The session, which begins at 9 a.m., consists of four oral argument sessions to be attended by students and teachers from schools in and around Monterey County, as well as the general public.

The California Supreme Court previously held oral arguments in Monterey County in 1979, 1970 and 1959, according to a press release from the Supreme Court of California.

The special session will be held at Colton Hall Museum – the location of California’s first constitutional convention in 1849.

Jorge Navarrete, clerk and executive officer of the California Supreme Court, said the special sessions provide access for anyone in a community the court visits to understand the role of the Supreme Court and the judiciary system within society. Navarrete said that, particularly for students, the special sessions can be helpful in discovering new career opportunities for students who may be unfamiliar with judicial and legal systems.

“This is really to provide access to justice for everyone,” Navarrete said. “And for everyone to be able to understand the role the Supreme Court and the judiciary plays in our society.”

Before Wednesday’s session, Navarrete said, attorneys visited schools around Monterey County to speak to students about the judicial process so attending students have a basic understanding of what they will see. Navarrete added that the court’s goal was to help the students understand how the cases they view moved through the system.

Students from K-12 schools in and around Monterey County such as Greenfield High School will be in attendance, as well as higher education institutions like Gavilan College in Gilroy, Navarrete said. The session will also be open to the public.

The special session is one of several events in Monterey celebrating California’s 175th anniversary. The Monterey Public Library also held two constitutional convention reenactments at Colton Hall Sunday and there will be an evening walking tour of Colton Hall and the Old Jail Oct. 29.

“We are excited to see the students come and be a part of our proceedings and for them to be exposed to and learn more about the Supreme Court and more about the justices,” Navarrete said.

Priority seating Wednesday is for student groups, but additional streaming locations will be at Monterey Public Library, Monterey City Council Chambers and Irvine Auditorium at Middlebury.

A list of oral arguments being heard by the California Supreme Court can be found at: https://supreme.courts.ca.gov/case-information/oral-arguments/oral-arguments-calendar.

Friedman, who directs Chabad by the Sea in Santa Cruz, began serving as the prison’s Jewish chaplain in 2008. After years of witnessing the emotional isolation many residents faced, he along with the help of his father, renowned lecturer Rabbi Manis Friedman, created Choices for Life in 2017 as a pilot program to teach participants how to redirect their energy toward helping others and in doing so, help themselves. Eight years later, the weekly course has seen over 600 graduates walk through the chapel doors where it takes place.

A program many residents say has transformed their thinking and their lives; the class weaves sacred wisdom from the Torah into modern-day lessons. Each session begins with a conversation about the difference between living with intention and just surviving, usually centered around a theme involving self-reflection, such as family.

“It’s no group like this,” said Derek Ancrum, a six-time enrollee who plans on retaking the class until he is eligible for parole in 2032. “Other groups focus on exterior things, this group is more internal. This group deals more about how you can help humanity, not just helping yourself. This group is about making yourself better for society. To be needed, instead of being needy.”

Ancrum’s reflection highlights the deeper impact of the course. Essentially, the class acts as a mirror, helping participants recognize the weight of their decisions and how those decisions affected the people around them, ultimately shifting their focus toward the well-being of others.

It starts with a question

“What have you done in the past two weeks that is good?” the class began. This sparked a conversation within the roughly 35 students in attendance. Guided by insightful questions, the discussion often revolves around spirituality and ethics. Next, the men are encouraged to share their homework responses, which is assigned after each session. Giving the example of Robin Hood stealing from the rich to give to the poor, the lesson provokes critical thinking about moral choices.

“It makes you answer the question: Are you living, or just existing?” added Steven Estell, a third-time student.

Miguel DeSilva, a chaplain/facilitator for the course, expanded the program into a Spanish-speaking chapter after applying the same principles he learned from Friedman to become a more impactful presence in his community. “I can read and write Spanish, and a lot of Spanish-speaking people here don’t have the opportunity with a lot of groups,” he explained, “so I wanna make sure I can at least do something.”

