SAN FRANCISCO 
Visitor gets $175,000 from INS in settlement 

 Friday, December 20, 2002 
 

A Nicaraguan woman who was jailed for two nights and subjected to ethnic slurs by an immigration inspector in San Francisco two years ago will receive a $175,000 settlement from the federal government, her attorneys said Wednesday. Rosa Zamora-Pineda, executive director of the Nicaraguan Sports Hall of Fame, traveled to San Francisco in September 2000 and was arrested at the airport, where an inspector accused her of having a fake visa, said attorney Robert Rubin of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights. At one point the inspector noted that her tourist visa had been issued three years ago and shouted, "All Latinos who are able to get visas come running to the United States as often as they can and stay as long as they can. " INS spokeswoman Sharon Rummery declined comment. 

Federal jury awards $1.6 million in Marin discrimination case 
 

Published 6:10 p.m. PST Saturday, March 9, 2002 
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - An African American deputy probation officer in Marin County was awarded $1.6 million in damages in a civil rights suit.Officer Lonnie Morris, 44, along with fellow officer Wilfred Broom, sued the county government in 1999, asking for $2 million and accusing Marin County officials of maintaining a hostile work environment for racial minorities. 

The suit named the county, the board of supervisors, the probation department and Chief Probation Officer Ronald Baylo as defendants.The U.S. District Court jury in San Francisco issued a verdict Friday in favor of Morris that included $1.1 million in damages against the county and more than $500,000 against Baylo for racial discrimination. It also found Baylo liable for $20,000 in punitive damages, but rejected Morris' claim that he was not promoted because of racial discrimination. 

During the six-week trial, Morris testified that he found a bullet on Broom's desk in January 1997, which they considered a death threat. Morris also said he was subject to racial slurs, jokes and epithets while at work."This is the largest verdict ever against Marin County government for one person for discrimination," Morris' lawyer, Charles Bonner, told the San Francisco Chronicle.Since 1995, six other African Americans have filed lawsuits or administrative grievances against the county. The county settled three of the cases. County Counsel Patrick Faulkner said that his office is considering whether to appeal the verdict. 

San Jose Mercury News (CA) 

OFFICERS SUE, CLAIM MALICIOUS PROSECUTION

Three Los Angeles police officers who were put on trial last year for corruption-related offenses have filed a federal civil rights lawsuit alleging that they were falsely arrested, maliciously prosecuted and treated like ''common criminals'' by the police department and district attorney's office, their attorney said Thursday. 

According to a 30-page lawsuit, the three officers contend that their reputations were destroyed and that they were publicly humiliated as a. . . 

Lawsuit filed over prisoners' rights

Two days after filing a legal claim in the case, an advocate of prisoners' rights filed a civil-rights lawsuit Thursday, alleging that Orange County officials unreasonably delay the freeing of inmates who are ordered released. 

The suit, filed on behalf of Fred Pierce of Anaheim, also alleges that inmates due to be released are strip-searched when they return to jail for processing. 

Laguna Beach attorney Richard P. Herman said he would seek to the have the suit certified. . . 

U.S. PRISONS VOW HALT TO SEX ASSAULTS

The U.S. Bureau of Prisons will tighten its sexual harassment and assault policies to help settle a lawsuit by three female inmates who said they were beaten, raped and sold by guards for sex at a federal prison. 

Under the terms of the settlement, presented to U.S. District Court Judge Thelton E. Henderson on Tuesday, the Bureau of Prisons agreed to expand its sexual harassment training program, provide immediate medical and psychiatric care for inmates who are sexually assaulted and develop. . . 

Former guard files suit

A former guard at the privately run federal prison camp at Taft is suing for more than $100,000 following her acquittal on charges that she had sexual relations with an inmate. 

Tammy L. Isbell filed the complaint in U.S. District Court in Fresno against Wackenhut Corrections Corp., which operates the Taft Correctional Institution, a federal facility. 

A federal court jury in March found Isbell innocent of misdemeanor charges that she performed oral sex on inmate Baltazar Magana in a. . . 

Published on March 2, 2000, Sacramento Bee 

A Sacramento man filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Wednesday accusing the city of covering up police brutality by booking people for resisting arrest who had been subjected to officers' excessive force. 

The suit, filed on behalf of Anthony Hunter, claims the city has a "custom, practice and policy of covering up the excessive use of force by Sacramento city police officers -- against blacks -- by falsely arresting and encouraging the wrongful prosecution of persons for. . . 

Published on February 20, 2000, Sacramento Bee 

Four Placer County sheriff's officers must be dropped from a federal civil rights lawsuit stemming from a 1998 incident at a Granite Bay business, a judge has ruled. 

U.S. District Judge Garland Burell concluded that Don Pollock, David Powers, Darrell Steinhauer and Randy Hall conducted lawful investigations into a shooting at Dick's Taxidermy on Douglas Boulevard.Richard Westervelt, 63, who operates the taxidermy business, filed a federal civil rights action that included. . . 

