Day 4 - Homeless Property Jury Trial

The argument whether to allow depositions to be read or not continued briefly. Judge England was just about to allow the deposition to be read, when Attorney for the City, Chance Trimm, expressed a change in heart, no, a change of mind because he decided that some of that testimony will be helpful to him later.

The Jury entered and first newly accepted deposition was read by Franklin Banker. John had been homeless since 2007 and has stayed downtown, in the River District, along the river and on Bannon Street. His property was taken by police when he and a few others were staying outside the Mission since they couldn’t get beds. He called the City’s storage yard but they never returned his call. He didn’t get a citation for camping.

Izeal was the next witness who is currently staying with a friend. He’s #76 on the waiting list for a shelter program that will allow him to stay for 60 to 90 days once he gets in. He was in foster homes and group homes. He’s been homeless most of the time since then. He was staying in the tent city by the river when his things were taken.

Franklin Banker read another deposition for a man named James who had been homeless for two and a half years. Batman and Robin (aka Officers Cooper and Zoulas) wouldn’t let him get his possessions they had just tossed in their trailer.

Amie grew up in North Highlands and currently lives in Serna Village. She was staying at the tent city by the river, when her things were taken. She had heard rumors but no notice that eviction was coming. She spoke of the comradery of residents who watched out for each other, increased safety. “We were all we had.”

Franklin read another deposition. James S. was staying on Ahern when a work crew did a sweep with a big scooper. As with what seemed to be typical of most of the testimonies, the cleanup sweeps took place during the noon hours when most people would leave their camps for lunch.

Plaintiff’s attorney’s wanted to show a video. They didn’t want the video admitted but it was possible the defendant would admit it for evidence later in the trial, and it would be best to show it now with Gregory’s testimony to describe why the camp was in a state of disarray. Again, the judge didn’t have to decide since the defendant’s attorney said he wasn’t going to admit it.

Janet Green read Leticia’s deposition. She had been homeless since her husband died in 2003. Jana’s deposition was read by Kathryn from Genesis. Jana saw her things in garbage truck when she got back from lunch and asked police if she could retrieve her things. “No.

Gregory is a Vietnam era Veteran applying for SSI because of his disability. He saw police taking people’s property outside the Union Gospel Mission. He saw them cut a chain from a locked bike, plus camping and other gear. His things were taken when he was staying at the tent city.

Antoinette of Maryhouse read Deborah’s deposition who was homeless since 2008.

That concluded the witnesses to be called by the plaintiffs, and after lunch it became the City’s turn to start calling their witnesses. Their first witness, also their lead witness, was Police Officer Mark Zoulas, also known as “Batman”. The rest of the afternoon was spent questioning him by both the defendant’s and plaintiff’s attorneys, ending with the plaintiff’s cross examination. The plaintiff’s cross will continue into tomorrow’s session. That’s a lot of talking, and therefore a lot of writing to do, that I will continue to do after all his testimony is completed, and then probably even later than that because tomorrow evening gotta go to a meeting.

Attorney for the Plaintiff's - Mark Merin