When a case is submitted to the DA's office it is screened to make sure that the elements of the crime are present and the case can result in a conviction. After that, it is submitted to a Judge who reviews it and signs the warrant requested by the Detective who submitted the original case. Remember what a warrant is - It is an order by the Judge to bring the body to the court. Any officer who serves the warrant is acting on the orders of the court, and he is immune from civil liability for serving the warrant because he is doing what the Judge ordered. (Immune as long as there are no further issues, like "malice" in obtaining the warrant, or the use of unreasonable force.)
Probable cause is always an issue when an arrest is made without a warrant. However, if an arrest is made pursuant to a warrant, there is no longer a probable cause issue regarding the arrest itself. An attorney can still challenge the issuance of the warrant, but he has to show the Judge that he made a mistake in signing the warrant.
The statute of limitations on misdemeanors is one year. A case must be filed with the court within one year of the incident, otherwise the case is dead.
"why do so many SPD officers and their supervisors still ask for a "Citizen's Arrest" on felonies when the Penal Code is so clear that anyone can arrest for a felony even if not in one's presence?"
I suspect this is a protection from civil liability lawsuits for false arrest. Officers and their agencies have been immune from civil liability when the citizen makes an arrest for misdemeanors. It makes sense for the officer's Department from a civil liability standpoint to have the citizen make the arrest even in a felony incident. When a lawsuit is filed the officer points to the citizen and says "Hey, he made the arrest and I followed the law in accepting the arrest."
"I hope there's more substance than smoke. Not hearing from the players is disturbing at best."
Any given case can take a LONG time between the reporting of the incident to the issuance of a warrant. And Misdemeanors can take 6 months to get filed in some jurisdictions. If it's hot enough, it can be done fairly quickly. Otherwise, it can take a LONG LONG time and the victims have to keep pressure on the Police Agency and the District Attorney's office if they drag their feet.
And of course a disclaimer. I am not a lawyer and none of this is meant as legal advice. Only a lawyer really familiar with the laws in these areas can give a truly definitive answer. (I hope I answered your questions adequately) - :)
Impeach98: In message #94 posted on 08/12/2003 10:36 PM PDT, the following observation was made and questions asked:
You lose evidence as each day goes by. Who went to the Sheraton to check their security cameras and angles? Same for the Convention Center... they have cameras that view J Street in both directions. SPD has in car cameras and when the overheads come on, so does the camera... may have clearer video of faces (for identification) than the media and an unobstructed view. Anyone ask?Thanks to a former FReeper and PDN member, the Convention Center security office reveiwed their video tapes for the morning of the incident. The event wasn't recorded. The camera that could have zoomed in, is a pan/tilt/zoom remote and was not aimed in that direction at the time.
It also seems the first police presence was a civilian Community Service Officer who was observing at a distance. Even though they drive a standard marked patrol car, I don't know if they are authorized to use the in-car camera without a request and there was none noted on the call. (Assuming the car was so equipped)
Two calls were made to SPD, one from Sheratan Security and the other a cell phone transfer from CHP. The latter is another lesson to be learned by our people when protesting. Cellphone 911 calls most often go to CHP and have to be manually trasferred to the local police. They often get lost or there's a delay. The Emergency number for SPD is 264-5151 That should be programmed into every cell phone before an event (or the emergency number for the local police/sheriff agency where the protest is to be held)