Carlos Calderon 
Jim Schultz 
 Record Searchlight

RED BLUFF — An out-of-court settlement has been reached in a federal lawsuit filed by a 55-year-old Tehama County man shot in the arm last year during a drug raid at his former Richfield mobile home. 

Carlos Calderon and his family will receive $607,908 from Tehama and Glenn counties, the state and the cities of Red Bluff, Redding and Corning, Tehama County Supervisor Barbara McIver said Tuesday. 

A breakdown of specific payments to be made could not be confirmed.Calderon's wife, Rebecca, said Tuesday evening that the family — which moved last year to Dairyville — had only learned that day about the settlement through an article in the Red Bluff newspaper." 

We were kind of stunned they didn't tell us," she said. "We haven't gathered our thoughts." 

We are glad things are resolved," she said.Although Tehama County Counsel Nelson Buck was unavailable Tuesday for comment, McIver said she was happy an out-of-court settlement had been reached." 

I'm pleased that it's over and that it's been settled to the satisfaction of all parties," she said.George Russell, chairman of the Tehama County Board of Supervisors, declined to comment on the settlement. 

The federal lawsuit, filed in June 1999, claimed that Calderon's civil rights were violated when his Richfield home was raided during the early morning hours of Feb. 24, 1999, allegedly by mistake. 

Tehama County District Attorney Gregg Cohen has said that authorities from various agencies, including the Tehama and Glenn Methamphetamine Task Force, had a warrant to search a white and green single-wide mobile home for methamphetamine and heroin. 

The search was part of a Redding Police Department investigation of a tar heroin ring that had ties in Shasta County, authorities have said.But Calderon's San Jose Road residence, a tan double-wide mobile home, was next to that single-wide residence. It was not named in the warrant. 

No drugs were found in Calderon's home. 

Jack Nehr, special agent in charge of the state Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement office in Redding, has said that before officers entered Calderon's home, a BNE agent who looked in a window saw him grab a 12-gauge shotgun and point it at the door as officers were entering. 

That agent shot Calderon. 

Calderon contended that in the first few seconds of the raid — when he awoke and grabbed and loaded the shotgun — he didn't know that the 13 armed, uniformed people entering and surrounding his home were officers. 

"I thought that they were bad people coming," Calderon said in a 1999 Record Searchlight interview.Calderon's wife and daughters were handcuffed and forced to sit with their heads down for almost two hours while their home was occupied by police. They were also strip-searched before being released, and Calderon remained in Tehama County Jail for nearly a month before a Tehama County Superior Court judge dismissed the four felony charges of assault with a firearm on a peace officer against him. 

Reporter Jim Schultz can be reached at 225-8223 or at  jschultz@redding.com . 

PAIR SUED OVER DEATH OF OFFICER OAKLAND ROOKIES SHOT UNDERCOVER COLLEAGUE

Attorney Johnnie Cochran Jr. has filed a civil rights lawsuit against the two rookie police officers who mistakenly shot an undercover narcotics officer in January. 

The suit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Oakland on behalf of the slain officer's family, claims officers Tim Scarrott and Andrew Kopenen used excessive and unreasonable force in shooting William A. Wilkins on Jan. 11. 

Wilkins, who had served seven years with the Oakland Police Department, was shot by the. . . 

PLAINTIFF WINS STRIP-SEARCH SUIT $25,500 AWARD LEADS SAN JOSE TO REVIEW ITS BOOKING POLICIES

A federal jury awarded $25,500 to a man who sued San Jose police, saying officers subjected him to a strip-search that violated departmental policy as well as his constitutional protections against unreasonable searches. 

As a result, the police department says it will re-examine the policies that were challenged in Bill Chesney's lawsuit. 

''Basically, we'll look at it and see if there is something procedural or if we should do something in a different way,'' . . . 

RESISTING ARREST DEFENDANT CLAIMS IT'S MISTAKEN IDENTITY

Aaron Anthony Rivera, a 20-year-old Hayward man accused of resisting arrest and obstructing police when a downtown San Jose concert crowd turned ugly last year, was characterized Thursday by prosecutors as a youth out for trouble that night, but by his own attorney as an innocent victim of mistaken identity. 

Rivera, who has filed a federal civil-rights lawsuit against the San Jose police claiming brutality in the confrontation that led to his arrest, was in Santa Clara County Superior Court. . . 

Published on December 1, 1999, 
San Jose Mercury News (CA) 

PROFILING CASE NOW CLASS ACTION CHP ACCUSED OF TARGETING MINORITIES ALONG PORTION OF HIGHWAY 152

In a move that broadens the legal fight over racial profiling, civil rights groups on Tuesday expanded an existing federal lawsuit in San Jose into a class action against police agencies accused of targeting minority motorists in traffic stops.The new complaint alleges that minority drivers have been systematically pulled over on a stretch of Highway 152 near Pacheco Pass in recent years under a state drug-interdiction program. The class action is backed by the American Civil Liberties. . . 

