The Picnic Day 5 is down to just one after a plea deal was reached Wednesday between the prosecution and four defendants who had been charged with felony assault and resisting arrest in an April brawl with Davis police.
The remaining defendant, Antwoine Perry, requested a new attorney on Tuesday and will return to court with his new lawyer, Bob Spangler, next week.
Perry, Iszir Price, Alexander Craver, Angelica Reyes and Elijah Williams had all pleaded not guilty to felony charges of assault on a police officer and resisting arrest. Wednesday was to have been the fourth day of the preliminary hearing to determine whether the case should go to trial, but the morning began instead with discussions between the defendants and their attorneys about the deal offered by the prosecution.
Under the terms of the agreement, Price, Craver, Reyes and Williams all pleaded no contest to felony resisting a peace officer with threats, force or violence, as well as misdemeanor battery.
They each received a year of informal probation for the battery charge, one of the terms of which requires the defendants to complete a restorative justice process with affected parties representing the city of Davis.
The felony pleas, meanwhile, are subject to a deferred entry of judgment — to be dismissed after one year if the foursome successfully complete their probation requirements.
The felony resisting charge carries a potential sentence of three years in county prison, according to the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office.
Judge David Rosenberg told each defendant, “If you commit a new crime or you don’t participate in the restorative justice program, the court will sentence you on this plea.
“I hope you’re successful,” he told the defendants, “and I have every reason to believe you will be.”
Picnic Day crowd
Thus came to a close for four of the five defendants a case that began on April 22 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 violent 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 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 — who range in age from 19 to 22 — are African-American or Latino and their supporters believed they had been unjustly targeted and charged. Supporters gathered in front of the courthouse in Woodland this week to urge District Attorney Jeff Reisig to drop the charges and an online petition urging the same had collected hundreds of signatures as of Tuesday.
However, the case moved forward until Wednesday morning when the preliminary hearing was scheduled to continue at 10 a.m. Instead, the defendants and their attorneys as well as family members huddled in separate rooms talking about the plea agreement.
After the lunch break, Rosenberg announced that a resolution had been reached and the case resolved.
‘Mistakes were made’
Attorney Mark Reichel, who represented Williams, said the case was difficult for all involved.
“Mistakes were made by all parties in the case, both sides,” Reichel said.
“Through this restorative justice approach, all parties are both vindicated and also educated,” he said. “Changes undoubtedly need to be made and will, in fact, be made in how the Davis Police Department will handle crowd control in the future. And for that, we are satisfied with today’s outcome.”
Reichel added that the restorative justice component will allow the defendants and the police officers involved to meet “and discuss their respective views on the interaction.”
Prosecutor Ryan Couzens also expressed optimism about the restorative justice component.
“There has been a lot of suggestions from different arenas talking about restorative justice being an appropriate response to this situation and I am cautiously optimistic that restorative justice may bring a level of understanding between all sides that will help everyone go forward and reach an understanding that they otherwise might not have,” Couzens said.
In urging the court to accept the plea agreements Wednesday, Couzens noted that the defendants “are all very young, they all have no records to speak of (and) they are also entering pleas at a very early stage of the proceeding.”
In accepting the pleas, Rosenberg said, “I always am pleased when the parties can find a way to resolve a case, rather than having winners and losers.”
Perry’s case
Perry, meanwhile, will return to court on Sept. 7 with his new attorney, at which time the court will continue the preliminary hearing in his case or, if Perry is offered the same plea agreement and accepts, bring that case to a close as well.
In addition to the court proceedings, the Picnic Day incident prompted Davis Police Chief Darren Pytel to order an independent internal investigation into the officers’ actions. That probe, led by former U.S. Attorney McGregor Scott, began in late June and is about a month or so away from completion.
In July, the Davis City Council voted to hire an outside consultant to assist the city in revising its police oversight model. That process will include a review of the city’s current policies as well as soliciting citizen input from a series of public forums.
— Reach Anne Ternus-Bellamy at aternus@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8051. Lauren Keene contributed to this story; reach her at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048.