Recently in Defense and Process Category

More details and allegations have been revealed in the police shooting of Santa Maria police officer Alberto Covarrubias Jr., painting a tragic and shocking picture of the officer’s final hours.

Covarrubias, a four-year police veteran, was shot and killed by police as they tried to arrest him while on duty at a DUI checkpoint. Initial reports stated that he was under suspicion for having a sexual relationship with a minor and that he was killed by a fellow police officer who was on duty with him. But further allegations and details reveal a more tragic picture of the fatal day.

A Riverside father has obtained a temporary restraining order against his son’s fourth grade classmate because the boy allegedly pulled a knife on his son, reports KTLA News. It may be the first temporary restraining order of its kind to be granted.

Robert Casteel contacted police after his 10-year-old son Christopher told him his classmate threatened him with a knife on January 11 at Mission Bell Elementary School. Casteel claimed he had tried to contact the school’s principal before contacting authorities, but could not reach her because she was on a conference call.

The town of Santa Ana may only be a little more than half-an-hour’s drive away from the city of Los Angeles, but it’s enough distance to create a drastic change in environment.

Santa Ana has been ranked as the fourth-safest city in America, according to Forbes.

The ranking was calculated by analyzing data from metropolises with populations above 250,000. Forbes looked at both the FBI’s violent crime rates and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s traffic-fatality rates. The data was then averaged for each city to achieve final scores.

Santa Ana was fourth in traffic-fatality rates and eleventh in violent crime rates, placing it fourth overall.

Dr. Conrad Murray was given the maximum sentence for involuntary manslaughter in the death of patient Michael Jackson on Tuesday, reports The Hollywood Reporter. Murray was sentenced to four years in prison despite the defense’s request that he receive probation.

In addition to paying almost $1,000 in fines and fees for his conviction, Murray was also ordered by Judge Michael Pastor to pay restitution to the Jackson family. However, it will not likely be the prosecution’s requested amount of $100 million, given the state of Murray’s financial affairs.

UC Davis campus police and administrative leaders are under fire after video was released depicting UCD officers pepper spraying Occupy Davis protestors "like a gardener using pesticide." Once again, allegations of police misconduct and use of unreasonable force during the off-shoots protests by the Occupy Wall Street movement have arisen.

The galvanizing incident occurred Friday when a group of UC Davis students sat hand-in-hand in front of tents placed in the main quad, according to the Los Angeles Times. Police officers attempted to disband the group by pepper spraying them in the face.

One of the most iconic coaches in gymnastics has been banned for life from the sport he helped build because of sex abuse allegations, reports The Orange County Register. However, he will not be criminally charged for the sex crimes because it took too long to press charges.

Don Peters was the coach of the record-setting 1984 U.S. Olympic women’s gymnastics team. Since then, he has worked with Olympians and national champions at a gymnastics gym. He has also allegedly been sexually abusing young gymnasts at the same time.

Less than a week after news media program “60 Minutes” investigated police overuse of Tasers, a mentally ill man from San Bernardino reportedly died while in police custody after officers used pepper spray and a Taser to subdue him, reports KTLA News.

Authorities were called in to subdue 29-year-old Jonathan White who was allegedly frightening residents at his mother’s board and care facility, according to San Bernardino police. His mother, Janice White, told KTLA that Jonathan suffered from schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder.

With tensions between police and participants in the Occupy Protests heating up, clashes are occurring more often and criticism of police conduct has intensified. Nowhere is this more palpable than in Oakland, a common battleground for hostility between the community and the police.

No matter which side of the protest line you are on, however, both sides must follow the law. Today, we tackle one question of alleged police misconduct at Occupy sites - lack of police identification.

Allegations have been spreading among Occupy sites that police officers have been hiding identifying marks so that they can't be reported for police misconduct. If true, are police violating California law?

If the average citizen is convicted of a crime, the typical punishment is time in jail. If a Los Angeles Sheriff's Deputy is convicted of a crime, the punishment is still allegedly time in jail - but as a jailor and not an inmate, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The Sheriff's Department is accused of sending deputies with criminal allegations and convictions to work in the Los Angeles County Jail as part of its sanctioned punishment process. If the courts placed the deputies on probation for their crimes, the Sheriff's Department, who allege they had their hands tied in terms of firing them, would often send them off to work in the jails.

With the recent guilty verdict in the Conrad Murray trial, you may have thought the saga over Michael Jackson's death was over. But in addition to criminal actions against defendants, the victim's families and significant others also have the option to pursue civil remedies against those they believe caused their loved one's death.

Soon after Murray's verdict was read, Jackson's family announced their intention to file lawsuits against entertainment giant Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) and Murray, reports the Los Angeles Times.