With the help of Choices for Life, DeSilva emphasized that the need to be of service is what turned his life around after years of living destructively. Upon joining the course and getting sober, the guilt of his actions caught up with him. Friedman encouraged him to use that pain as motivation to do better. Now qualified to lead his own cohort, DeSilva is scheduled for a parole hearing early next year. “I’m gonna continue doing this when (I’m out), I’m not stopping,” he said.

To encourage good behavior, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation offers credit-earning opportunities, such as Rehabilitative Achievement Credits, for participation in rehabilitative activities, potentially resulting in reduced time off sentences. Choices for Life is not part of this incentive system, and many in attendance noted that they were there because they truly wanted to change their lives.

From self to service

After experiencing significant emotional and physical abuse growing up, Amos Stevenson, another chaplain/facilitator for the class who has been incarcerated for 32 years, admitted he made choices from a place of trauma to escape the pain, always in denial. By embracing the ideals taught in the course, facing his triggers and rebuilding a healthy sense of direction, he was able to connect with humanity and empathy — feelings that had once been out of reach.

“A lot of times in the past when I started my criminal lifestyle, I was thinking, ‘What can I get out of, what can I leverage this person for?’ But now my purpose is to share this story and bring life to this program and how it has shifted my mindset,” shared Stevenson. “It’s helped change the culture of prison politics.”

His transformation reflects a main tenet of the program: service to others. Giving back is deeply woven into the course, and participants often carry what they’ve learned into spaces beyond the chapel.

“The way (Choices for Life) helps me is, in order for me to keep what I have, I gotta give it away,” said Paul Moreno, who has been attending since 2018. “So whatever I learn in this group, I share with other men in other groups. And they get nuggets, they get a sense of the ‘aha moments.’”

Moreno came to realize that instead of taking from others, he could choose to give, a shift that led him into deeper introspection. “It’s kind of hard for a lot of us who have lost our spirituality, or who have put it in the back burner, to grasp it,” he said. “(The class) makes me wanna be more in tune with my higher power.”

As he continued to attend and share what he learned with his loved ones, it was not only a spiritual change, but a physical one, as his mother noticed a difference in his demeanor and appearance. Crediting much of his growth to the Choices for Life program, Moreno was granted parole July 3.

Looking back to move forward

Friedman shared that by the fall of this year, Choices for Life will be expanding to the Correctional Training Facility’s north institution, Salinas Valley State Prison, as well as other prisons in California — and ultimately, to facilities across other states. Additionally, there are plans to double the number of modules of the course and broaden the curriculum to cover more life issues in-depth.

“It is so much more than anything I’ve ever imagined,” Friedman said. “I didn’t come into the prison work thinking that anything like this would happen. This is really just one of these cases of following God’s lead and He puts you where He wants you and you just make sure to do the best you can. … It’s a tremendous blessing and blessings come with tremendous obligation.”

For Friedman, this mission was built upon the teachings of his and his father’s mentor, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, widely known as the Lubavitcher Rebbe, who believed that nobody is beyond our obligation to reach out to and even the most isolated deserve attention and support. It was his vision that first motivated this work and inspired all the outreach in the prison system. Building on that vision, Choices for Life hopes to eventually empower former and even current incarcerated individuals to teach the course to their peers.

“Even if I’m not paroled, I still have purpose here,” Stevenson said. “There’s a lot of good that has been happening here and can continue to happen. I’m incarcerated, but I am being a productive citizen from in here.”

To learn more about Choices for Life, visit mychoicesforlife.com.

It was just one of many votes Senate Bill 286 will have to survive in a long road ahead in the Capitol, but it caught Jones’ attention. In a Legislature dominated by Democrats who often shelve Republican tough-on-crime proposals, the approval from the Senate Public Safety Committee was unanimous.

“I don’t think it would have passed a committee last year,” said Jones, the Senate minority leader.

