Santa Clara County Crime & Justice Digest

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority announced findings from an independent investigation into the May 26, 2021, mass shooting that left nine employees dead.

SCOTUS rejected a last-minute plea from the tobacco industry and cleared the way for enforcement of a statewide ban that includes menthol cigarettes.

An attack in North Carolina is highly similar to a 2013 San Jose power station sniping, an incident that cost millions in damage.

A federal judge sentenced former Theranos president and COO Ramesh “Sunny” Balwani to a prison term of 12 years and 11 months, followed by three years of supervised release.

Santa Clara County Sheriff-elect Bob Jonsen will assume his duties one month early after his embattled predecessor abruptly resigned in October. The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to appoint Jonsen as sheriff before officially taking office in January. Jonsen will start on an interim basis Dec. 8—after the election is certified.

San Francisco supervisors have voted to put the brakes on letting police use robots for deadly force. The board voted unanimously to ban such use of robots, but supervisors sent the issue back to a policy committee for further discussion and may allow it in the future.

Chuckwalla Valley State Prison in the Mojave Desert is set to close in March 2025. It’s the third prison Governor Newsom has shut down. The state inmate population is shrinking—down more than 60,000 inmates since a decade ago.

Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen announced that he will deactivate his office's Twitter account due to the recent rise in hate speech on the platform.

Santa Clara police officers have received clearance to launch unmanned aircraft systems, more commonly referred to as drones. SCPD officials say drones have proven to be a valuable resource for law enforcement agencies.

Police in San Francisco could get the ability to deploy potentially lethal, remote-controlled robots in emergency situations if supervisors grant permission in a highly watched board vote.

Backed by a coalition of 10 other attorneys general, California Attorney General Rob Bonta is urging Apple to protect people's reproductive health information from third-party apps.

“This vigil is not a victory lap; it is a call to action,” said Sunnyvale Vice Mayor Alysa Cisneros at the city’s Solidarity Vigil Against Hate on Nov. 15. “We will have created a culture of belonging, when every person feels safe, included, heard and respected.”

A discussion on the possible outcomes of the SCOTUS decision in the case Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard. the online event delved into the impact of banning the consideration of race as a factor during the college admission process.

The program is fueled by $200,000 in American Rescue Act Plan (ARPA) dollars. But if the ARPA funding runs out, the program will still last for a total of three months.

The concealed carry gun permits that led to the civil conviction of former Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith on six counts of corruption and willful misconduct belonged to several prominent residents.

After Santa Clara County elected officials were found to have violated the state's transparency laws, they simply revoted with minimum discussion to appoint a new county executive. The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors revoted 4-1 to appoint County Counsel James Williams as the new county CEO.

The Palo Alto Police Department’s new Psychiatric Emergency Response Team is no longer operating because the therapist left the job, Chief Andrew Binder said.

Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen is demanding the Board of Supervisors nullify and revote on its appointment of a new county executive, saying the decision—which happened behind closed doors—violated the state's transparency law.

California lawmakers declined to put an anti-slavery measure on the ballot. This week, Alabama, Louisiana, Oregon, Tennessee, and Vermont voted on similar measures; only Louisiana voted not to ban slavery as a form of criminal punishment.

"It's about accepting responsibility and VTA will never admit that they did something wrong," said one grieving father.

David DePape, 42, faces up to 30 years in prison on one federal charge and up to 20 years on another in the Oct. 28 attack.

In a one-two punch on Monday, a federal judge rejected efforts by Theranos founder and CEO Elizabeth Holmes and her business partner and ex-lover Ramesh Balwani to avoid their imminent sentencing dates.

A look back on the Bakke decision—the 1978 Supreme Court decision that ruled affirmative action was constitutional—as the Court gets ready to reexamine the matter.

Paul Pelosi remained hospitalized Oct. 31 while recovering from an attack by the man who planned to take the Speaker of the House hostage and “break her kneecaps.”

A complicated picture of David Depape's fringe beliefs began to surface through his online presence and connection to a Bay Area nude activist community. His online promoted anti-Semitism, far-right QAnon theory, and 2020 election denialism.

State regulators plan to impose a $155.4 million fine against PG&E Corp. over the Zogg Fire, which killed four people in Shasta County. PG&E is already under criminal indictment in the fire, and has pleaded innocent to manslaughter and other charges.

As San Jose faces an ongoing shortage of cops, the city is offering a new financial incentive to lure experienced officers. The city council this week unanimously approved a lateral hiring bonus of $10,000 for officers who come to San Jose from another police department.

In a bid to combat retail thefts and robberies, Palo Alto is preparing to turn to a tool that in the past has sparked concern from privacy advocates: automated license plate readers.

Nearly half of California domestic violence offenders failed to complete a required program designed to prevent future assaults and judges failed to impose new sanctions almost every time.

SCOTUS is set to rule on race-based programs in college admissions. Since 1996, affirmative action in college admissions has been banned in California; an amicus brief filed by the University of California states that other efforts have failed to bring representative racial diversity to its student body.

Civil trial of SC Sheriff Laurie Smith on six counts of corruption continues in San Francisco; prosecutors claim Smith let donors go to the head of the line for coveted concealed-carry permits.

The Jensen/Jonsen Santa Clara County race is bringing in big money in donations. Kevin Jensen, 37-year sheriff’s department vet, is the top fundraiser, with some $730k in donations, over “outsider” Bob Jonsen.