WOODLAND — Calling her progress “remarkable and commendable,” a Yolo County judge agreed Thursday to expunge the conviction of a Davis woman who admitted three years ago to vandalizing the Islamic Center of Davis, an offense that police and prosecutors classified as a hate crime.
Attorneys for Lauren Kirk-Coehlo, 33, say her felony conviction and ongoing probation status have hampered her ability to find gainful employment and get on with her life, despite being a “model probationer” since her June 2017 sentencing.
“Employment is critical for a person’s recovery and development, and prevents them from relapsing into prior behaviors. …She needs that stability,” defense lawyer Steve Sabbadini, his client seated beside him, said during a live-streamed Yolo Superior Court hearing.
“This isn’t a clean slate for her … but it does help with employment,” Sabbadini added, noting that even if expunged, the case could still be used against Kirk-Coehlo if she ever reoffends.
The Islamic Center of Davis took a neutral position on the defense motion, a stance the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office supported. Prosecutor Ryan Couzens said Thursday the mosque’s members, while potentially agreeable to shortened probation, questioned the ramifications of expungement — namely, whether a more lenient sentence is “possibly …. an incentive for other people.”
“Muslims are often targets of discrimination, which is something that maybe Ms. Kirk-Coehlo didn’t fully appreciate,” Couzens said. “The mosque was not only a place or worship, but also a sanctuary, and much like a residential burglary can shatter people’s sense of safety, in addition to the physical damage, here it really had that effect.”
Calling Kirk-Coehlo’s crime “a one-time act that will not be repeated,” Judge David Rosenberg granted the defense motion, his ruling reducing her two felonies to misdemeanors and ending her probation two years ahead of schedule.
Kirk-Coehlo then withdrew her prior guilty pleas and pleaded not guilty to the counts, after which Rosenberg dismissed the case.
“The person who is sitting before the court today is quite different from the person who sat before the court three years ago. The changes are remarkable and commendable,” Rosenberg said. “I’m quite confident that the different person sitting before the court today will move in a completely different direction.”
‘Positive changes’
Authorities arrested Kirk-Coehlo, a Davis High School and UC Berkeley graduate, on Feb. 14, 2017, several weeks after surveillance cameras captured her shattering six windows, vandalizing bikes and leaving raw pork — for Muslims a forbidden food — on the Islamic Center’s Russell Boulevard property in the middle of the night.
Investigated by Davis police alongside the FBI, the crime galvanized the Davis community, triggering an outpouring of emotional and financial support to the Islamic Center and its members. Hundreds of people gathered in Central Park that week to show their solidarity with the Muslim community.
Davis police successfully obtained a $1 million bail enhancement following Kirk-Coehlo’s arrest, citing her social media activity in which she expressed “dreams and aspirations” of killing people and glorified killers who attacked churches and mosques. Defense attorneys called the writings “anonymous internet hyperbole” that she never intended to act upon.
Two months later, Kirk-Coehlo unexpectedly pleaded guilty to the charges in full — felony vandalism with a hate crime enhancement and vandalism to a church — with no promise of leniency, her attorneys saying she “wanted to take responsibility for her actions.”
Although prosecutors argued at sentencing that Kirk-Coehlo posed a continued threat to public safety that warranted prison time, Judge Daniel Maguire, who presided over the case at the time, said her intensive treatment would best serve the community long-term.
In addition to five years’ probation, Maguire ordered Kirk-Coehlo to serve 120 hours of community service, pay $7,600 in restitution, avoid social media, and undergo weekly counseling sessions as well as cultural sensitivity and awareness training — all now completed, the defense motion says.
The document included letters from Kirk-Coehlo’s mother, her psychiatrist Joan Gerbasi and Kirk-Coehlo herself, who wrote that she has “improved and grown,” enjoys close and healthy relationships that she previously lacked, and wants to continue her progress with a career in science.
“I have had innumerable job interviews where my felony record would come up either in conversation or during a background check, and for almost every potential employer this precludes any further possibility of employment,” the letter says. “If my probation is terminated and my charge reduced, I promise to continue all these positive changes and will never take it for granted.”
Gerbasi, meanwhile, highlighted Kirk-Coehlo’s perspective about her offense as her most significant change.
“In stark contrast to her attitude when she was first released from jail, she is now nearly incredulous that she committed her crime,” Gerbasi wrote. “She can no longer relate to the frame of mind she was in at that time and has shown deep remorse.”
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene.