Judge rules against placing sex offender in Galt

EUREKA — A Humboldt County judge on Friday denied placing a sexually violent predator near Galt and requested the health care organization responsible for his supervision find a suitable location in that jurisdiction.

Judge John T. Feeney said he had read and considered several letters of opposition from the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office, law enforcement officials, City of Galt officials and residents regarding the proposed placement of 40-year-old Joshua Cooley on the outskirts of town at 9675 Harvey Road.

“It’s clear to the court that Mr. Cooley has no prior relation with Galt,” Feeney said. “There is also no system of support in Sacramento County for him. Humboldt County is his county of domicile, and he has family in Humboldt County.”

According to public documents, Cooley was charged in Humboldt County with multiple cases of sexual battery, making criminal threats, kidnapping and the sexual assault of a person younger than 14 in 2001 and 2002.

He was convicted in 2004, and served four years and eight months in prison. He was released on parole and required to wear an ankle monitor. He violated parole in 2007 after providing alcohol to two 12-year-old girls at a party inside his Eureka home. Cooley also admitted to kissing a 17year-old female at the same event.

In 2010, a jury determined Cooley to be a sexually violent predator. He appealed the finding, but was denied, and then sent to Coalinga State Hospital.

To be classified a sexually violent predator, a person has to have been convicted of a violent sex crime against at least one victim and be diagnosed with a condition that makes that person likely to re-offend.

State law allows certain sex offenders to be sent to a state hospital indefinitely after a prison sentence, and then they undergo therapy until doctors and a judge find them safe enough to continue treatment in the community.

Galt residents and city officials opposed placing Cooley in the area, citing the Harvey Road location was about a mile from Greer Elementary School, which enrolls more than 460 students in kindergarten through sixth grade.

The home is also about a mile from Walker Community Park, the largest recreational facility in Galt that is frequently used by children, as well as two miles from Galt High School.

Meagan O’Connell, a public defender representing Cooley, requested a continuance in the matter, stating she needed more time to investigate why Liberty Healthcare withdrew its proposal to place her client in Galt.

Liberty Healthcare is contracted by the Department of State Hospitals to supervise sexually violent predators when they are granted release and is responsible for finding placement in the community.

O’Connell noted that the court n 2016 found there were extraordinary circumstances to place Cooley outside of Humboldt County, as five attempts to find a suitable location there were also met with opposition.

Locations in Tehama and San Diego counties were also explored since that time, and each has been met with community opposition.

“Four years is the longest period of time any party granted conditional release has been without placement,” O’Connell said. “This court has requested numerous placements, including here in Humboldt County, and has expressed a desire to find placement in Sacramento County.”

Roseville Attorney Dave Rosenthal spoke on behalf of several Galt residents opposed to Cooley’s placement, citing that children live and attend school near the Harvey Road location on a consistent basis.

“Every day, within 600 feet of this property, children are homeschooled,” he said. “There are

children all along Harvey Road. Eight properties I referenced in my brief — just within half a mile — there are granddaughters, children under 18. This is a very bad placement for Mr. Cooley, right in an area where families and children are very close to this property.”

O’Connell added lack of family and resources, as well as Galt Police Department’s inability to patrol the proposed location, was not enough to deny her client’s placement.

She said if her motion for continuance was denied, she would request Cooley be placed on a transient release.

Feeney responded that the court acknowledged Sacramento County as a possible location for Cooley, but it was never the focus of his placement. He also denied O’Connell’s request for continuance, along with a transient release. A representative of Liberty Healthcare also said it did not recommend a transient release.

Galt mayor Shawn Farmer said he was pleased with Feeney’s ruling, adding efforts to persuade the court to deny Cooley’s placement was a community effort,

both at the local and state levels.

“This wasn’t accomplished by just one person,” he said. “This was a collaboration of many, and we did what we needed to do. From a citizens’ petition with more than 3,000 signatures, to 400plus letters to the DA, and all of our elected officials up to our state senator and assemblyman. I think the judge was receptive to the amount of opposition this generated.”

Farmer added that he was surprised Feeney made his ruling at the beginning of the hearing, and that he honed in on the community’s assertion there was no support system for Cooley to successfully rehabilitate.

“I was reluctantly optimistic,” he said. “I felt going in, that if it didn’t go our way, I would have said we did the best that we could have done. But I think at the end of all this, the court is circling back and maybe thinking they made a mistake by trying to place him outside Humboldt County.”

A hearing is scheduled for Feb. 26 to consider a new location to place Cooley in Humboldt County.