Feeney found Gallegos guilty of using peremptory challenges to dismiss prospective jurors based on their race.
Gallegos was quick to note that this was a case that he, as a defense attorney, had tried against Dikeman.
“I was representing a Native American,” Gallegos said, “and Worth was trying to make sure there were no Native Americans on the jury.”
Gallegos said he used some of his peremptory challenges against white jurors — 11 of whom had already been selected for the 12-member panel — because his client wanted to have at least one Native American on the jury.
“I was trying to have a more racially diverse jury,” Gallegos said.
Dikeman insisted that he has never excluded jurors on the basis of race.
“I don’t do it, I haven’t done it and I will never do it,” he said.
A fifth motion to grant Kesser a new trial is pending.
printer friendly version
TS - Bear River Band claims Dikeman a racist
Bear River Band claims Dikeman a racist
Rancheria asks tribes of California to oppose candidate
from The Times-Standard | News Articles | by James Faulk | Jun 3, 2006
EUREKA -- The Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria has sent a letter to the tribes of California asking them to oppose Worth Dikeman in the race for Humboldt County district attorney.
"We may not be capable of serving on a jury but we are darn well capable of using our voting clout to keep him out of the DA's office."--Howard McConnell, Yurok Tribe
Dikeman has been roundly criticized by some members of the American Indian community for seeking to remove jurors of American Indian descent in a past case after saying that employees of tribes were resistant of the criminal justice system.
The trial was that of Fortunan Richard Kesser, who was ultimately convicted. His conviction has been appealed several times, and each time it has been upheld. It is currently being reviewed again.
Tribal board member Aileen Meyer confirmed that the letter was being sent and said she took issue with Dikeman's comments about American Indian jurors.
”They're putting together a letter to all of the tribes that they basically don't really want Dikeman in there because of his racist remarks,” she said. “Don't Native Americans have the right to sit on a jury? You are supposed to be held to a jury of your peers if you do something wrong, right ?”
Howard McConnell of the Yurok Tribe said he had yet to see the letter from the Bear River Band.
”But I'm voting for Mr. Gallegos -- that's who I'm voting for,” McConnell said. “I had my mind made up a long time ago.”
In a letter to the editor sent before Friday's announcement, Robert Ulibarri -- a Navajo married to a member of the Hoopa Tribe -- sent the same sentiment.
”Since Native Americans make up almost 10 percent of the Humboldt County population, let's send a strong message to District Attorney candidate Worth Dikeman,” he said. “We may not be capable of serving on a jury but we are darn well capable of using our voting clout to keep him out of the DA's office.”
Dikeman was unreachable Friday evening, but has been quoted as saying he wouldn't dignify the tribe's actions with a remark.
Tribal Chairman Leonard Bowman was also not available for comment.
Rancheria asks tribes of California to oppose candidate
from The Times-Standard | News Articles | by James Faulk | Jun 3, 2006
EUREKA -- The Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria has sent a letter to the tribes of California asking them to oppose Worth Dikeman in the race for Humboldt County district attorney.
"We may not be capable of serving on a jury but we are darn well capable of using our voting clout to keep him out of the DA's office."--Howard McConnell, Yurok Tribe
Dikeman has been roundly criticized by some members of the American Indian community for seeking to remove jurors of American Indian descent in a past case after saying that employees of tribes were resistant of the criminal justice system.
The trial was that of Fortunan Richard Kesser, who was ultimately convicted. His conviction has been appealed several times, and each time it has been upheld. It is currently being reviewed again.
Tribal board member Aileen Meyer confirmed that the letter was being sent and said she took issue with Dikeman's comments about American Indian jurors.
”They're putting together a letter to all of the tribes that they basically don't really want Dikeman in there because of his racist remarks,” she said. “Don't Native Americans have the right to sit on a jury? You are supposed to be held to a jury of your peers if you do something wrong, right ?”
Howard McConnell of the Yurok Tribe said he had yet to see the letter from the Bear River Band.
”But I'm voting for Mr. Gallegos -- that's who I'm voting for,” McConnell said. “I had my mind made up a long time ago.”
In a letter to the editor sent before Friday's announcement, Robert Ulibarri -- a Navajo married to a member of the Hoopa Tribe -- sent the same sentiment.
”Since Native Americans make up almost 10 percent of the Humboldt County population, let's send a strong message to District Attorney candidate Worth Dikeman,” he said. “We may not be capable of serving on a jury but we are darn well capable of using our voting clout to keep him out of the DA's office.”
