Griesa cuts a deal; sentencing in 2 months

by Tom Nadeau

The beleaguered Joseph Griesa canceled Tuesday a second trial in Yuba County Superior Court on charges relating to his alleged conduct with under-aged female employees at Mitchell Towing Service.

After some last-minute waffling and sidebar dickering between his attorney, the prosecutor and the judge, Griesa told visiting Judge Ersel Edwards that, all things considered, he would settle instead for a light sentence for the 10 crimes he’s already be convicted of.

The most serious penalty Griesa will face when he returns to court for final sentencing at 11 a.m. Aug. 20 stems from count #11 in his original 18-count charge sheet. That count charged him with Penal Code Section 278:

Every person, not having a right to custody, who maliciously takes, entices away, keeps, withholds, or conceals any child with the intent to detain or conceal that child from a lawful custodian shall be punished by imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding one year, a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000), or both that fine and imprisonment, or by imprisonment in the state prison for two, three, or four years, a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or both that fine and imprisonment.

The other heavy-duty penalty Griesa is looking at is he will now forever more have to register authorities as a sex offender.

All other penalties would be waived in the arrangement, Deputy District Attorney John Vacek said.

Other issues...Read more »

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...Read more »