By Wayne Chan
WOODLAND, CA— In Yolo County Superior Court this week, Judge David Reed released a woman on her own recognizance with no bail, but ordered her to stay away from the Octave apartment complex and the UC Davis campus.
The accused is charged with two felony counts of possession of dirk, dagger, ice pick, or knife on a public or private college or university, one misdemeanor possession of controlled substance (methamphetamine), and one misdemeanor unlawful possession of paraphernalia used to inject/smoke. She is also facing one enhancement from a prior felony conviction.
In the other case, she is charged with misdemeanor trespassing and felony vandalism.
Deputy Public Defender Jose Gonzalez, representing the accused, pleaded not guilty for his client, arguing for a release from custody, noting the accused “coming to court is generally not an issue. I think both sides know that [the accused] is from this community…she is not a flight risk.”
PD Gonzalez added “these charges do not show that she is an overwhelming threat to the community,” and notes the knife the accused was carrying would have been legal if not on school grounds. “Otherwise it would have been charged,” he said.
PD Gonzalez proposed that perhaps a GPS device could be fitted to ensure that she stays at home and is only going to Davis for her IHSS (In Home Supportive Services) work.
Deputy District Attorney Amanda Zambor responded, “I am concerned that she continues to commit new and different offenses. Although most of them are theft or vandalism related, she continues to go into locations and vandalize them. She appears to be squatting at them. And now she has weapons on campus.”
She added, “She’s been through probation, we’ve tried programs for her, but she continues to deal [drugs] and vandalize, so I would be opposed (to release).”
A probation office told the court, “I do concur with Ms. Zambor…[the accused] dates this pattern back to 2018. We did have supportive services for her…so I don’t believe support services through SOR are appropriate for her at this time… She had supportive services but she was not as successful as she could have been.”
Judge Reed said, “The court is inclined to offer her supervised OR. Conditions requested by the People or probation?” to which DDA Zambor requested, “I’d ask that she be searchable for weapons… I would ask that she be searchable for drugs and paraphernalia as well.”
Probation added the condition that she “stay away from the apartment complex that she allegedly was trespassing at, which was Octave Apartments in Davis,” and that was seconded by DDA Zambor who added, “Perhaps stay away from the UCD campus as well.”
“In addition, she’s going to be required to engage in complete DRC [Day Reporting Center],” the probation officer stipulated.
Judge Reed agreed to those conditions and offered the accused SOR with the terms “searchable without a warrant for weapons or drugs, stay away orders from Octave Apartments and UC Davis Campus, and other reasonable terms that probation may assign.”
Judge Reed warned the accused that if these conditions are violated, “you will be back in jail.”
The accused is set to return to court Oct. 9 for another pretrial hearing.
