In a press release from Joe Brengle, CEO of the Contra Costa Event Park (fairgrounds) today, he stated, “Due to the promoters’ lack of fulfilling contractual obligations between the Contra Costa Event Park and World Class Entertainment, Event Park Management in the best interest and safety of our facility, event attendees and the City of Antioch we have no choice but to cancel the XO Music Festival scheduled to take place at the Event Park July 12 – 15, 2018.”
According to event organizer Sam Styles, a nickname for Sami Habib, the fairgrounds informed him at 8:00 a.m. today that their insurance was denied and that it was done “by another office.” He also said the Event Park will not refund their deposit.
All refund inquiries should be directed to the event promoter: World Class Entertainment, Inc. 39962 Cedar Blvd. #279, Newark, CA 94560, Attn: Sami Habib, sams@xoxomusicfestival.com or info@xoxomusicfestival.com.
Please check back for updates.
Allen Payton contributed to this report.
Read MoreContra Costa County Sheriff David Livingston announced, today the end to the county’s contract to hold Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detainees at the West County Detention Facility in Richmond. He was joined at a press conference by Board of Supervisors Chair Karen Mitchoff and Vice Chair John Gioia, in whose district the facility is located.
Following is the Sheriff’s complete statement:
“Today I am announcing that I am ending the contract with ICE to hold detainees at our dormitory buildings on our Richmond jail facility,” he said. “I recently notified ICE of this decision and asked them to begin the process of removing their detainees in a safe and orderly manner. The contract requires 120-day notice and they have told me they will try to resolve as many open-ended immigration cases as they can during this period of transition.
To be clear, the Sheriff’s Office does not do immigration enforcement. In fact, our policy prohibits it. These detainees are not arrested for immigration violations by us or any other law enforcement organization or agency in the county. They were instead persons ICE brought to us under the terms of the contract from all over Northern California and beyond.
There is not one single over riding issue that causes the termination of this contract. Instead there are many. And I am not here to comment on ICE’s enforcement policies or any of their federal partners’ policies. Instead I want to explain the reasons why we are cancelling the contract.
First, we have held an average of about 200 adult detainees a day. And that has generated about $2.5 – 3 million dollars in annual revenue. That revenue varies year to year. Losing it would likely result in the lay-off of Deputy Sheriffs and that was something I was unwilling to do. Instead, working closely with the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Board, and ultimately with the full board, we have found a solution that will backfill the expected budget deficit going forward including the use of state funds to minimize the impact on local taxpayers.
Second, the number of detainees constantly fluctuates. We cannot rely on budget projections and ICE could always decide to move their detainees to another facility.
Third, county employee and operating costs have risen over the years, But the reimbursement rate has not. Long term the contract is just not sustainable.
Finally, the outstanding work by the over 1,000 employees of the Office of the Sheriff have been overshadowed by the attention that the ICE contract brings, even though immigration is a matter of federal law. Managing protests in Richmond have become expensive and time-consuming for our staff.
And to be very fair, one must acknowledge a growing chorus of community groups and individuals from both within and outside the county, that have focused on undocumented immigrants’ issues. And they raise important concerns.
Obviously, this action today does not address the larger and more complex issue of federal immigration enforcement. Most of us have compassion for those to come here seeking a better life but we are a nation of laws. And to be sure, those who come here undocumented who commit new crimes while here will be arrested and processed into our jails as they are currently. That will not change.My number one priority remains and will continue to be keeping Contra Costa County safe.”
Gioia, who has long publicly opposed the contract, spoke forcefully about why the policy was harmful to families and eroded trust with immigrant communities. He thanked both Sheriff David Livingston for ending the contract and the thousands of residents across Contra Costa who joined in calling for an end to the ICE contract. According to an ABC7 News report “The West County facility currently houses 169 ICE detainees, part of a longstanding agreement that netted the county up to $3 million per year.”
“This is an historic day in Contra Costa County,” said Gioia. “Sheriff Livingston’s decision to cancel his Federal contract to hold ICE detainees at the West County Detention Facility is an important and positive step to build greater trust with our hard-working immigrant families here in Contra Costa.”
