The
Good . . .
The all-woman prosecution team of Deputy DA Marianna Lebedeff,
investigator Lorea Archibald, and victim advocate Miriam
Gaon was awesome! Lebedeff knew her case well, and fought
hard on judicial rulings. Kim Ramming's family, in Gaon's
expert hands, was treated with dignity and respect. In addition,
the team was warm and welcoming to the Purple Berets, an
uncommon occurrence under Mike Mullins' previous reign as
DA.
The
Bad . . .
This
was our first real look at Judge Boyd, who is relatively
new on the bench. He seemed indecisive and, in a pinch,
tended to agree with the voice that sounded most like his
(i.e., male). Hopefully with more experience he'll be a
stronger jurist.
Yet
again, sloppy police work. Rohnert Park police failed to
even write a report on a June 5th call by Ramming reporting
that Herring had threatened to kill her and members of her
family and wouldn't leave her apartment.
They
also failed to gather significant evidence at the scene
of the July assault and, for the most part, were incredibly
weak and unknowledgeable on the witness stand.
San
Rafael police must not be much better. Their investigation
of the terrorist threats report consisted of interviewing
only Herring. They never bothered to contact Kim Ramming!
The
Ugly ...
Absolute
winner in "the ugly" category was Judge Boyd's
ruling that kept out evidence of a prior attempted sexual
assault by Herring on a San Francisco prostitute. Clearly
relevant in this case, the testimony should have come in
via the SFPD police report. But Boyd ruled "the victim's
credibility was in question" because and only because
she was a prostitute. Thus the jury was not to hear of Herring's
prior sexual assault charge.
(They
did, however, hear really creepy testimony by Herring's
ex-wife that he had drugged her, then shaved her pubic hair
while she was unconscious.)
"Herring's
Harem," a bevy of ex-girlfriends who came to court
regularly, hung on his every word, testified as his expert
and character witnesses, and tried to get the Purple Berets'
laptop thrown out of the courtroom!
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