Dikeman was unreachable Friday evening, but has been quoted as saying he wouldn't dignify the tribe's actions with a remark.
Tribal Chairman Leonard Bowman was also not available for comment.
11.18.2006
TS - Letter - Recall Petition against Bowman
A recall petition has been started to recall Chairperson Leonard Bowman from the Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria Tribal Council. Mr. Bowman is currently under investigation and was most recently removed from the Board of Directors by the current Tribal Council members.
This Saturday, the tribe is having their monthly general council meeting. All members that are interested in finding out more about the petition process, contact tribal members Barbara Orr or Brenda Bowie.
The general council meeting begins at 1:pm at the Tribal Community Center. The Thanksgiving dinner will start at 3:pm.
Brenda Bowie
Loleta
Related stories:
ER - Bear River members seek chairperson's recall
ER - Gallegos sidesteps questions about possible conflict of interest in Bowman charges
ER - Questions without answers hinder our newsgathering
ER - Bowman story not accurate
< a href="http://www.eurekareporter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?ArticleID=15466" >ER - Contribution made because Gallegos was the better of the two< /a >
ER - Questions remain in DA's handling of Bowman charges
ER - Bear River official discusses financial contributions from tribe
ER - Tribe's contribution to DA's campaign was made by the Tribal Council, not Bowman
ER - Gallegos is 'public servant,' not Legal Spiegel
ER - It's telling that Gallegos witch hunt didn't start until firing of Dikeman
ER - Writer appreciates editor's note that identifies writers
ER - Residents deserve answers to questions asked of DA's Office
ER - Bitter? You bet!
TS - Donations not improper, says Bear River Band
TS - DA's office: State OK'd handling of plea deal
This Saturday, the tribe is having their monthly general council meeting. All members that are interested in finding out more about the petition process, contact tribal members Barbara Orr or Brenda Bowie.
The general council meeting begins at 1:pm at the Tribal Community Center. The Thanksgiving dinner will start at 3:pm.
Brenda Bowie
Loleta
Related stories:
ER - Bear River members seek chairperson's recall
ER - Gallegos sidesteps questions about possible conflict of interest in Bowman charges
ER - Questions without answers hinder our newsgathering
ER - Bowman story not accurate
< a href="http://www.eurekareporter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?ArticleID=15466" >ER - Contribution made because Gallegos was the better of the two< /a >
ER - Questions remain in DA's handling of Bowman charges
ER - Bear River official discusses financial contributions from tribe
ER - Tribe's contribution to DA's campaign was made by the Tribal Council, not Bowman
ER - Gallegos is 'public servant,' not Legal Spiegel
ER - It's telling that Gallegos witch hunt didn't start until firing of Dikeman
ER - Writer appreciates editor's note that identifies writers
ER - Residents deserve answers to questions asked of DA's Office
ER - Bitter? You bet!
TS - Donations not improper, says Bear River Band
TS - DA's office: State OK'd handling of plea deal
TS - Bear River members seek chairperson's recall - 11/17/2006
Bear River members seek chairperson's recall
Jessie Faulkner/The Times-Standard
Article Launched:11/17/2006 04:17:32 AM PST
LOLETA -- Some members of the Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria are seeking the recall of Tribal Chairperson Leonard Bowman alleging embezzlement and illegal donations of tribal money to Humboldt County District Attorney Paul Gallegos' campaign for re-election.
Rancheria member Brenda Bowie said Thursday that three members of the five-member Tribal Council -- Carol Reeves, Edwin Smith and Dakota McGinnis -- had joined several others in signing a petition to recall Bowman. She also noted that the chairperson had been removed from his position as president of the board of directors, an entity established with the opening of the Rancheria's Bear River Casino. The members of the board of directors and the Tribal Council are the same people.
A General Council meeting of all Rancheria members is scheduled at 1 p.m. Saturday in the Tribal Community Center in advance of the annual Thanksgiving dinner set for 3 p.m. Petitions will be circulated during the General Council meeting.
Bowie said Tribal Council members declined to explain why Bowman was removed as president of the board of directors other than for misconduct.
According to Bowie, the Rancheria's attorney has been investigating disappearance of funds from a fund set up to sponsor a stock car that races at Redwood Acres. The results of the attorney's investigation, she said, hasn't been shared with Rancheria members.
”They've been stalling and stalling,” Bowie said.