“I appreciate and thank Sheriff Livingston for making this decision,” Gioia continued. I know that thousands of Contra Costa residents countywide also thank Sheriff Livingston for this action. To the thousands of our county’s residents who have passionately advocated for an end to the detention of immigrants at the West County Jail, thank you. Thank you for your consistent and loud advocacy. Your actions do make a difference. The Sheriff’s decision was based on a number of factors. Your voices were one of those factors. I thank Sheriff Livingston for listening to the opinion of the large number of sincere and passionate residents who believe that our County should not use our local jail to house ICE detainees.”
However, according to the ABC7 report, “Mitchoff opposes canceling the ICE contract, primarily out of concern about where current and future Bay Area detainees might be sent. ‘I’m sorry to be losing the contract,’ Mitchoff explained. ‘Unfortunately, with the closure of this facility, those individuals that ICE is not able to release through the normal process will be sent to other places throughout the United States.’”
“We don’t know ultimately what ICE will do with these detainees,” Livingston said.
Congressman Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA11) issued the following statement after the Sheriff’s announcement.
“Having called for the termination of the contract, I support the Board of Supervisors’ decision and look forward to working with them on making sure the concerns of the community and clients are addressed,” he said.
Following multiple and varying allegations of abuse by ICE agents at the West County Detention Facility, DeSaulnier called for the termination of the County’s ICE contract in March of this year, and he urged U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and California Attorney General Javier Becerra to conduct a third-party investigation of the West County Detention Facility. Contra Costa County is the only of the nine Bay Area counties that has a contract ICE.
Following accusations of mistreatment of ICE detainees, DeSaulnier and Livingston toured the facility, last November and the Sheriff’s investigation found the claims to be unfounded.
Please check back later for updates.
Allen Payton contributed to this report.
Read MoreMark Meuser, candidate for California Secretary of State, will be launching a statewide #ElectionsMatter Bicycle Tour, covering 5,000 miles and 100 rallies in all 58 counties, starting in Martinez, Calif., the county seat of his home county of Contra Costa on Monday, July 9.
The kick-off will begin with a rally at Ferry Point near the Martinez marina at noon. Meuser, an avid cyclist, will head to the northern part of the state such as Eureka and Redding, eventually concluding the bicycle tour in Huntington Beach on Thursday, August 23.
“We must take action to eliminate the potential for fraud in our elections in California,” Meuser said. “Right now, we have 11 counties that have more people registered to vote than are eligible. For example, in L.A. County they have 144% voter registration and in San Diego County they have 138% voter registration.”
“Because elections matter, we need someone who will actually follow the law. We need a new Secretary of State and that’s why I’m running,” he added.
Meuser, is a Constitutional and election law attorney running to restore integrity and honesty to the election process in California. He has pledged to clean up the bloated voter rolls by removing those who have died, moved, are registered more than once, or are ineligible to register and vote.
Look for the #ElectionsMatter Express chase vehicle and Mark riding his bicycle, as they roll through the state.
Meuser is available for further interview on this topic at each rally. Please contact Matt Shupe, Meuser’s communications director to book an interview at (415) 735-8491 or Matt@PraetorianPR.com. For more information about Mark Meuser’s #ElectionsMatter Bike Tour, please visit www.markmeuser.com/bike-tour/.
Read MoreBy Kerry Jackson, Fellow, Pacific Research Institute Center for California Reform
California policymakers should reform government anti-poverty programs to remove incentives against work while expanding job opportunities in the state’s poorest communities, according to a new issue brief released today by the non-partisan California-based think tank, the Pacific Research Institute.
Click here to download a copy of “Good Intentions: How California’s Anti-Poverty Programs Aren’t Delivering and How the Private Sector Can Lift More People Out of Poverty.”
“When Americans think about poverty, they think of the destitution and despair of Appalachia. Shockingly, wealthy California has serious poverty problem, with 8 million people – and nearly one in five children – living in poverty,” said Kerry Jackson, author of the brief and fellow with PRI’s Center for California Reform. “Poverty is a statewide tragedy that should be a top priority for California policymakers in 2018. This important issue brief evaluates state anti-poverty programs, offers recommendations for reform, and profiles private charities and nonprofits that are making a difference in lifting people out of poverty.”
Click here to listen to this week’s episode of PRI’s podcast, featuring an interview on California’s poverty crisis with Michele Steeb, CEO of St. John’s Program for Real Change in Sacramento.
