Update: Deputy sued over courtroom gun incident

To Mr. Silberman: if the DA and Sheriff are so anxious to achieve justice here, HOW CAN THIS MAN STILL BE EMPLOYED AS A SHERIFF'S DEPUTY IN SAN MATEO COUNTY?

Remember, actions speak a lot louder than words. The comment of Mr. Emanuel is right on about what would happen if this took place in a private company. Not only would a felony be charged, but a hate crime enhancement would have been added.

Welcome to San Mateo County.

Cailfornia Penal Code 417 section (a)(2)(A) Exhibiting a Concealable Firearm in Public


This is not remotely close to what happened in that Courtroom to that Victim.

By the way, here's how DA Steve Wagstaffe recently dealt with a taxpaying senior citizen who backed his truck out of his own driveway to get away from a Menlo Park code enforcement officer he felt was harassing him:

Web Link

Wagstaffe threw the book at him with multiple charges, including the serious felony of assault with a deadly weapon, and the jury found him not guilty very quickly. This is a case that never should have been brought.

No gun was pulled. No "South Carolina" justice was threatened. No undercurrents of racism possibly existed. The officer wasn't injured, and apparently did not move out of the way of this vehicle to prevent the senior citizen from legally exiting his own home so he could avoid the unpleasant experience of dealing with her, as was his legal right (he wasn't arrested or detained), even though she presumably felt it was an affront to her authority.

A felony was charged against senior citizen Jerry Jenkins even though he committed no crime and there were not eyewitnesses as they are in this situation with Deputy Mar.

Why is only a misdemeanor being charged against this sheriff's deputy? Why isn't the corresponding felony assault with a firearm charge being levied against this deputy?

Again, why is the deputy still being paid with our taxpayer dollars?

By the way, here's the answer I had hoped the Almanac would have posited. Had Wagstaffe charged the deputy with the felony he deserves, a conviction would end his law enforcement career whether Sheriff Greg Munks wanted it to or not. Law enforcement officers in California convicted of a felony lose their jobs because they are then ineligible to possess a firearm.

So rather than acting to protect the citizens he represents from a corrupt sheriff who won't do the right thing here, Wagstaffe is protecting Munks' ill-conceived decision to keep this deputy on the payroll by ensuring that even if he is found guilty of this act, his deputy job remains intact.

Wagstaffe is doing this even though any citizen in San Mateo county would have to agree that at bare minimum, if Deputy Mar did the things he is accused of (and there are multiple eye witnesses), he should not be a law enforcement officer since he does not have the judgment or temperament to be entrusted with the firearm he so quickly used to threaten this unarmed man in a totally unjustifiable way.

Actually, according to this: Web Link

The deputy would be ineligible to possess a firearm for 10 years. This would effectively end his career.

10-Year Prohibitions
• Any person convicted of a misdemeanor violation of the following: Penal
Code sections 71, 76, 136 .5, 140, 148, subdivision (d), 171b, 171c, 171d,
186 .28, 240, 241, 242, 243, 244 .5, 245, 245 .5, 246, 246 .3, 247, 273 .5,
273 .6, 417, 417 .1, 417 .2, 417 .6, 422, 626 .9, 646 .9, 830 .95, subdivision (a),
17500, 17510, subdivision (a), 25300, 25800, 27510, 27590, subdivision
(c), 30315, or 32625, and Welfare and Institutions Code sections 871 .5,
1001 .5, 8100, 8101, or 8103 .

The more likely reason he was only charged with misdemeanor 417 is that it will be easy to bargain it down to a 415 which carries no firearms prohibition.

One Question Only, you bring up an excellent point.

Sheriff Greg Munks does fire some deputies and not others, he did fire Colin T. Smith before he had a trial.

He should have fired Andy Mar as soon as the IA Investigation was complete.

He should also look at the two Sheriff Office Employees who conducted the investigation.

I recommend an outside agency investigate these issues in the future.

How can it be so hard to NOT hire lunatics as police ?

Has anyone checked our water for lead lately .. why is it that
so many people seem to go off the rails?

Plane:

in SMC it doesn't matter if you're sane, it matters if you're part of the "in" crowd. Which means you are a member of law enforcement, as long as you don't challenge the existing status quo. If you are a member of the "in" crowd you can do virtually anything you want without fear.

Also known as "Those who Matter."

PAID administrative leave!?!?! Figures from this agency. Someone should look into how this agency is spending our Tax Dollars!

Update in the criminal trial.

The Jury found San Mateo County Sheriff Deputy Andy Mar……………..NOT GUILTY

".NOT GUILTY"

No surprise.