However, Bowie also noted that the tribal chairperson had allegedly violated the Rancheria's own Code of Personal and Business Conduct conflict of interest/political contributions section that says tribal funds or property cannot be used for contributions to political candidates. A $10,000 contribution to the district attorney's campaign violated that policy, Bowie noted.
She added that Bowman had requested that a donation be made to the Gallegos campaign.
Bowie said she and her niece, Barbara Orr, are also preparing to send letters to the Rancheria members seeking their signatures for the recall petition.
”I encouraged the tribal council to work with Leonard,” Bowie said, “but they didn't.”
Efforts to reach Bowman were unsuccessful Thursday.
Related stories:
ER - Bear River members seek chairperson's recall
ER - Gallegos sidesteps questions about possible conflict of interest in Bowman charges
ER - Questions without answers hinder our newsgathering
ER - Bowman story not accurate
< a href="http://www.eurekareporter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?ArticleID=15466" >ER - Contribution made because Gallegos was the better of the two< /a >
ER - Questions remain in DA's handling of Bowman charges
ER - Bear River official discusses financial contributions from tribe
ER - Tribe's contribution to DA's campaign was made by the Tribal Council, not Bowman
ER - Gallegos is 'public servant,' not Legal Spiegel
ER - It's telling that Gallegos witch hunt didn't start until firing of Dikeman
ER - Writer appreciates editor's note that identifies writers
ER - Residents deserve answers to questions asked of DA's Office
ER - Bitter? You bet!
TS - Donations not improper, says Bear River Band
TS - DA's office: State OK'd handling of plea deal
Jessie Faulkner/The Times-Standard
Article Launched:11/17/2006 04:17:32 AM PST
LOLETA -- Some members of the Bear River Band of the Rohnerville Rancheria are seeking the recall of Tribal Chairperson Leonard Bowman alleging embezzlement and illegal donations of tribal money to Humboldt County District Attorney Paul Gallegos' campaign for re-election.
Rancheria member Brenda Bowie said Thursday that three members of the five-member Tribal Council -- Carol Reeves, Edwin Smith and Dakota McGinnis -- had joined several others in signing a petition to recall Bowman. She also noted that the chairperson had been removed from his position as president of the board of directors, an entity established with the opening of the Rancheria's Bear River Casino. The members of the board of directors and the Tribal Council are the same people.
A General Council meeting of all Rancheria members is scheduled at 1 p.m. Saturday in the Tribal Community Center in advance of the annual Thanksgiving dinner set for 3 p.m. Petitions will be circulated during the General Council meeting.
Bowie said Tribal Council members declined to explain why Bowman was removed as president of the board of directors other than for misconduct.
According to Bowie, the Rancheria's attorney has been investigating disappearance of funds from a fund set up to sponsor a stock car that races at Redwood Acres. The results of the attorney's investigation, she said, hasn't been shared with Rancheria members.
”They've been stalling and stalling,” Bowie said.
However, Bowie also noted that the tribal chairperson had allegedly violated the Rancheria's own Code of Personal and Business Conduct conflict of interest/political contributions section that says tribal funds or property cannot be used for contributions to political candidates. A $10,000 contribution to the district attorney's campaign violated that policy, Bowie noted.
She added that Bowman had requested that a donation be made to the Gallegos campaign.
Bowie said she and her niece, Barbara Orr, are also preparing to send letters to the Rancheria members seeking their signatures for the recall petition.
”I encouraged the tribal council to work with Leonard,” Bowie said, “but they didn't.”
Efforts to reach Bowman were unsuccessful Thursday.
Related stories:
ER - Bear River members seek chairperson's recall
ER - Gallegos sidesteps questions about possible conflict of interest in Bowman charges
ER - Questions without answers hinder our newsgathering
ER - Bowman story not accurate
< a href="http://www.eurekareporter.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?ArticleID=15466" >ER - Contribution made because Gallegos was the better of the two< /a >
ER - Questions remain in DA's handling of Bowman charges
ER - Bear River official discusses financial contributions from tribe
ER - Tribe's contribution to DA's campaign was made by the Tribal Council, not Bowman
ER - Gallegos is 'public servant,' not Legal Spiegel
ER - It's telling that Gallegos witch hunt didn't start until firing of Dikeman
ER - Writer appreciates editor's note that identifies writers
ER - Residents deserve answers to questions asked of DA's Office
ER - Bitter? You bet!
TS - Donations not improper, says Bear River Band
TS - DA's office: State OK'd handling of plea deal