Among the findings of “Good Intentions”:
- Causes of California’s unacceptably-high poverty rate include the perverse incentives of government anti-poverty programs that dis-incentivize work, the state’s ongoing housing crisis, and anti-business climate.
- Lawmakers should look to examples of successful reforms in Wisconsin, Virginia, Michigan, and other states as they evaluate and consider much-needed reforms to California’s current government programs to improve effectiveness and reduce taxpayer costs.
- Programs like St. John’s Program for Real Change in Sacramento, Solutions for Change in Vista, Working Wardrobes in Orange County, and Father Joe’s Villages in San Diego are examples of real-life private charities that policymakers should consider replicating across the state.
- One of the most critical things lawmakers can do to reduce poverty is encourage more job opportunities and economic growth statewide, especially in poor communities.
Kerry Jackson is an independent journalist and opinion writer with extensive experience covering politics and public policy. As a fellow with PRI’s Center for California Reform, he writes weekly op-eds and blog posts on statewide issues and occasional policy papers for PRI. In 2017, he wrote Unaffordable, an issue brief exploring California’s housing crisis which won bipartisan praise.
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By Allen Payton
This year’s Independence Day on Wednesday, July 4th marks the 242nd birthday of our nation. It was on this date in 1776 that our Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence sending a message to England that we would no longer be ruled by their king, and that we would be a sovereign nation and each of our citizens sovereign people, as well.
As we celebrate, we have so much to appreciate this year, about our country. Things have been turning around with a growing economy, and the lowest unemployment rate since 2000 down to 3.8% in May. That’s directly due to the repatriation of billions of dollars that have been held offshore by U.S. corporations, which along with most Americans are benefitting by the $1.5 trillion federal tax cut approved, late last year.
The future looks bright and we can celebrate our freedoms enumerated in the Bill of Rights, and which now have more protections thanks to recent decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Enjoy celebrating and remember to thank God for the freedoms we get to exercise and experience each day in our country.
Happy Independence Day and may God continue to bless the United States of America. Freedom!
Read MoreFollowing is the text of the Declaration of Independence in celebration of Independence Day, July 4th, 2018:
IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:
Column 1
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton
Column 2
North Carolina:
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton
Column 3
Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton
Column 4
Pennsylvania:
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean
Column 5
New York:
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark
Column 6
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Massachusetts:
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire:
Matthew Thornton
From the website: www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration.html
Happy Independence Day from the Contra Costa Herald!
Read MoreBy Federal Glover
As we celebrate July 4th, 2018, Americans stand at a crossroads: do we stand up for those ideals our founding fathers put before us in the Constitution or do we our head down a path that continues to erode the institutions and values that Americans have held for 242 years.
Over the past 18 months, our country has been undergoing a sea change that is remaking the way the world sees us and – more importantly — the way we see ourselves.
This Fourth of July, I almost don’t recognize this country anymore.
The America I knew growing up in Pittsburg was a land of opportunity that allowed a laborer from Mississippi to find a well-paying, blue collar job in the steel mill, buy a car and home and allowed our family to live in relative comfort and security. There was opportunity here. There was hope. We dreamed about a better country and the possibility of Martin Luther King’s Dream of worshipping and living in a land and time when we were judged by the content of our character – not by the color of our skin.
I was fortunate enough to go to school in a city where I had classmates from all around the globe.
We were not isolated from the events that were happening in other parts of the United States. We kept tabs of what was happening in Selma, in Memphis and other parts of the South. Many African American families in town still had relatives in those far away places where history was being written.
Still, those events seemed far away. My best friend was Italian American. We grew up eating at the New Mecca Restaurant, pizza from Carlos’ Pizzeria and hamburgers from The Pirate drive-in. We expanded our taste buds to include lumpia and adobo cooked by our Filipino friends’ mothers and grandmothers. We bought groceries from the market a few blocks away which was owned by a Chinese American family.
As a member of the Pittsburg High School football team, my teammates were made up of a multitude of nationalities from families that had roots in Italy, Greece, Great Britain, the Philippines, Ireland, Mexico and, of course, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana.
Even when a major retailer was picketed in downtown Pittsburg for not hiring African Americans and King’s shocking assassination broke the peace and calm of our city, the residents and political leaders came together to examine the city and how it could weather the violence that hit other U.S. cities.
