Public hearing in Yolo deputy slaying case closed to public

A public hearing – in which murder suspect Marco Antonio Topete was to be formally charged Wednesday in the slaying of a Yolo County sheriff's deputy – was closed to just about everyone except the slain deputy's survivors and his law-enforcement colleagues.

Barred from the hearing were the defendant's wife, mother and sister, and members of the general public, including the media. They waited outside the court building in Woodland because deputies had locked the door and kept it locked during the hearing.

Afterward, when reporters asked the prosecutor and public defender what transpired in the hearing, they said that Superior Court Commissioner Janene Beronio, who presided, had placed a gag order on them, preventing them from discussing anything about the case.

Initially, Yolo County Sheriff Ed Prieto blamed the commissioner for excluding the public from the hearing. Later, Prieto said his deputies kept the doors locked on their own and that was "a huge mistake."

In Yolo County, Superior Court Judge David Rosenberg presides over the Woodland court operation.

Rosenberg told The Bee the arraignment hearing should have been open to the public and media.

"The doors are supposed to be unlocked when court is in session. This kind of hearing should have been open to the public. There are no excuses. It shouldn't have happened," Rosenberg said.

The defendant, Topete, 35, is accused of killing Sheriff's Deputy Jose Antonio Diaz after a high-speed chase Sunday night.

Diaz, 37, died at Woodland Memorial Hospital from a bullet fired from a high-powered rifle that had pierced his protective vest, authorities said.

Topete was arrested early Monday after a massive manhunt in a rural area of Yolo County near Dunnigan.

While more than a dozen journalists and crews waited patiently on the steps of the court building Wednesday, Yolo County sheriff's deputies and Diaz's survivors were admitted selectively by deputies – who control courthouse security – to the hearing through side entrances.

At the conclusion of the arraignment, deputies opened the doors and reporters entered the courtroom to protest. Commissioner Beronio left without saying what had happened.

Instead, the court's executive officer, Jim Perry, was called upon to provide an explanation.

First, Perry said the defendant was formally charged with first-degree murder, including special circumstances that could warrant the death penalty. He said Topete had entered no plea and that the Public Defender's Office was assigned the case.

Perry said the hearing was meant to be public and that the locked doors were a result of a "misunderstanding with the Sheriff's Department."

"From the court's perspective, it was not a closed hearing," he contended.

According to a transcript of the hearing obtained by The Bee, defense attorneys told the commissioner that the defendant's family had been prevented from attending the hearing.

"They were not allowed in, apparently because of spacing," Assistant Public Defender Dean Johansson told the commissioner.

Yolo County Public Defender Barry Melton suggested that as "a potential capital case" all its proceedings "should be on the record."

Beronio asked the courtroom bailiff to admit the family, and the sergeant replied: "We will make arrangements to have room for them at the next court appearance."

Two hours later, Sheriff Prieto returned to the courthouse from his home in Davis to address his deputies' actions.

Prieto said the department wanted to accommodate the request of Diaz's loved ones to be insulated from the media. They were admitted to the courtroom through the bailiff's room.

He said there were between 25 and 40 law-enforcement officers sitting in the small courtroom, a number of them, occupying the front rows, were there to provide extra security.

"Somebody, because the room was full, didn't open the door," Prieto said.

"Our job was not to keep you out," he told reporters. "I guarantee you this: It will not happen again."

Judge Rosenberg, who was assigned the case at Wednesday's hearing, said he would guarantee in future proceedings that there would be space for media and the public.

Several lawyers said Wednesday night that for the trial to remain in Yolo County, the court system would have to appear more even-handed.

Stewart Katz, a Sacramento criminal defense and civil rights attorney, called Wednesday's events "flat-out wrong" and said the criminal justice system has to treat cases equally, regardless of the victims involved.

"You have a situation, obviously, where people are acting out of emotion," he said. "But it sends the wrong message to everyone. It undermines confidence in the system when you have people who are personally involved getting to decide how the system operates."

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