Sherman R. Frederick/Properly Subversive
The cop killed in New York during a traffic stop started me thinking about some of the recent crime stories in Marin and wondering whether California’s judicial reform movement is starting to hurt more than help. Or, in modern culture’s terms: Has it jumped the shark?
In New York, the man arrested for killing the officer was identified as Guy Rivera, 34. He had been arrested 21 times and was currently out on bail on gun charges. The other guy in Rivera’s car was identified as Lindy Jones, 41. He has 12 known prior arrests.
That’s two bad dudes running free with a lot of priors. Something bad was bound to happen. And, killing a cop is about as bad as it gets. (Allegedly.)
Now back to Marin.
On March 18, the Marin County Sheriff’s Department arrested Jesse Martinez, of Antioch and Lucy Tompkin from Oakland. He is a convicted felon and was in possession of a loaded “ghost” gun and methamphetamines. She possessed fentanyl and was out of a raft of “no bail” offenses. The pair were tooling around in Marin, I think it is fair to assume, for no good reason.
On March 7, deputies arrested Julian Sanchez, 21, who was on probation. Deputies reported this about Mr. Sanchez: “After reviewing the contents of Sanchez’s cell phones, detectives discovered Sanchez was selling large volumes of marijuana products, such as vape pens, to hundreds of subjects. Many of the subjects Sanchez was selling marijuana products to appeared to be juveniles, which is a felony. Many of the transaction locations occurred at or near the various High Schools within Marin County.
Law enforcement caught up to Mr. Sanchez at least one time before. But here he was out free plying his drug trade to Marin high schoolers once again. (Please add the word “allegedly” to all the statements above.)
Look, I know this is anecdotal, but it seems to me we need to start talking about the idea that the Bay Area needs an overhaul of the justice system. It’s failing to put away for significant time some really bad people. Dialing it back seems right.
ONE MORE THING
Happy Easter!
You can reach the Marinscope writer via email at shermfrederick@gmail.com. You can see a fuller body of his work at https://shermanfrederick.substack.com/.
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