County may spend up to $5M extra on ‘Sunny Day’ defense: Private defender program says 16-person case beyond budget

“To say it is unusual is to underspeak,” Digiancinto said.

On Tuesday, he and County Manager John Maltbie will ask the board to reimburse the private defender program $500,000 from the county’s excess property tax reserves. The agreement between the county and the bar association caps costs outside the current contract at $5 million and the county will allocate it in $500,000 increments as necessary.

To put the need in perspective, Digiancinto said a typical capital case with one defendant might average $2 million from beginning to end. In this case with 16 defendants — nine of whom were indicted on potentially capital charges which dictate a two-attorney assignment — Digiancinto said it’s near impossible to predict a price tag.

The District Attorney’s Office announced the 16 indictments in March following an 18-month investigation and two-month criminal grand jury which was eight times longer than any other ever conducted in San Mateo County. Both looked into 2012 and 2013 crimes including four murders in East Palo Alto and San Francisco, a highway shooting in Belmont, a robbery and attempting to keep witnesses quiet. Other charged crimes include drug trafficking, bribery, firearms possession and conspiracy. The crimes reportedly began when the Da Vill and Sac Street gangs of East Palo Alto teamed up against the Taliban gang of East Palo Alto and Menlo Park.

The investigation, nicknamed “Operation Sunny Day” in reference to the code word used by gangmembers to indicate a completed murder, led to the arrest of Nina Mehrnoosh Cragg, 24, of Palo Alto; Roberto Busto-Montes, 24, of East Palo Alto; and Emmanuel Hyland, 25, of East Palo Alto, Raymond Bradford, 28, of East Palo Alto; Ralph Vernon Fields Jr., 26, of East Palo Alto; Tyrone Love-Lopez, 21, of East Palo Alto; Eric Valencia Vargas, 20, of East Palo Alto; Marvin Jake Ware, 26, of East Palo Alto, Donte Demon Jordan, 19, of East Palo Alto; Roshawn Bickham, 25, of Hayward; LaQuisha Walker, 28, of East Palo Alto; Leonard James Gaines, 21, of East Palo Alto; Rodney Levence Mitchell, 22, of Newark; Robert Wheller Jr., 27, of Hayward; Jerry Coneal III, 19, of Menlo Park and Miguel Angel Rivera Jr., 23, of East Palo Alto.

In June, District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe announced he would not seek death for Cragg, Busto-Montes and Hyland. On Monday, his office said publicly death is off the table for all but Bradford because he is a three-striker and considered a leader in the group.

The decisions mean the second public defenders assigned to them will be removed but that investigation costs covered directly by the county as dictated by the penal code now fall completely on the program, Digiancinto said.

Dave Pine, president of the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, said he knew Sunny Day was a massive investigation but hadn’t realized the full scope. He said having the private defender program bill the county monthly provides ample opportunity to verify the expenses.

“What we didn’t do here is just say here’s a million or two million and work with that. I feel comfortable that we will be able to provide some checks and balances,” Pine said.

Wagstaffe said he’s also willing to go to the board mid-year if necessary to keep his office budget in check while prosecuting the Sunny Day defendants. Currently, two prosecutors are assigned primarily to the case.

The Board of Supervisors meets 9 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 9 in Board Chambers, 400 Government Center, Redwood City.

michelle@smdailyjournal.com

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