Even with the civil rights battle at our doorstep, our community found a way. Change was in the air. It didn’t happen overnight and we had obstacles to overcome, but we had hope. Our dreams – our common dreams — were still intact.
Today, that hope is withering away. Our dreams seem to be fading away. The gains and progress made over the last 60 years is in serious danger. The foundations that made our country strong is more fragile and the beacon of freedom and light for people throughout the world has grown dim.
Refugees who believed in the Statue of Liberty’s “send me your tired, your poor, your wretched refuse,” are being treated like criminals; the needs of our planet seem to taking second place to need for profit; more obstacles are being placed in front of voters; corporate profits are not trickling down to the workers who toil for 20th Century wages shrinking our great middle class; home ownership –- a critical part of the American Dream – is out of reach for most people; the unregulated proliferation of guns has made our streets more dangerous; and the re-emergence of blatant racism threatens to destroy our civil society.
Most disheartening, our Congress, instead of acting as balance to the extreme policies coming from the current administration, has succumbed to the fear of losing an election instead of standing on principle.
For those who might want to give up hope and let cynicism replace our dreams, there are signs that that the American Dream is still alive.
I am heartened by the renewed vigor and interest being displayed by our neighbors, local leaders and government representatives. Instead of giving up, they are injecting new energy and new blood into our communities.
The marches and demonstrations in behalf of women, science, LGBTQ, truth, immigrants and against racism have inspired a new generation of activism that we haven’t seen since the 1960s.
Young people – inspired by high schoolers who have seen their classmates gunned down on campus – have launched a movement to hopefully not only make their campuses safer, but to make our greater society safer and saner. As they grow into adulthood and assume their place in our society, there is hope.
People are not content with speeches and marches in the streets, they are taking their principles into the voting booth and into the halls of our capitols and city council chambers.
Ordinary people who were once content to let the status quo play itself out, are snapping out of their lethargy and are stepping up to the plate. New community groups are springing up made up or our neighbors, who might not want to run for public office, but are willing to make the phone calls, send the e-mails and knock on doors and are creating a wellspring of change in our cities and county.
I’ve seen the first stirrings of renewed activism myself when a group of middle-schoolers in Bay Point went up against the political might and influence of the alcohol lobby to limit sales of alcoholic beverages in their community. We saw it again on June 5 when Bay Area voters passed a measure to improve our transportation system and San Francisco voters spurned the lies and misleading commercials of the tobacco industry to pass a measure limiting tobacco sales in their city.
The words of Bob Dylan, “The times, they are a-changing!” suddenly have found a new audience. People are beginning to believe they can make a difference again. As stated by that great statesman Abraham Lincoln: That “government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.” This is the American Dream.
Happy July Fourth! Celebrate in safety and give thanks that we live in this great country where the possible is … well, possible … for everybody.
Glover represents District 5 on the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors.
Read MoreBy Jimmy Lee, Director of Public Affairs, Contra Costa County Office of the Sheriff
On Saturday at about 10:30 PM, Deputy Sheriffs were dispatched to a report of gunshots in the parking lot of a business on the 5200 block of Sobrante Avenue in El Sobrante.
When Deputies arrived, they found a 28-year-old man suffering from gunshot wounds. Deputies performed CPR on the victim who was later pronounced deceased by ambulance personnel. He is not being identified at this time.
Detectives from the Homicide Unit as well as the Crime Lab responded to the scene. The investigation is ongoing.
Anyone with any information on this incident or the identity of the suspect is asked to contact the Office of the Sheriff Investigation Division at (925) 313-2600. For any tips, please email: tips@so.cccounty.us or call 866-846-3592 to leave an anonymous voice message.
Read MoreEarlier this year, Congressman Mark DeSaulnier (CA-11) asked Contra Costa residents to vote on town hall topics, and environmental protection was at the top of the list. Mark will hold a town hall on “Protecting Our Environment” this Monday, July 2nd at 6:30 p.m. in Moraga.
At a time when California recently experienced one of the driest periods on record, and as storms are intensifying, sea levels are rising, and precipitation patterns are shifting, this town hall will explore the role government plays in protecting our environment.