California’s Democratic legislators — who for years have been passing progressive measures designed to reduce sentences and lessen mass incarceration by emphasizing more rehabilitative solutions to crime — were dealt a blow last fall when an overwhelming majority of voters approved Proposition 36.

The measure backed by business owners, police and Republicans, increased sentences for some drug and theft crimes, partially undoing more lenient measures that voters approved just 10 years ago. Though many Democrats opposed the measure, they’re now tasked with providing funding to carry it out.

Jones, of San Diego, said he’s seeing Democrats inching toward stricter incarceration measures as a result. He said he saw a window to bring back the legislation this year.

“The smart Democrats are getting it,” he said. “The voters spoke overwhelmingly.”

The Public Safety Committee also gave unanimous approval this month for another bill Jones authored, SB 379, that would add regulatory guardrails before the Department of State Hospitals releases sexually violent predators. It’s his fourth year in a row pushing that measure; the proposal passed the Senate and died in the Assembly last year, after failing to clear a single committee both years before that. SB 432, authored by a different Republican senator to increase penalties for selling or giving fentanyl to minors, also got unanimous approval in the committee this month.

Freshman Sen. Jesse Arreguín, an Oakland Democrat who chairs the committee, said his fellow Democrats don’t intend to return to an era of overcrowded prisons or harsh penalties for lower-level crimes. But he acknowledged they’re also shifting their thinking in response to their voters, and called that approach “pragmatic.”

“That was the direction I was given as chair of the Public Safety Committee, was that we need to provide more balance in terms of how we look at criminal justice policy,” he said, referring to the Democratic caucus. “Just focusing specifically on restorative justice and prevention, and not focusing on accountability (for offenders), that’s not where the voters are now.”

Criminal justice reforms still advancing

So far, the shift hasn’t been enough to worry Tinisch Hollins, executive director of Californians for Safety and Justice, a group that advocates for reduced imprisonment and pushed for the 2014 sentencing changes that voters approved.

She pointed to bills her organization has sponsored that are also advancing through the Legislature, including legislation to expand the state’s efforts to clear criminal records to give past offenders second chances, and to require that the California Department of Corrections apply more good behavior credits to reduce prisoners’ time served. With the state tight on cash, she said she doesn’t believe lawmakers will be eager to significantly increase imprisonment and sees a “consensus that we shouldn’t go back that way.”

“Even Prop. 36 wasn’t a referendum on reform,” Hollins said. “There’s still plenty of support for different approaches to public safety that really address the root cause and prevent crime from happening in the first place.”

Any stricter measures the Legislature approves this year will ultimately be narrow, with Republicans pointing to extreme examples to push their case.

Jones’ elderly parole bill targets a program the Corrections Department first created in 2014, in response to a court order to reduce prison crowding, that allows prisoners who are older than 60 and have served at least 25 years of their sentences to petition for release.

He tried in 2019 to restrict those convicted of sex offenses from being eligible; the bill never got a hearing. In 2020, lawmakers quietly lowered the eligibility for some prisoners to age 50, if they’ve served at least 20 years, though many have not been approved for release. The following year, Jones proposed a bill undoing that change for sex offenders, which went nowhere.

Between January 2021 and June 2024, the Board of Parole Hearings released 1,762 people through the elderly parole program, corrections spokesperson Emily Humpal wrote in an email. Department data analyzed by CalMatters show that while more people have been released under the elder program since 2021, the rates at which the board grants parole fluctuate between 14% and 20% each year, hovering just above the board’s overall parole-granting rate. The department would not immediately provide a breakdown of their convictions, nor of how many of those released were between the ages of 50 and 60.

Now, 12,303 people currently imprisoned – nearly 14% of the prison population – are eligible for either form of elderly parole, Humpal said.

Jones’ bill would bar those convicted of sexual felonies such as rape and child sexual abuse from parole eligibility at age 50. It would not affect their eligibility upon turning 60, or the parole eligibility date in their original sentences.

