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Memorial Day weekend DUI arrests down in SF, Santa Clara counties

DUI arrests over the Memorial Day holiday weekend were down in several Bay Area counties compared to the same three-day weekend last year, authorities said Tuesday.

San Francisco saw a 55 percent drop, with only 27 arrests this year compared to 42 in 2011.

"I hope this means that people are getting the message about driving stone-cold sober every single time," police Capt. Denis O'Leary said in a statement.

Santa Clara County also saw a sharp drop, from 144 drunken driving arrests last year to 80 this year, according to California AVOID, which runs multi-agency anti-DUI enforcement campaigns in each Bay Area county over various holiday weekends.

However, at least one county in the region, Sonoma, saw a slight uptick in their DUI numbers over the holiday weekend. That county had 53 Memorial Day weekend arrests for DUI, up from 43 the previous year.

Sonoma County also had two injury DUI collisions over the weekend, one each on Sunday and Monday.

Other Bay Area counties had not released their final arrest totals as of this afternoon.

The holiday crackdown lasted until the end of the night on Monday. AVOID programs will return with increased patrols and DUI checkpoints for the Independence Day holiday, according to officials.

_{Tue, 29 May 2012 20:52:05 -0700}

Arsonist in San Jose elementary fire sentenced to 8 years in prison

Almost two years after an intentionally set fire caused $10 million in damage to San Jose's Trace Elementary School, one of the two teens charged with burning down the school has been sentenced to eight years in prison.

According to the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office, Lazarus Reavallez, now 18, was sentenced Tuesday for his role in the July 5, 2010, arson.

His co-defendant, Kliefert Guiang, also 18, remains in custody and is set to appear in court on June 19, according to the district attorney's office.

Reavallez and Guiang were 16 years old at the time of the fire, which destroyed 16 classrooms, the school's library and administrative offices.

The defendants allegedly set two fires on separate sides of the 1,000-student school -- using paper found in a recycling bin, cardboard and a cigarette lighter -- and fled.

Prosecutors say both defendants admitted starting the fire.

The two 18-year-olds were charged as adults for aggravated arson, a felony that carries a prison term of 10 years to life.

Reavallez pleaded guilty to a reduced felony charge, arson of a structure, which an enhancement adding four years to the term for causing damage in excess of $3.5 million, according to the district attorney's office.

"The defendants threatened the safety of the community, the well-being of the students and the people who live near Trace Elementary," prosecutor Alaleh Kianerci said Tuesday. "However, this fire devastated the students and teachers whose classrooms were destroyed."

The school was able to open in time for the following school year thanks to portable classrooms, and a newly rebuilt school is expected to be ready for the start of the 2012-2013 school year.

_{Tue, 29 May 2012 19:57:58 -0700}

Drug laws panel supports reducing possession crimes to misdemeanors

Most but not all members of a drug-law-reform panel convened Tuesday by San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi supported reducing simple drug possession from a felony to a misdemeanor.

The panel, which included San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon, was part of a Justice Summit held annually by the Public Defender's Office.

Gascon led off in supporting a change in California law, as is currently being proposed in SB 1506, sponsored by state Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco.

"For me, this has been a long journey," said Gascon, who is also a former police chief. But "I truly have felt, in my years of working in public policy, that the war on drugs has been a failure," he said.

Gascon said sending young people to prison for drug possession is equivalent to sending them to a "university of crime" and making them more likely to re-offend in the future.

A dissenting voice came from Martin Vranicar, the assistant chief executive officer of the California District Attorneys Association.

Vranicar said some drug users may need the threat of a possible felony conviction and sentence to motivate them to go into treatment programs.

Vranicar noted that most counties currently have diversion programs, but some offenders don't make use of them.

"We've got these programs that allow offenders to escape from criminal sanctions, but people just don't take advantage of them," he told the audience in the Koret Auditorium of the San Francisco Main Library.

At present, California law requires that possession of certain drugs, such as cocaine and heroin, is a felony punishable by 16 months to three years in jail. Possession of some other drugs, such as concentrated cannabis, sometimes known as hashish, can be either a felony or a misdemeanor punishable by no more than a year in jail.

Possession of less than an ounce of marijuana, however, is now only an infraction, punishable by a fine.

Leno's bill, as of Tuesday pending in the Senate, would change the drug possession crimes now classed as felonies to misdemeanors.

In a video message to the conference, Leno said felony convictions make it harder for reformed drug users to obtain the housing, education and jobs they need to turn their lives around.

"We really perpetuate a chronic underclass, which benefits none of us," under the current drug laws, Leno said. 

The three other panelists -- San Francisco Probation Chief Wendy Still, Deputy Public Defender Tal Klement and Drug Policy Alliance Executive Director Ethan Nadelman - supported changing the law and also called for broader societal reforms.

"You have to look at the underlying problem, and not just lock people up," Still said.

_{Tue, 29 May 2012 19:32:27 -0700}

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