Timothy Needham and Michael Crowley, both of the Janssen law firm in Eureka, will be presented the award next month for their work in last year’s class action lawsuit against national nursing home chain Skilled Healthcare.

Not Gallegos. Though he manages to get half the article about him.

The very fact that they fear retribution from Paul Gallegos should be all they need TO stand up, but they don’t.

Some do.

And Paul Hagen is one of the truly courageous ones. In the aftermath of his points here, he is being torn apart by the hyenas. But he is a man who does the right thing for the right reasons.

Gallegos has no clothes. There are no lovely bejeweled gowns woven of the finest silk. They are not dazzling to the eye. The sad truth.

Alleged child molestation case takes hit
http://www.times-standard.com/localnews/ci_8955599
John Driscoll/The Times-Standard
Posted: 04/17/2008

Good times for somebody.

Another boy told Garey in a separate interview that he’d been inappropriately touched by Belant more than 20 times, including at a movie theater and during overnight church-related trips.

But again, under questioning by Griego,

Garey said that while his report said the boy had been orally copulated, the transcript of the interview did not contain that specific allegation.
DA Investigator William Honsal said that when a search warrant was served at Belant’s house on March 1, investigators found a computer that was allegedly running a program to delete all material on the hard drive. Honsal said it was quickly shut down, but had already apparently performed five of seven sweeps over the disk, which may make any information extremely difficult to retrieve.
Outside the courtroom, Gallegos said that the case didn’t align with the evidence presented Wednesday, possibly because of the inherent difficulty in compelling testimony from minors in sexual assault cases.

”That certainly requires me to go back to determine if there was a misrecollection of statements,” Gallegos said.

I believe this race is important and that your vote can make a difference. We depend on district attorneys to be open to the possibility that police reports are based on inaccurate information so that innocent citizens are not unnecessarily dragged through the system. We also depend on district attorneys to have perspective regarding which defendants deserve probation and/or diversion so that people who make a mistake are not saddled with prison terms or felony convictions that make them unable to obtain future employment. “Lock them up and throw away the key” is not a one-size-fits-all policy.

I recently represented a young college student who was caught in a theft-related incident after losing his job. Mr. Gallegos’ assistant district attorney took the time to meet with me and review the young man’s biographical information, including the fact that he had never engaged in violent behavior, had no prior criminal record, and showed appropriate remorse. Mr. Gallegos’ office appropriately offered the young man a chance at probation instead of sending him directly to prison but required that he spend six months in jail and attend appropriate counseling after his release. The goal was to provide punishment but give the young man a chance to show that this was an isolated incident and give him a chance to turn his life around so he could graduate college and become a productive member of our community.

Allison Jackson’s campaign used the result in this case as an example of why she should be district attorney, claiming Mr. Gallegos’ office lacked judgment. Ms. Jackson’s campaign mis-stated to the public that the young man had committed numerous prior thefts he did not and implied that she would have sent him directly to prison. Ms. Jackson’s campaign also stated that the young man just received probation, neglecting to tell the public he received six months in jail. Ms. Jackson’s comments were extremely misleading and based on misinformation in the police report and an attitude that a district attorney should always maximize punishment. Fortunately, Ms. Jackson was not in charge of the case, and this young man is truly turning his life around and should graduate from college this year with a job waiting for him.

Mr. Gallegos also dedicated his own time and that of his office to collaborate with our law firm on an eight-month jury trial against a corporation that owned all of the skilled nursing homes in Humboldt County and was chronically under-staffing its homes. Many witnesses at the trial told tragic stories of how the under-staffing impacted their loved ones, who often sat in their own waste for hours or days at a time and went weeks without being bathed.

Mr. Gallegos was personally present every day during the trial and successfully obtained an injunction on behalf of the People of the State of California requiring the corporation to comply with an injunction that will monitor compliance with staffing levels for our seniors.

Mr. Gallegos also obtained a $1 million payment for the County of Humboldt to be used by his office for future protection of our citizens. This case was reported around the country as one of the most significant jury verdicts this year. In a recent debate, Ms. Jackson stated that if she were in office she would just concentrate on violent crimes and would not have wasted her time with this nursing home case. Fortunately for our seniors, Mr. Gallegos was our district attorney and took the time to protect them.

I believe Paul Gallegos is the better candidate for Humboldt County District Attorney. He not only concentrates on serious and violent crimes, but he has also created a culture in his office where deputy district attorneys share discovery and play by the rules as opposed to displaying a win-at-all-costs mentality.

Patrik Griego

Of all the things I learned about Paul Hagen during the June election cycle, the one that stuck me the most was not that his former employers at the CDAA thought he was a joke and had long wanted to fire him, and not that his fellow environmental attorneys in Humboldt County thought he was a light weight and didn’t respect him, but rather it was that his neighbors didn’t like him. Not even a little bit. And more then one of his neighbors had warned him to never come on their property again and to never speak to their children.
That was striking.