He also proposed blocking the earlier eligibility from people convicted of murder, but Arreguín’s committee removed that provision with Jones’ agreement before voting to advance the bill.

Proponents of the measure, including San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan, say victims shouldn’t be forced to relive the trauma of parole hearings and the prospect of their abusers’ release before the end of their original sentences.

They point to Mary Johnson, who identified herself as the childhood victim of rape and sexual abuse by her uncle. The abuser, Cody Klemp, was originally sentenced in the 1990s to 170 years. In 2023, under the elderly parole program, the Board of Parole Hearings recommended his release — then rescinded the decision last year. His next hearing is scheduled for 2029.

“Suddenly, I was no longer a 49-year-old woman, but I was a 13-year-old trapped and powerless and fighting again,” Johnson said in a press conference. “No victim’s family should have to fight over and over again to ensure that a dangerous predator serves the sentence that they were given.”

Closing the doors on the rehabilitated?

A group of criminal justice reform and civil rights advocates including the American Civil Liberties Union opposes the legislation, arguing it would close the door on those who have been rehabilitated in prison and pose less of a public safety risk. Studies have found the chances of re-offense decrease as a defendant ages.

Gary Harrell, who was given a life sentence for his participation in a murder, testified that despite becoming eligible for parole in 1984, he wasn’t released until about 40 years later, after he had gone before the parole board about 20 times. He said in the last two decades of his incarceration, he turned his life around, and now works a day job while in his spare time giving homeless Sacramento residents food and hygiene products.

“I have taken so much from others and now it’s time to give back and do my part to make the world a better place,” he said. “I hope you can see that the people who will be impacted by this bill are people like me who have changed and want to give back.”

Arreguín said he proposed removing Jones’ exclusion of people convicted of murder to focus the bill on sex offenses.

That tactic has yielded bipartisan backing in the last legislative session.

In 2023, Republican Sen. Shannon Grove of Bakersfield pushed a bill to increase penalties for child sex trafficking. Democrats in the Assembly Public Safety Committee resisted but, after a public outcry, Gov. Gavin Newsom stepped in with rare public comments in support of the legislation, which ultimately won more Democratic support and his signature.

Last year Grove’s bill to increase penalties for soliciting a minor for prostitution — targeting the buyers of sex — also prevailed. Senate Democrats carved out exclusions for 16- and 17-year-olds who are allegedly solicited, out of concern it would inadvertently rope in older teenagers who aren’t actually involved in or victims of trafficking. (The legal age of consent is 18.) This year, Grove is turning heads with a bill, Assembly Bill 379, co-authored with an Assembly Democrat, to undo those exclusions and apply the changes to all minors.

Jones acknowledged the tactic of focusing on sexual offenses is an incremental step toward tightening criminal sentences overall.

“We’re smart enough to know how far we can go,” he said.

On July 11, Aglibot and his girlfriend, Jane Doe 1, got into an argument over a rap song she was listening to with a teenager in the house they rented, according to a press release from the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office. Aglibot began assaulting and repeatedly hitting Jane Doe 1’s face and body, and threatened to kill her. The teenage girl in the room ran out to get her mother, Jane Doe 2, who was also a renter in the home.

When Jane Doe 2 entered the room, she lay on top of Jane Doe 1 to protect her from Aglibot, who then punched her in the face and threatened to kill her.

Once Aglibot stopped assaulting the two women, Jane Doe 1 escaped and fled to a nearby friend’s apartment in Monterey. Aglibot followed her to the apartment and threatened to kill the occupants if Jane Doe 1 didn’t come outside. Police were called and arrested Aglibot. Jane Doe 1 had numerous bruises, a tooth knocked out and had a concussion.

