A Woodland auto theft suspect released from Yolo County Jail under California’s emergency zero-bail order found himself back in custody on multiple felony charges this week, including allegations that he stole two more cars, using one to lead police on a high-speed pursuit.
Jacob Dakota James’ alleged crimes prompted the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office to issue a news release Monday about the reoffense, announcing new charges of vehicle theft, looting, evading police, resisting arrest and violating a public health order.
James, 27, remained in custody on a $20,000 bail hold Tuesday, three days after Woodland police arrested him following the early-morning chase.
Court documents show James, who served jail time for vehicle theft last fall, was arrested for the same offense on April 9, as well as for possessing burglary tools. He was soon released under a California Judicial Council order that sets zero bail for misdemeanors and low-level felonies, the measure intended to reduce jail populations and curb the spread of COVID-19.
Several days later, James allegedly stole a Honda Civic in Woodland, an offense the DA’s Office has charged as both vehicle theft and looting — a grand theft committed during a state of emergency, a felony offense that doesn’t qualify for zero-bail release.
The same counts were filed in connection with Saturday’s incident, which Woodland police Sgt. Dallas Hyde said involved a Honda CR-V reported stolen the night before.
At about 12:20 a.m. Saturday, “an officer located the vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed and a vehicle pursuit ensued,” Hyde said. “Within a few minutes the vehicle collided into a curb at Oak Avenue and Third Street. The impact broke both the curb and front driver side tire of the vehicle.”
James fled on foot but was soon apprehended and taken to jail, while a passenger in the car was cited on drug charges and released, Hyde said. James is scheduled to be arraigned at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday via videoconference in Yolo Superior Court.
Yolo County Public Defender Tracie Olson, whose office previously represented James, noted that the emergency bail order relies on the arresting offense to set bail. A more ideal system, she said, would be the use of validated assessments to evaluate individual risk before release — as called for in a bail reform measure appearing on the November election ballot.
As for the current bail order, “while it’s not a perfect system, it’s the lesser of two evils, with the primary evil being keeping scores of poor people in jail just because they’re too poor to pay money to get out,” Olson said Tuesday. “I think it’s telling that no one talks about the rich person who posts bond and then reoffends. That certainly happens, too.”
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene