Re-trial of People v. Griesa set to open, but a negotiated plea may be possible

The re-trial of People v. Joseph Patrick Griesa, case #08-458 is scheduled to open today in Yuba County Superior Court, with the defendant facing multiple felony counts of eight separate charges.

But defense mutterings leave out the possibility that a negotiated plea may be possible.

Griesa, 45, was also a grand jury witness in the still pending matter of People v. Santana and Vasquez.

The charges he faces in this trial are intricately linked to those proceedings in which he invoked his constitutional right to remain silent.

Griesa faces many charges, long years in prison...

A total of 18 felony charges were originally filed in People v. Griesa in October 2008 . All were prosecuted.

That trial ended June 25, 2009. He was found guilty of 10 charges relating to: annoying a child; contributing to the delinquency of a minor; unlawful detention; failure to report earnings, and; failure to pay taxes.

Griesa was found innocent on four criminal counts, including sexual battery, penetration with a foreign object and oral copulation with an underage person.

A mistrial was declared on the remaining charges due to a hung jury. The remaining charges included allegations of indecent exposure, intimidating a witness, sexual battery, false imprisonment and assault with a deadly weapon.

It is these unresolved charges he now faces.

Judge seals Griesa's court record

The Griesa case file was sealed prior to his original trial. Only the verdicts were available to the public. Apart from the verdicts no other detailed information was available.

A former owner/operator of Mitchell Towing Service with local government contracts and at one time a law enforcement officer with the Sutter County Probation Department, Griesa is something of a public figure.

The summary of the adjudicated charges and the remaining court actions relating to same now stretch into a 20-pages and print-out.

The re-trial is expected to open at 8:30 a.m. today in Yuba County Superior Court, with visiting judge Ersel Edwards presiding. However, defense attorney Kenneth L. Rosenfeld’s cryptic mutterings to the press suggest a negotiated plea of some sort may be in the offing.

The California Penal Code sections prosecutors allege he violated in this case specifically include: PC 314.1; 136.1(c)(1); PC 136.1(a); 136.1(b); PC 243.4(a); 243.4(e); PC 236/237, and; 245(a)(1).

Here are the specific Penal Code charges:

PC 314.1: Every person who willfully and lewdly … Exposes his person, or the private parts thereof, in any public place, or in any place where there are present other persons to be offended or annoyed thereby.

PC 136.1(c)(1): Every person doing any of the acts described in subdivision (a) or (b) knowingly and maliciously under any one or more of the following circumstances, is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for two, three, or four years under any of the following circumstances: (1) Where the act is accompanied by force or by an express or implied threat of force or violence, upon a witness or victim or any third person or the property of any victim, witness, or any third person.


PC 136.1(a): Except as provided in subdivision (c), any person who does any of the following is guilty of a public offense and shall be punished by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one year or in the state prison.

PC 136.1(b): Except as provided in subdivision (c), every person who attempts to prevent or dissuade another person who has been the victim of a crime or who is witness to a crime from doing any of the following is guilty of a public offense and shall be punished by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one year or in the state prison.


PC 243.4(a):Any person who touches an intimate part of another person while that person is unlawfully restrained by the accused or an accomplice, and if the touching is against the will of the person touched and is for the purpose of sexual arousal, sexual
gratification, or sexual abuse, is guilty of sexual battery. A violation of this subdivision is punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one year, and by a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars ($2,000); or by imprisonment in the state prison for two, three, or four years, and by a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000).


243.4(e): Any person who touches an intimate part of another person, if the touching is against the will of the person touched, and is for the specific purpose of sexual arousal, sexual gratification, or sexual abuse, is guilty of misdemeanor sexual battery, punishable by a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars ($2,000), or by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding six months, or by both that fine and imprisonment. However, if the defendant was an employer and the victim was an employee of the defendant, the misdemeanor sexual battery shall be punishable by a fine not exceeding three thousand dollars ($3,000), by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding six months, or by both that fine and imprisonment. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any amount of a fine above two thousand dollars ($2,000) which is collected from a defendant for a violation of this subdivision shall be transmitted to the State Treasury and, upon appropriation by the Legislature, distributed to the Department of Fair Employment and Housing for the purpose of enforcement of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (Part 2.8 (commencing with Section 12900) of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code), including, but not limited to, laws that proscribe sexual harassment in places of employment. However, in no event shall an amount over two thousand dollars ($2,000) be transmitted to the State Treasury until all fines, including any restitution fines that may have been imposed upon the defendant, have been paid in full.

PC 236: False imprisonment is the unlawful violation of the personal liberty of another.

PC 237: False imprisonment is punishable by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000), or by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than one year, or by both that fine and imprisonment. If the false imprisonment be effected by violence, menace, fraud, or deceit, it shall be punishable by imprisonment in the state prison.

PC 245(a)(1): Any person who commits an assault upon the person of another with a deadly weapon or instrument other than a firearm or by any means of force likely to produce great bodily injury shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for two, three, or four years, or in a county jail for not exceeding one year, or by a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or by both the fine and imprisonment.