Man sues Sacramento County for being held without charge

A man held for nearly a month in the Sacramento County jail has filed a federal lawsuit alleging financial loss and damage to his reputation.

Like all criminal defendants, Taylor Brophy was entitled to attend a hearing in a quick and timely manner after being arrested on suspicion of driving while under the influence. But Brophy claims other inmates heard his case called during their hearings — and he was nowhere to be found.

Brophy says not only was his blood alcohol level not above the legal limit, he was apparently lost in the system — and now he’s suing.

Criminal defense attorney Mark Reichel said it’s unusual for someone to be held in custody for so long without appearing before a judge.

“Ordinarily in California, 99 percent of the time on a first time DUI, as soon as you’re sober enough, you’re out the door,” Mark told CBS13 News. “They don’t have places to hold you so they do want you out of there.”

The Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, the agency that runs the central jail, didn’t comment when asked by a reporter about the lawsuit, but said charges other than DUI may have been at play and that the man may have owed jail time for a past charge, CBS13 reported.

Brophy is no longer in custody as of this writing.

Click or tap here to read the full story from CBS13 Sacramento

Was a judge right to sentence Donald Jackson to one year in jail?

A Calaveras County family is heartbroken after a judge sentenced the drunk driver who killed their daughter to one year in county jail and several years of probation.

Donald Jackson entered a plea of no contest to vehicular manslaughter, driving drunk and other charges in connection with a 2018 crash that killed 27-year-old Chelsea Lund and seriously injured her eight-year-old son.

A prosecutor asked for 12 years in state prison, but a judge ultimately decided Jackson would spend one year in county jail and five years probation.

The Lund family is devastated over the sentence, telling CBS13 they believe Jackson got off light.

“He pled to all those charges and got sentenced for none of them,” Mr. Lund told the TV station.

 

But attorney Mark Reichel said the judge’s sentence is more complicated than it appears, telling CBS13 the judge had to take into consideration the totality of Jackson’s incarceration of 14 months in county jail prior to his plea and his show of remorse before the court.

Reichel noted the judge did give Jackson eight years and eight months in jail but suspended the majority of that on condition that he complies with the terms of his probation. If Jackson violates those terms, he could be forced to serve the full five-year jail sentence.

Read the full story at CBS13.com