DA declines charging mayor’s house vandalism suspect after outcry over bail

SAN JOSE >> A Santa Clara County judge’s approval of a $500,000 vandalism arrest warrant for a person accused of defacing Mayor Sam Liccardo’s house in August did not articulate a rationale for the extraordinarily high bail figure, which ended up being 50 times higher than what is prescribed in the local court’s bail schedule.

Amid outcry over the bail amount , the District Attorney’s Office on Tuesday declined to file a charge against 23-year- old Hailey Scimone, “pending further investigation,” DA spokesperson Sean Webby said.

The use of a Ramey arrest warrant, in which police present probable cause for an arrest directly to a judge instead of presenting a case to prosecutors, for a single felony vandalism offense was signed Sept. 28 by Judge Paul Bernal. On

Saturday, Scimone was located in Santa Clara by San Jose police.

On Monday, the public defender’s office filed a habeas corpus petition challenging the $500,000 bail, calling it excessive and citing how under court arraignment schedules the arrest on Saturday meant Scimone was unlikely to see a judge until Wednesday, resulting in a 96-hour jailing period.

The petition was heard Tuesday, a nd the district attorney’s office had joined with their public defender counterparts in supporting lowered bail for Scimone. Then prosecutors made their nonfiling decision, making Scimone eligible for release.

Deputy Public Defender Carlie Ware said she was relieved at the prospect of her client being freed, but sought to draw attention to what she described a s a n opaque process through which Scimone was arrested and jailed.

“My concern is that this legal procedure exists and could happen tomorrow to another protester, or could happen to anyone who a police officer thinks might know something,” Ware said, “The result is incarceration without access to counsel.”

Nothing in the warrant affidavit showed that police requested higher bail, so at least on record Bernal was alone in landing at the staggering bail amount, said Carson White, an attorney who works with Ware on the Pre- Arraignment Representation and Review unit at the public defender’s office.

The county court’s current prescribed bail schedule for a felony vandalism count is $10,000.

The Superior Court responded to a new inquiry from this news organization about the initial bail setting Tuesday by referring back to a statement it issued Monday, citing judicial ethics in declining comment other than to say bail schedules are “discretionary” and that bail amounts are ultimately up to judges.

Bernal, who has been on the Santa Clara County bench for two decades, is a friend of Liccardo dating back to when were both county prosecutors.

In the 1990s, Bernal was a staff counsel to thencount y Super v isor Ron Gonzales, who went on to serve two terms as San Jose mayor in the following decade.

Liccardo was among those who questioned the high bail on Monday, and after learning that Bernal issued it, reiterated that he did not have prior knowledge about the arrest before it was announced by police, and said he has not had any recent contact with the judge.

“I have not communicated in any way with either Judge Bernal or anyone else at the courthouse for several months prior to this incident, nor has anyone communicated with anyone at the courthouse about the case at my direction or on my behalf,” Liccardo said in a statement Tuesday.

Ware strongly objected to the use of a Ramey warrant on Scimone, who she said was not allowed to view the actual warrant or be told of its underlying crime.

White added that she had not seen compelling evidence for the use of a Ramey warrant, which often carry an element of urgency, saying police had over a month before the arrest to build their case and present it to prosecutors, secure charges, and get a conventional arrest warrant issued.

“SJPD sought an emergency arrest warrant and then sat on it for nearly a week,” White said. “This all but confirms our suspicion that Hailey’s arrest on this bail amount was strategically orchestrated to ensure they spent the most time possible in pre- arraignment custody without access to an attorney or the ability to go before a judge and request their release.”

In a statement Tuesday, police defended their general use of the warrant.

“Ramey warrants are a valuable and common tool for law enforcement, based on the exact same probable- cause elements needed to make an onview arrest, except with a Ramey, it must go through the additional step, after being reviewed, of being signed by a judge,” the statement reads.

Liccardo’s home was vandalized Aug. 28 amid protests against the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin; demonstrators outside Liccardo’s home spray-painted critical messages on the house, threw eggs, and burned flags.

Both Scimone’s supporters, who question how Scimone was suspected in the vandalism to begin with, and the public defender’s office remain suspicious about the sequence that led to the arrest.

“There is no legitimate government purpose that merits the setting of half a million dollars bail,” the habeas petition states. “There is, however, an obvious illegitimate purpose for which half a million dollars bail might be set in this case: retaliation for Hailey’s exercise of their First Amendment right to protest in support of local political action.”

The police department has refuted that idea, saying in a Monday statement that it supported peaceful protest, but would investigate all acts of vandalism and arson and arrest those responsible.