RandySF
RandySF's JournalMayor Lee Won't Face Perjury Investigation, D.A. Says
It looks like the perjury charge against Mayor Ed Lee will soon fade into insignificance. District Attorney George Gascón this week maintained his position that that there isn't enough evidence to pursue an investigation. Meanwhile, the Ethics Commission has ruled that it will not issue subpoenas for the people allegedly involved in the perjury accusation, because the charges are irrelevant to its main purpose of determining whether Ross Mirkarimi should be permanently booted from his post as county sheriff.
So the charge is stuck in international waters, as both sides with the power to go after Lee insist that the ball is in the other's court. The D.A. says he needs more information; the body with the ability to get that information says that it is not their responsibility to get it.
"It's a matter for the [D.A.], not something for us to decide," Commissioner Benedict Hur said at a hearing last week. "The issue is too collateral to merit additional testimony."
The charges stemmed from Lee's June 29 testimony at Mirkarimi's Ethics Commission hearing, when Lee argued that Mirkarimi should be removed from office for a false imprisonment conviction connected to a domestic dispute with his wife. Lee believes Mirkarimi was trying to hide the incident from the public. But Mirkarimi's legal team claims that Lee lied twice on the stand.
http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2012/07/george_gascon_wont_persue_ed_l.php
Teen who tweeted sex attackers' names won't face charges
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A Kentucky teenager frustrated by light punishment for two boys who pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting her was spared Monday from having to face a contempt charge for naming them on Twitter in violation of a court order.
The case of Savannah Dietrich, 17, quickly gathered supporters nationwide who were upset that the victim of an assault could be punished for speaking out against her attackers.
The girl turned to Twitter after she said she was frustrated with what she felt was a lenient plea deal. The judge had ordered no one to speak about the case, which was in juvenile court.
On Monday, attorneys for the boys dropped their motion to charge her with contempt. David Mejia, an attorney for one of the boys, said the decision to withdraw the motion had nothing to do with public sentiment and online attention to the case.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48292780/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/#.UA7Q3X2jtJc
Paterno family: Sanctions over Sandusky "defame legacy"
(CBS/AP) INDIANAPOLIS - The family of Hall of Fame football coach Joe Paterno says the NCAA's sanctions defame his legacy and are a panicked response to the scandal that led to them.
The statement was released Monday by Paterno's family. It says President Rodney Erickson, acting Athletic Director David Joyner and the entire Board of Trustees failed by not seeking a full hearing before the NCAA's infractions committee.
The family also says that punishing "past, present and future" students because of former assistant Jerry Sandusky's crimes did not serve justice.
The NCAA imposed a harsh set of sanctions on Penn State Monday, less than two weeks after an independent investigation found that football coach Joe Paterno and other senior school leaders failed to stop former defensive coach Jerry Sandusky from sexually abusing children on campus.
NCAA President Mark Emmert announced that the association was banning the football team from all post-season play and bowl games for four years, reducing the program's number of scholarships from 25 to 15 per year for four years, and fining the program $60 million. The association also vacated all of the program's wins between 1998 and 2011.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-400_162-57478163/paterno-family-sanctions-over-sandusky-defame-legacy/
Should crime victims hire their own attorneys?
I've been following the case of 17-year old Savannah Dietrich, a sexual assault victim who faces possible Contempt of Court charges for violating a gag order and naming her juvenile attackers after receiving reduced sentences. Based on what I read, she was never informed by the court or prosecuting attorneys about the plea until the last minute, no was she informed that she could have objected to the gag order.
So my question is this: Should crime victims hire attorneys or contact some other advocate to make sure that they are fully aware of their rights throughout the process? This case makes me less likely to trust DA's anymore.
Indian music classic: Aaj Mausam Bada Beimaan Hai - Dharmendra
Translated in English as "The Weather Plays Tricks On Me"
Teen rape victim faces charge for naming attackers
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A 17-year-old Kentucky girl who was upset by the plea deal reached by a pair of teenagers who sexually assaulted her is now facing a contempt charge for tweeting their names in violation of a court order.
Savannah Dietrich of Louisville told The Courier-Journal (http://cjky.it/NEcirr) she is frustrated by what she feels is a lenient deal for her attackers. After posting the names on Twitter, Dietrich wrote, "I'm not protecting anyone that made my life a living Hell."
The boys' attorneys have asked a judge to hold Dietrich in contempt for violating the confidentiality of a juvenile hearing and the judge's order not to speak about it.
Dietrich told the paper she was assaulted in August 2011 by two boys she knew when she passed out after drinking at a gathering. She learned months later that pictures of the assault were taken and shared with others.
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Kentucky-teen-faces-charge-for-naming-attackers-3724973.php
San Jose school principal arrested for not reporting alleged abuse by a teacher.
It just hit the wires so that's all I have for the moment. Happened at Whaley Elementary. This is going to be all over the Bay Area for a while.
Second suspect in notorious S.F. killings arrested
(07-09) 18:37 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- An alleged gang leader who spent four years on the run after a San Francisco man and his two sons were shot to death in their car on an Excelsior neighborhood street could soon be on his way back to the city after being arrested in North Carolina.
Wilfredo "Flaco" Reyes, 31, whom police suspect of aiding the man convicted in May of the 2008 killings, was grabbed by San Francisco police and local law enforcement officers as he tried to climb out a window during a raid Monday on a home in Salisbury, N.C., authorities said.
Police had gone to the home in central North Carolina on a tip from the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. Extradition proceedings were scheduled to begin Tuesday to return Reyes to San Francisco, where he is wanted on a $5 million arrest warrant on three counts of murder.
Reyes, who is also known as Wilfredo Reyesruano, was a leader of a faction of the MS-13 gang who was with Edwin Ramos when Tony Bologna, 48, and his sons Michael, 20, and Matthew, 16, were shot to death coming home from a family outing June 22, 2008, authorities believe.
http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Second-suspect-in-notorious-S-F-killings-arrested-3694147.php
SF School Board member uses expense account as personal ATM.
For the third time in less than four years, The Chronicle has uncovered a pattern of excessive and questionable spending by a San Francisco school board member, a practice that has continued despite district promises to increase oversight.
Board member Kim-Shree Maufas spent almost twice as much as any of the six other board members through April of the past school year, spending thousands of dollars on meals and transportation in San Francisco, personal computer and phone equipment, books and photocopies, among other expenditures charged to taxpayers.
Factoring out expenses for travel to conferences, Maufas spent more than $3,700, four times the $900 spent by the other six board members combined.
The expenses - more than $8,000 - were made as cash-strapped schools were raising money for paper and the district was cutting four days from the school year to cover an anticipated $113 million budget shortfall over two years.
Board President Norman Yee suspended the use of credit cards by all board members and ordered an audit of expenditures after The Chronicle raised questions about Maufas' spending in mid-June.
http://www.sfgate.com/education/article/Kim-Shree-Maufas-far-outspends-school-board-3692209.php
I wish SOME charter school critics would stop being hypocrites.
I just had a lengthy discussion about the virtues and drawbacks about charter schools, especially the KIPP program in San Francisco. I acknowledged the pluses and minuses while she bashed it up one side and down the other, primarily criticising its ability to catch the most motivated kids and parents in the most at-risk neighborhood in the city. Then, at the end of the conversation, she admitted tha her daughter attends Ruth Asawa School of the Arts, which is one of the two most selective high schools in the district. In other words, a selective school for me, but not for three. I'm sorry, but that's hypocrisy.
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