Crime

Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen is moving to eliminate the county’s death row, looking to sentence the 15 local men still sitting on it to serve life in prison without the chance of parole instead, according to an April 5 press release.  “Judges...

The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office has implemented about a quarter of the more than 600 reforms identified in a 2016 plan to improve its jail system, according to a report received Oct. 17 by the county Board of Supervisors from an independent oversight...

Inmate Daniel Lopez Zavala, who escaped from the San Benito County Jail on May 28, was arrested in San Jose May 29 night following a regional manhunt that lasted nearly two days, authorities said.  The San Benito County Sheriff’s Office has also arrested three people...

The California State Assembly Select Committee on Fentanyl, Opioid Addiction and Overdose Prevention on Aug. 12 during an informational hearing discussed the urgency of combating the rise in overdose deaths among youth in recent years primarily due to ingesting fentanyl.  Between 2019 and 2021, drug...

As California tackles its fentanyl crisis, two new laws will be taking effect in January that will make drugs that reverse the effects of opioid overdoses easier to access in certain places and update the so-called good Samaritan law to include those who administer...

Three former Santa Clara County correctional deputies pleaded guilty Aug. 13 to reduced charges in the 2015 beating death of Michael Tyree, a mentally ill jail inmate.All three defendants – Matthew Farris, 36, Jereh Lubrin, 37 and Rafael Rodriguez, 40 – admitted to voluntary...

The death of a woman last week at a Gilroy home is being investigated as suspicious, police said Aug. 15. The investigation began after the woman was found dead the evening of Aug. 6 at a home in the 7600 block of Rea Street, according...

California lawmakers in 2024 introduced 4,821 bills, but most of them were tossed or otherwise rejected during the months-long legislative process during which most never saw the light of day. Just 1,206 made it to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk, with 1,017 getting signed into law...

Santa Clara County Wildlife Officer Laura Decker was named 2023 Wildlife Officer of the Year, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced this week. Decker, who is currently based in the CDFW Gilroy office, began her career with CDFW in 2018. In her short...

A law that classifies human trafficking of a minor for the purposes of a commercial sex act as a “serious felony” took effect Jan. 1, less than six months after debate around the bill roiled the Capitol.  Under current law, human trafficking of a minor...