In the weeks after his arrest, Aglibot continued to contact Jane Doe 1 in violation of a court order prohibiting him from contacting her. Multiple times, Aglibot attempted to dissuade Jane Doe 1 from cooperating with the court case. He also asked friends to contact Jane Doe 1 and dissuade her. In one instance Aglibot asked a friend to take others to Jane Doe 1’s residence and intimidate her, but the friend declined.

Aglibot has multiple prior convictions for committing criminal threats against Jane Doe 1. These convictions qualified as “strikes” within California’s Three Strikes Law and resulted in a sentence of 30 years and four months in prison.

A long-term investigation known as “Operation REDRUM” revealed members of the Norteño street gang in Salinas were engaged in systematic targeting and killing of rival gang members and innocent individuals that had no gang affiliation according to the District Attorney’s Office. The targeting of civilians was referred to as “hunting.” Gang members were often accepted into the gang after hunting or committing a murder, regardless of whether the victim was a gang rival.

“These convictions reflect the strength and dedication of our state prosecution efforts in confronting violent, organized gang activity,” said District Attorney Jeannine Pacioni in a news release. “Our office has worked relentlessly to build strong cases, pursue justice for the victims, and ensure that those who terrorize our communities are held accountable.

“We will continue to lead in prosecuting violent crime and protecting the safety and well-being of Monterey County residents,” said Pacioni.

On Tuesday the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of California announced Andrew Alvarado, a member of the street gang, pled guilty in federal court to one count of racketeering conspiracy and one count of conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering.

Alvarado, 34, was indicted with multiple co-defendants in October, 2020. According to court documents, “Murder Squad” falls under the Monterey County Regiment Enterprise affiliated with the Nuestra Familia prison gang.

During the “hunts,” the squad used military-style tactics, traveling in a convoy with a designated shooter vehicle and designated security/spotter vehicle while communicating via a conference call, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Alvarado admitted to participating in six of these hunts between January and May of 2017.

While in the shooter vehicle, members would drive up, exit, fire at victims until their magazines were empty and speed away. The security vehicle followed behind, ready to distract or intercept law enforcement to allow the shooter vehicle to escape, said the news release.

Alvarado admitted that his participation in both shooter and security vehicles resulted in the deaths of six victims and wounding of five victims.

“Each additional ‘body’ increased Alvarado’s status and prestige within the gang,” said the release. Alvarado is scheduled to be sentenced on July 15 and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison and $250,000 fine for the racketeering conspiracy and 10 years plus a $250,000 fine for conspiracy to commit murder.

Pacioni’s office identified four of the convicted gang members, all from Salinas:

• Fabian Alvarado was found guilty of the 2016 murder of Mario Puga on the 300 block of The Avenue in Salinas. He was sentenced on Dec. 11 2017 to 57 years to life.
• Sontos Fonesca was sentenced on July 24, 2020 to 152 years to life for the June 2018 murders of Lorenzo Acosta and Ernesto Garcia-Cruz.
• Luis Atayde was convicted for the 2017 murder of John Rodzach at the Hebbron Heights Community Center in Salinas. Atayde was sentenced to 50 years to life in March 2022.
• Neil Aguillon-Palermo, 23, was found guilty and sentenced on May 12, 2022 for a double attempted murder of two Salinas residents on Orchard Street in February 2017. He was sentenced to 64 years to life in prison.

The investigation was led by the Salinas Police Department and Homeland Security Investigations and prosecuted by Pacioni and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The prosecution was brought by the Violent Crime Strike Force and is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces investigation, which focuses on identifying and dismantling highest-level drug traffickers, money launderers, gangs and transnational criminal organizations.

Lanoue, 72, from Reno, Nevada was given 25 years to life in prison plus 31 additional years. On Feb. 20 Lanoue pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, kidnapping, committing a forcible lewd act on a child under 14, forcible rape and forcible sodomy. He was also ordered to register as a sex offender for life.

Pham disappeared Jan. 21, 1982 while walking to her kindergarten class at Highland Elementary School. She was never seen alive again, according to the District Attorney’s Office. Two days later on Jan. 23, 1982, her remains were discovered on the former Fort Ord military base. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled to death, prosecutors said.