OAKLAND -- A Richmond man who missed the birth of a grandchild after being arrested on a warrant for someone else only to be abandoned by jailers on a Los Angeles street corner has asked a federal judge to revive his lawsuit.In a legally tangled case that has been beaten about for more than two years in U.S. District Court, Jose Luis Perez, 35, contends he was twice the victim of false identity and wrongfully held in jails in Dublin and Los Angeles County.The story began for Perez on. . . 

  LA Times 
' 
Dec. 13, 2001 

By TRACY WILSON, TIMES STAFF WRITER 
 

An Oxnard man wrongly convicted of murder has filed a federal lawsuit against 
Santa Barbara prosecutors and police officers, accusing them of negligence 
and conspiracy to keep him in prison. 

After four years behind bars, Efren Cruz, 27, was freed Oct. 12 when a judge 
ruled that credible evidence suggests that another man pulled the trigger 
during a 1997 gang shooting in downtown Santa Barbara. 

Last week, Cruz filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles that 
accuses nearly a dozen law enforcement officials of violating his civil 
rights before and after his trial. The lawsuit accuses Santa Barbara County 
Dist. Atty. Thomas W. Sneddon and three senior prosecutors of conspiracy and 
malicious prosecution for allegedly withholding evidence favorable to Cruz. 

Prosecutors and six Santa Barbara police officers are accused of negligent 
investigation for allegedly failing to pursue evidence that indicated that 
another suspect was the killer. 

The lawsuit also charges Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Hilary Dozer, lead 
prosecutor on the case, with defamation for blaming Cruz in the media "when 
he knew or should have known that there was great doubt that [Cruz] was [the] 
actual shooter." 

Cruz is seeking more than $120 million in damages. 

"I think that my client is entitled to be compensated for 4 1/2 years in 
Pelican Bay," said Thousand Oaks attorney Richard Hamlish, referring to the 
maximum-security prison. 

"To serve there and be innocent of a crime, the kid's life was ruined," 
Hamlish said. 

Sneddon and other law enforcement officials named in the lawsuit could not be 
reached Wednesday. Dozer and Santa Barbara County Counsel Shane Stark said 
they had not seen the lawsuit and could not comment. 

The suit stems from Cruz's arrest after a shooting at Santa Barbara Parking 
Lot 10 on Jan. 26, 1997. Two groups of young men--some Oxnard gang 
members--exchanged taunts in the parking structure at Anacapa and Ortega 
streets, and one of the men pulled a gun. 

Michael Torres, a 23-year-old Santa Barbara resident, died of a gunshot wound 
to the head. Santa Ynez resident James Miranda, 21 at the time, was seriously 
injured but recovered. 

Cruz, the only one to not flee the scene, was arrested, and police found a 
chrome .38-caliber revolver. Forensic tests revealed that Cruz had gunpowder 
residue on his hands, and a driver leaving the parking structure identified 
him as the shooter. 

Prosecutors charged Cruz and three others--including Cruz's cousin, Gerardo 
Reyes--with murder. One suspect pleaded guilty to a lesser charge, and Reyes 
and the other suspect were released for lack of evidence. Cruz was the only 
one to stand trial. 

According to Cruz's lawsuit, Santa Barbara authorities had evidence favorable 
to Cruz before his trial, but failed to turn it over to the defense. That 
evidence included other witnesses' statements to police suggesting that Reyes 
was the shooter. 

Although Cruz denied shooting Torres and Miranda, jurors found him guilty of 
murder and attempted murder, and in January 1998, he was sentenced to 41 
years to life in prison. 

A year later, Oxnard Police Det. Dennis McMaster received a tip from an 
informant that Reyes was the Lot 10 shooter. 

At the request of Santa Barbara authorities, Ventura County prosecutors 
investigated and arranged an undercover meeting between the informant and 
Reyes, who were members of the same Oxnard gang. During a conversation 
secretly tape-recorded, Reyes admitted to the shooting. 

Ventura County Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury wrote a letter to Sneddon 
stating that based on new evidence, "we have concluded that Gerardo Reyes, 
not Efren Cruz, killed Michael Torres." 

However, Santa Barbara prosecutors stood by their conviction of Cruz. 

But Superior Court Judge Frank Ochoa, ruling after a 26-day hearing, 
concluded that there was credible evidence that Reyes was the shooter, not 
Cruz, and ordered him released. 

According to the lawsuit, prosecutors abandoned their obligation to 
investigate the case after new evidence came to light. They also conspired to 
discredit Reyes' confession and keep Cruz in prison, the suit says. 

As a result, Cruz suffered humiliation, depression and emotional distress 
requiring psychological counseling, according to the lawsuit. 

Cruz was out of town and could not be reached for comment. But Adela Reyes, 
his mother, said the lawsuit was not about money as much as sending a message 
to Santa Barbara authorities. 

"People make mistakes," Reyes said. "They had the opportunity to say they 
made a mistake. But they are still saying Efren was the real shooter. 
Hopefully this will open their eyes." 

* 

Times staff writer David Rosenzweig contributed to this story.