Media
Press Releases
Yolo County District Attorney’s Neighborhood Court Program Seeks Volunteers
Press Release (Woodland, CA) – December 14, 2020 –The Yolo County District Attorney’s Neighborhood Court (NHC) Program is seeking volunteer panelists. Trainings are set to take place virtually in January, 2021. NHC, which has been in operation since June of 2013, is...
Sacramento Teacher Sentenced to Prison for Luring a 12-year-Old Child for Sex
Press Release (Woodland, CA) – December 11, 2020 – On December 10, 2020, the Honorable Judge Paul Richardson sentenced 29-year-old Taylor Lewis Gholar to three years in State Prison after a jury convicted him of “Going to a Meeting with a Minor for the Purpose of Lewd...
Yolo DA Attends Three Lifer Hearings Via Zoom over the 2 Days
Press Release (Woodland, CA) – December 10, 2020 – On December 8th and 9th, 2020, Yolo County prosecutors virtually attended three lifer parole hearings for inmates in three separate prisons across the state. The Yolo County District Attorney averages about 15 lifer...
Yolo DA Uses New Law to Reduce Sentence of Prison Inmate
Yolo DA Uses New Law to Reduce Sentence of Prison Inmate Press Release (Woodland, CA) – December 7, 2020 – On December 3, 2020, Yolo County Assistant Chief Deputy District Attorney Ryan Couzens was in court to ask visiting Judge Roy Hashimoto to take five years off...
Over 442 New Crimes Committed by Individuals Released on $0 Bail
New Offenses Include Attempted Murder, Robbery, Assaults, Domestic Violence, and Weapons Offenses Press Release (Woodland, CA) – December 1, 2020 –As a result of Yolo County Superior Court’s continued use of $0 bail, over 442 new crimes have been committed. In April,...
Yolo County District Attorney’s Neighborhood Court Step to Success Program Graduation
Press Release (Woodland, CA) November 30, 2020 – Yolo County District Attorney’s Neighborhood Court Program, Step to Success, held its graduation for seven participants on November 30, 2020, at 1:30pm. Step to Success (S2S) is an expansion of the existing Neighborhood...
Yolo County DA’s Multi-Cultural Community Council Offers Weekend Youth Leadership Academy
Press Release (Woodland, CA) – November 25, 2020 – The Yolo County District Attorney Office Multi-Cultural Community Council recently held the 4th Annual Youth Leadership Academy virtually via Zoom on November 14 & 15, 2020. The mission of the Multi-Cultural...
West Sacramento Woman Arrested 3 Times in 4 Days after being Released on $0 Bail
Press Release (Woodland, CA) – November 2, 2020 –West Sacramento woman, Melinda Gonzales, has been charged with multiple felonies after being arrested on three separate occasions in four days following her release from jail $0 Bail. Gonzales, 47, was originally...
Jury Convicts Knights Landing Man of Child Molestation
Press Release (Woodland, CA) – October 31, 2020 - A Yolo County jury convicted 58-year-old Eduardo Castro, of Knights Landing, of fourteen counts of child molestation. The verdicts were read in open court yesterday. The Yolo County Sheriff’s Department began the...
Over 378 New Crimes Committed by Individuals Released on $0 Bail
New Offenses Include Attempted Murder, Robbery, Assaults, Domestic Violence, and Weapons Offenses Press Release (Woodland, CA) - October 29, 2020 –As a result of Yolo County’s continued use of $0 bail, over 378 new crimes have been committed. In April, the California...
Why We Seek Justice
Our team at the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office is comprised of a dedicated and diverse group of professionals. In our new video series “Why We Seek Justice” you will meet some of our amazing colleagues and hear their personal stories. We hope you enjoy!
Meet Deputy District Attorney Diane Ortiz
Meet Deputy District Attorney Kyle Hasapes
Meet Deputy District Attorney Amanda Zambor
Meet Multi-Disciplinary Interview Center Admin Clerk Shobna Sharma
Meet Deputy District Attorney Jay Linden
Non-Violent Second Strikers
After a federal court ordered California to reduce prison overcrowding, a number of measures were put into place that result in early prison releases, including early parole consideration for individuals characterized as “non-violent second-strikers.” In order to qualify, inmates must not currently be serving a sentence for a crime which is legally categorized as a ‘violent felony’ and must not be required to register as sex offenders.
Starting January 1, 2015, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) began a new early parole determination process, evaluating “nonviolent second-strikers” for parole once they have served only 50 percent of their sentence or are within 12 months of having served 50 percent of their actual sentence. Upon receipt of inmate names from CDCR with a recommendation for release, the Board of Prison Hearings conducts an administrative review to determine if the inmate should be released from prison or retained for the term otherwise prescribed by law. The Board determines whether an offender would pose an unreasonable risk to public safety based on criminal history, behavior in prison, rehabilitation efforts, and written statements.
The Yolo County District Attorney’s Office takes an active role in evaluating these cases and writes letters to the Board with an overview of the inmate’s criminal history, an opinion regarding the public safety risk posed by the inmate, and the appropriateness, or lack thereof, of an inmate’s early release. However, because our resources are limited, we do not prepare letters in every case. Instead, we focus our opposition efforts on offenders who we believe pose the greatest risk to the community.
Many of the offenders who are granted early release from prison have violent and lengthy criminal histories. The Yolo County District Attorney’s Office feels it is important for the public to be aware of the so-called nonviolent offenders being released early from prison into our neighborhoods.
This web page was created to provide the names and criminal overview of the offenders who have been approved for early release despite our opposition. This list will be updated on a regular basis.