The case went cold for 40 years, but in 2020 the county’s Cold Case Task Force, alongside the District Attorney’s Office and Seaside Police Department, reopened the case and submitted evidence for DNA analysis.

A piece of pubic hair found on Pham was enough to create a DNA profile that could be used in genealogical databases and Lanoue’s name came up as a possible suspect.

At the time of the crime, Lanoue was 29 serving in the U.S. Army while stationed at Fort Ord. He lived 60 feet away from the Pham family and one of his children also attended Highland Elementary School, though prosecutors said there is no indication the families knew each other.

Investigators interviewed Lanoue July 6, 2022 and he admitted to picking up Pham from school, but claimed he did not remember killing her.

Lanoue said he may have blocked it out of his memory to protect himself, and admitted to having a history of sexually assaulting young girls.

Brockovich is a consumer advocate and environmental activist who was famously instrumental in building a case against PG&E involving groundwater contamination in 1993. The successful suit was the subject of the Oscar-nominated film “Erin Brockovich” in 2000, starring Julia Roberts as Brockovich.

Testing from the county and Environmental Protection Agency have reaffirmed that they say there is no risk to public health. However, many Monterey County residents near and around the site of the Moss Landing Battery Plant fire have shared concerns about the aftermath of smoke and debris that was released.

A group of Monterey County residents filed a lawsuit in Alameda County against several companies for damages.

The complaint, filed by Singleton Schreiber, names Moss Landing Power Company, Vistra Corp., Dynegy Operating Company and LG Energy Solution among others as being negligent and liable for hazardous activities.

“The Moss Landing Battery Energy Storage System Facility used lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide batteries that are more prone to thermal instability than newer alternatives like lithium-ion phosphate batteries,” the lawsuit alleges.

The lawsuit also claims that Vistra had an outdated water suppression system that failed to put out the January fire, and had too many batteries in one enclosed space.

Residents will have the opportunity to ask questions and share concerns during Tuesday’s meeting.

The virtual town hall meeting will take place at 6 p.m. via Zoom. You can register for the meeting and get the link at https://singletonschreiber.zoom.us/meeting/register/f0bY6QiyRH2j-Vn0RDvq0Q#/registration.

Garcia, a former soccer coach, pleaded guilty to three charges of contacting children online for the purpose of distributing sexual material, one charge for providing marijuana to a child over 14 and eight charges of unlawful sexual touching including forcible lewd acts, according to a news release.

On Oct. 27, 2022, Salinas police officers responded to a report from a 15-year-old student at North Salinas High School, said the news release. The student, Jane Doe No. 1, reported that Garcia had contacted her on social media and sent her a photograph of his genitals. At the same time, Jane Doe No. 2 reported she experienced the same social media contact and that Garcia had forcefully kissed her on the mouth, touched her genitals and attempted to force her to touch him.

A subsequent investigation discovered six additional victims. Garcia knew all of the victims from local soccer programs and coached most of them personally.

Garcia offered three victims marijuana. The abuse ranged from touching victims’ upper things to the sexual assault of one victim. Another victim reported her abuse occurred on multiple occasions.

Many of the victims reported Garcia offered them rides home from practice or games and once they were alone, would drive them to a park to engage in lewd contact.

Four of the charges against Garcia are strikes under California’s Three Strikes Law. He will be sentenced on April 25 and faces a minimum of 30 years and maximum of 41 years in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Garcia will be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

On March 21, 2023, Cortez and Bueno, 30, were caught on video carrying out a two-on-one attack on inmate Steven Lovely during recreational time in the day room, according to a news release. The two stabbed Lovely close to 50 times and despite medical intervention, he died in the hospital five days later.

During this case, Bueno was also convicted of assault by a life prisoner. He had previously been convicted of four “strikes” under the state’s Three Strikes Law which included a prior conviction for murder. Bueno faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Cortez had also been convicted of four strikes under the Three Strikes Law prior to this case. He is now facing 75 years to life in prison.