During the town hall, DeSaulnier will discuss the major environmental laws that protect our air, water, wildlife, and open spaces, and constituents will have the opportunity to ask questions and share thoughts on this important issue.
Protecting Our Environment Town Hall
Monday, July 2, 2018
6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Campolindo High School
Multi-Purpose Room
300 Moraga Road, Moraga
Doors Open at 6:00 p.m.
DeSaulnier represents portions of Antioch in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Read MoreBranded victim with initial of his nickname
By Scott Alonso, Public Information Officer, Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office
On June 28, a Contra Costa County jury found defendant Aleem Niweigha guilty of three felony counts for torturing his victim by making her strip naked and repeatedly burning his victim with scalding hot water and metal objects he heated on their stove. The defendant also branded the letter “Z” onto her back and violently sexually assaulted her.
Niweigha now faces a sentence of 39 years to life in State Prison. The District Attorney’s Office wants to thank the jury for their work on this domestic violence case. The victim, Jane Doe, suffered immense emotional and physical harm at the hands of Niweigha.
Contra Costa County Deputy District Attorney Nichelle Holmes prosecuted the case on behalf of the People. The jury trial lasted ten days before the Honorable Charles Burch in Department 23 at the Martinez Superior Court. Sentencing for the defendant will occur on July 13.
“Jane Doe displayed tremendous courage by coming forward and confronting her abuser when she took the stand and testified against him. She disclosed extreme physical and psychological torture the hands of the defendant that lasted for years. During this process, we watched Jane Doe transform from a victim to a survivor,” said DDA Holmes. Holmes is a prosecutor in the Community Violence Reduction Unit. She also served as a prosecutor in the Domestic Violence Unit for four years and was the first prosecutor to be co-located at the Richmond Family Justice Center.
In the spring of 2015, a friend of Jane Doe’s called Children and Family Services’ emergency hotline to report concerns about the wellbeing of Jane Doe and her children. In an investigation that also included the Richmond Police Department, significant burns were discovered on Jane Doe’s face, neck and arms. Officials later discovered that Jane Doe had burn marks covering most of her body and a large initial “Z” branded onto her back.
Jane Doe later disclosed that while they lived together, Niweigha repeatedly used boiling hot water mixed with peanut butter and oil to burn her. Before he threw the boiling water on Jane Doe, Niweigha would order Jane Doe to take off her clothes and remain naked while she was burned. Niweigha mixed the hot scalding water with these ingredients to ensure they stuck on Jane Doe’s body. Jane Doe suffered immense burns from her face down to her knees.
In addition, Niweigha used a metal pipe that was heated on the stove to burn the initial “Z” on Jane Doe’s back against her will while she was restrained on his lap. Niweigha’s nickname was “Zeem.” He also burned her with a heated metal screw attached to a stick. On Mother’s Day, Niweigha committed a violent sexual assault against Jane Doe, which resulted in her hospitalization for two days.
Jane Doe was able to obtain services and support from the Family Justice Center. All victims of interpersonal violence (domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking, elder/dependent adult abuse and child abuse) can get help by visiting the Family Justice Centers in Richmond (256 24th St.) or Concord (2151 Salvio St., Ste. 201). DA Holmes believes that it was with this support that Jane Doe was finally able to disclose the full magnitude of the abuse she suffered to Richmond Police Detectives co-located there and break free from the cycle of domestic abuse. Law enforcement officials, Contra Costa County Children and Family Services Division and the District Attorney’s Office were then able to make a case against Niweigha and hold him accountable for these crimes. The District Attorney’s Victim-Witness Assistance Center continues to provide services to Jane Doe and her children.
If you or someone you know has been affected by interpersonal violence – get help by reporting the abuse to police, by calling the STAND! for Families Free of Violence 24-hour toll free crisis line at 1-888-215-5555 or visiting the Family Justice Centers in Richmond (256 24th St.) or Concord (2151 Salvio St., Ste. 201). In an emergency, always call 911.
The complete list of charges and enhancements against the defendant are as follows:
- Count 1, Torture
- Count 2, Aggravated Mayhem
- Count 3, Sexual Penetration by Foreign Object
- Enhancement 1, Special Allegation-Great Bodily Injury
- Enhancement 2, Special Allegation-Aggravated Circumstances
Case information: People v. Aleem Niweigha, Docket Number 05-160618-5.
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