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Prosecutorial Misconduct causes Jury Conviction to be tossed in X Sheriff Deputy Colin T. Smith case.

Original post made by Michael G. Stogner, another community, on Jul 9, 2015

June 26, 2015 Redwood City, California Courtroom 2A 1PM

Hon. Judge Leland Davis lll granted a New Trial because the District Attorney's Office withheld information from the defense. The judge felt that had the jury been able to hear this information they might have returned a different verdict.

Here we are 2 weeks later and District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe has not made a public statement, acknowledging his office caused this or his intention to RETRY this case, WHY?

Nothing in this withheld information would impact the jury.

I wrote about this on the Almanac on June 26, 2015 and I said that Judge Leland Davis lll stated " Miss Ekholm lied on the witness stand." he also said " I can not say that Mr. Smith got a fair trial."

Richard Hine took my thread down. Maybe it will stay up...

Now that todays Daily Post article by Angela Ruggiero, Judge: Witness in ex-deputy's trial lied

People lie on the witness stand every single day in San Mateo County.

That is not why this Jury Conviction got tossed…………..Prosecutorial Misconduct is.

Comments (3)

Posted by Holly L.
a resident of Menlo Park: Linfield Oaks
on Jul 9, 2015 at 12:54 pm

Holly L. is a registered user.

I am a bit confused. What was the evidence that Wagstaffe's office withheld from the defense? One would think that office wouldn't wNt a conviction


Posted by Michael G. Stogner
a resident of another community
on Jul 10, 2015 at 8:05 am

Michael G. Stogner is a registered user.

Holly asks, "What was the evidence that Wagstaffe's office withheld from the defense?"

That is a great question, Remember the Motion for New Trail is SEALED so I don't know exactly what was filed. From what i saw in the courtroom attorney Josh Bentley was focused on August 9, 2014. This is almost 1 year after the Stalking and Vicious Assault by a San Mateo County Sheriff Deputy Colin T. Smith on Erik Hartelius. It is also about 2 months before the criminal trial starts.

June 26, 2015 Courtroom 2A Three Redwood City Police Officers were called to the witness stand and testified about responding to a 911 call to Zandra Ekholm's apartment on August 9, 2014. Attorney Josh Bentley did his very best to bring the words Domestic Violence into the testimony but he was the only person speaking those words.. He got aggressive with the witnesses as to why they didn't report Domestic Violence for that call. All three responded the same as he knew they would the 911 call for August 9, 2014 to Zandra Ekholm's apt, was a 5150 call for Erik Hartelius. All three officers saw and spoke with Ms. Ekholm saw no injuries on her and heard nothing from her about injuries to her, they were there for Erik's welfare.

Sometime between August 9, 2014 and the trial the District Attorney's Office became aware of the possibility of an alleged Domestic Violence incident for that same day and did not pass that on to the Defense.

That is why Hon. Judge Leland Davis lll tossed out a Jury Conviction of Colin T. Smith.

The Question is why would it take so long for San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe to inform the public that his office will retry this case right away.

Whatever happened on August 9, 2014 has NOTHING to do with a San Mateo County Sheriff Deputy Stalking/Assaulting/ and Violating a Restraining Order one year earlier.

Lets make San Mateo County Safer for everyone. Time for a New Trial no one should be above the law.


Posted by Michael G. Stogner
a resident of another community
on Jul 12, 2015 at 8:54 am

Michael G. Stogner is a registered user.

7/7/2015 Asking the Supervisors of San Mateo County as residents to e-mail District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe and ask him to Retry x San Mateo County Sheriff Deputy. Why? It's simple his office caused the Jury Conviction to be tossed.

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