The case was investigated by the Investigative Services Unit of Salinas Valley State Prison and Monterey County District Attorney Investigator Erik Morris.

The phone also struck the hand of local community advocate Dolores Huerta, 94.

The incident, recorded on Diaz’ phone, happened after a vote was taken by the State Board of Education to overturn a decision to change the current boundaries surrounding North Monterey County Unified. The video shows McPherson standing up and leaving after the vote was called. Diaz was recording McPherson, who then knocked the phone out of his hand and to the ground, hurting Diaz and striking Huerta’s hand.

“I just want people to be held accountable no matter how small the thing may seem,” said Diaz, who filed a criminal complaint against McPherson.

McPherson and Diaz were among various community members present at the state board meeting in Sacramento. North Monterey County Unified had submitted an appeal to a 2020 Monterey County Board of Education decision to split the district’s territory and move 13 parcels to Lagunitas School District and Salinas Union High School District. The state board voted unanimously to keep the district’s boundaries intact.

When the territory dispute began, there were no children in the parcels that were attending either district. During the appeal process, it came to the state board’s attention that there was now a student in one of the parcels who attended North Monterey County Unified. This student was ultimately the main reason the board voted to keep the boundaries intact.

Board President Linda Darling-Hammond introduced a motion to reject the Monterey County Committee on School Reorganization’s findings in support of the territory change. She and other board members cited possible racial/economic disparities, potential gaps in Lagunitas’ special education programs and funding loss for North Monterey County as some reasons to accept the district’s appeal.

The alleged assault occurred directly after the board voted. “People should hear about stuff like this … I don’t see why this wouldn’t be sent to court because the proof is in the video,” said Diaz.

Immediately following the incident, a CHP officer stationed in the building spoke with Diaz, who decided not to press charges. Two days after the incident, Diaz filed an online police report. After some delays, CHP is now investigating the altercation as an assault.

After speaking with CHP, “I don’t expect it to go much farther,” said McPherson.

McPherson, the former chair of the county committee, had supported reorganizing the district as it met the nine criteria for petitions under the state education code. The California Department of Education also recommended the state board approve the boundary change. The board’s decision made McPherson “about as mad as I can remember being.”

“By the criteria, it certainly made sense to have the community, as it were, all attending the same school … kids on opposite sides of the same street were going to different schools.”

The district’s appeal stated the territory change would “place future families in a smaller, less capable district, which could lead to challenges such as combined-grade classes and inadequate support for high-needs students.” Lagunitas serves around 180 students.

The appeal also noted a boundary change would “increase racial/ethnic segregation” due to significant racial and ethnic disparities between the districts.

According to McPherson, immediately after the altercation, he apologized to Diaz for his behavior which he says Diaz accepted in the moment. The next day, he emailed the North Monterey County Unified board to apologize and offered to apologize in person at their next meeting. In an email sent to the rest of the board but not McPherson, Diaz declined the offer.

At the next county board meeting on Oct. 9, McPherson made a public apology for his behavior and resigned as the chair of the County Committee on School Reorganization. Trustee Annette Yee Steck now resides over the committee.

“I knew immediately that I was wrong,” said McPherson. “I apologized to (Diaz) face-to-face… I apologized publicly and it was inappropriate for me to act that way as the chair of the county committee, so I stepped down. I really don’t think there’s anything else for me to do under the circumstances.”

The California League of United Latin American Citizens District 12 has advocated for Diaz, writing in a press release that “we must hold our leaders accountable for their actions, especially when they impact our community’s most vulnerable members.” The league also called for a public apology and McPherson’s resignation from the county board of education.

As far as Diaz’ and LULAC’s call for his resignation, McPherson stated “these individuals who are calling for (a resignation) are not from my Trustee Area 2, and I continue to have support from those I represent.”