WOODLAND — The preliminary hearing for the Picnic Day 5 resumed Tuesday after a two-week hiatus, but got off to a late start when one of the five defendants requested a new attorney and then ended abruptly after the lunch break when another defense attorney had to deal with a family emergency.
Judge David Rosenberg said he would appoint a new attorney for Antwoine Perry and schedule a separate preliminary hearing for him later, while the hearing for the four other defendants will continue at 10 a.m. Wednesday.
Perry, Iszir Price, Alexander Craver, Angelica Reyes and Elijah Williams face felony charges of assault on a police officer and resisting arrest in the wake of a violent Picnic Day brawl in Davis on April 22. All five have pleaded not guilty.
The incident began when three plain-clothed officers in an unmarked van arrived at the corner of College Park and Russell Boulevard where a large crowd had gathered on the sidewalk and spilled into the street during Picnic Day festivities.
Two Davis police officers were injured in the brawl that ensued.
Police contend it was crowd members who assaulted them first after they pulled over to move the crowd off the street, but the defendants have insisted the officers were the aggressors who failed to identify themselves as police officers.
Both sides claim video of the brawl captured by a motorist’s dashboard camera support their version of events.
All five defendants are African-American or Latino and their supporters believe they have been unjustly targeted and charged. More than a dozen supporters gathered in front of the courthouse in Woodland on Tuesday morning to urge District Attorney Jeff Reisig to drop the charges.
During Tuesday’s shortened hearing, only one witness took the stand — Davis Police Detective Josh Helton, who interviewed Perry after he was arrested on April 22.
Helton said Perry, a 21-year-old Elk Grove resident, told him he had come to Davis with several people on Picnic Day and ended up at the intersection of Russell Boulevard and College Park where the melee occurred.
Perry said a vehicle — an unmarked van — approached the crowd gathered on the sidewalk and in the street with its horn blaring “belligerently,” according to Helton.
Perry then approached the passenger side of the van, swore at the occupants and “tried to get big,” Helton testified, adding that he interpreted “getting big” as getting ready to fight.
Helton also testified that Perry told him his actions may have precipitated the brawl, and that had he not approached the van as he did, “everybody would have just gone on their way,” Helton said.
Instead, a confrontation ensued, with the three plain-clothed police officers who were in the van jumping out and right into a street battle, resulting in three arrests that day and two more in the weeks that followed.
All five defendants say they acted in self-defense after the officers triggered the confrontation and that they did not know they were fighting police officers.
During cross-examination of Helton on Tuesday, Price’s attorney, Jeff Raven, asked the detective whether video of the incident showed anything indicating that the people in the van were police officers when it first drove up, to which Helton replied, “No.”
However, Helton also said a police vest was visible on one officer after he left the van and a police badge worn on a chain around the neck of another officer was visible during the brawl.
Raven also asked Helton if the first act of physical aggression during the brawl was one of the officers in the van violently swinging the front passenger door open and striking Perry with it.
“Isn’t that the first thing that happens (that’s physically aggressive)?” Raven asked. “The door opens and he’s knocked off balance?”
Helton disagreed, saying it’s not clear on the video that the door struck Perry and that before the door was opened, Perry “looks like he’s clearing his clothing away from his body in preparation for drawing a weapon.”
No weapon was found when Perry was arrested several blocks away, and Helton testified Tuesday that no witnesses reported seeing a gun. Bullets were found in Perry’s backpack.
Raven and the other defense attorneys have objected to prosecutors talking about guns, bullets and even references to drugs on text messages sent and received by Perry, saying they are not relevant to the officers’ perceptions at the time and are simply prejudicial and meant “to tarnish African-Americans,” according to Raven.
Prosecutor Ryan Couzens countered that guns are “tools of the trade” for drug dealers “and we will show (Perry) regularly sold drugs.”
Rosenberg said he would rule on whether mention of guns, bullets or drugs will be allowed, but cautioned the prosecution that unless there is evidence the police pulled over because they recognized Perry and knew of narcotics, “it’s not relevant.”
Rosenberg said even with the shortened hearing Tuesday he remains hopeful the preliminary hearing will conclude this week, at which time he will rule on whether the case should proceed to trial.
— Reach Anne Ternus-Bellamy at aternus@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8051. Follow her on Twitter at @ATernusBellamy