Community meetings slated in wake of death that shook Carmichael neighborhood

Sacramento County Supervisor Rich Desmond will host the first in a series of community meetings Thursday, days after the death of a Carmichael man that has shaken the eastern suburban district.

The Sept. 28 death of 74-year-old James Raleigh after a homeless man allegedly assaulted him outside his Carmichael home triggered new concerns about neighborhoods’ safety and how leaders are responding to homelessness in the county.

Thursday’s meeting is 6 p.m. at the Mission Oaks Community Center, 4701 Gibbons Drive, which is at Gibbons Park in Carmichael.

Other meetings are scheduled later this month for Arden Arcade, Fair Oaks and Gold River.

The supervisor and former Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office captain bills the forums as meetings to “discuss relevant issues related to public safety and justice” in the third district.

Also aboard for the neighborhood talks, Eric Jones, the county’s deputy executive for public safety and justice. Jones will discuss the work Sacramento County and law enforcement agencies are doing and answer questions.

Raleigh was a close family friend of Desmond, who said via social media that he was heartbroken over Raleigh’s “gruesome and senseless murder,” and that the number of homeless people in Sacramento County “has become a direct threat to our ability to create thriving, secure and peaceful neighborhoods throughout our county.”

Darin Chastain, 54, remains held without bail in Sacramento County Sheriff’s custody and faces murder charges in Raleigh’s death in Sacramento Superior Court. Chastain returns to court Oct. 17.

Neighbors told sheriff’s deputies that Chastain was wandering through Raleigh’s neighborhood the evening of Sept. 28 before stopping outside Raleigh’s home, screaming and throwing rocks at the home’s garage door. When Raleigh walked out to investigate, Chastain set upon him, say sheriff’s officials.

Raleigh collapsed after the attack while talking with responding sheriff’s deputies and later died at a nearby hospital.

Darrell Smith

The Sacramento Bee

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Darrell Smith is a local reporter for The Sacramento Bee. He joined The Bee in 2006 and previously worked at newspapers in Palm Springs, Colorado Springs and Marysville. Smith was born and raised at Beale Air Force Base and lives in Elk Grove.