Front Page  »  

Judge orders SLO prosecutors to provide records, again

October 15, 2019

Chief Deanna Cantrell

By KAREN VELIE

Judge Timothy Covello granted a motion on Tuesday to compel prosecutors to provide phone records and other evidence in the case against a couple swept up in the search for San Luis Obispo Police Chief Deanna Cantrell’s misplaced gun. [Cal Coast Times]

Cantrell left her pistol in the bathroom of the El Pollo Loco restaurant on July 10. Following up on an inaccurate tip that Cheyne Orndoff had taken the chief’s gun from the restroom, officers conducted a warrantless search of Orndoff and Vanessa Bedroni’s home.

Police failed to find the chief’s gun during the search, but arrested them for child neglect because of a dirty home and paraphernalia found in the couple’s bedroom.

Peter Depew and Jason Dufurrena, attorneys for the couple, filed motions for the chief’s and other officers’ cell phone records and video recordings in an attempt to verify the chief’s account of the incident.

In an attempt to block the release of the chief’s cell phone records, San Luis Obispo administrators hired two private attorneys, Roy Hanley to represent the city and Howard Liberman to represent Cantrell.

In September, Cantrell agreed to release her personal cell phone records. However, prosecutors have failed to provide most of the records sought by the defense.

“We are at somewhat of an impasse,” Dufurrena said on Tuesday. “A third party is not being forthright. We are relying on the DA to make it right.”

Noting that this was the second or third hearing set to discuss the production of records, Covello granted Depew’s motion to compel discovery, and cancelled two hearings scheduled for later this week.

Covello then set a pre-preliminary hearing for Oct. 29. At that time, Covello plans to discuss the production of documents before he sets a preliminary hearing.


Loading...
Related:


35 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

It is about time, Judge Covello is good honest and very ethical, all records need to be revealed, why are they being concealed ? or have them been shredded.


2

My dog and I will make sure we steer clear of SLO till the Chief,Dickle, and the dog shooter are gone. I wont spend a dime in that town. It’s too dangerous.


29

And with their policies of too tall, streets are too dark. And with their policies of not policing homeless, it’s too hostile and you are accosted. And with their policy of not enforcing motorcycle and modified car exhaust laws, vexatiously loud in the once-charming shops and bistros. We don’t dine or shop there except rarely.


23

So, all the good cops in SLO are going on strike to protest the hypocritical, secretive unprofessional and quite likely illegal actions of their chief! I knew the “good cops” would stand up for justice any minute now…..


The good cops are also striking to protest the sloppy data base errors in the probation database, the shooting of a family pet by a nervous SLO cop (walsh) and the finding of a naked woman in the chief’s stolen Hyundai. The “good cops” say morale is effected and everything they do in relation to their jobs is risky, because the public doesn’t have faith in the local police now.


The letter published by the good cops of SLO lay all this out and also agree that what should have been done is:


1. Admission of error and gross negligence by Chief Cantrell for not locking her gun up in the toilet paper dispenser at El Pollo Loco. Everyone knows you gotta lock up the safe or it’s no safe at all…..


2. Admission and apology to the Orndoff/Bedroni family for searching their house and destroying their family without a warrant, without reasonable suspicion and a bunch of lies about drugs, etc.


3. Expression of sorrow and frustration that the Chief lied about her phone call getting “dropped” by the high-tech, state-of-the-art phone system…..that doesn’t drop calls.


4. Public apologies to the stress they put Skeeter Magnan under when it looked like he was going to be charged for stealing the Chief’s gun….when it was her who left the toilet paper safe unlocked….


5. A demand clarity with regard to the naked woman who was found in the Chief’s car in Daly City and was arrested. Arrested for what? WTF?


6. A demand for the chief to release bodycam footage and phone records to prove her guilt so that they can get a new chief and not have to act like a corrupt police department.


7 a demand for the body cam footage of Josh Walsh snapping, freaking out and shooting a family pet when he was supposed to be there to investigate a burglary that never took place


8. An apology to the citizens of SLO who pay the salaries, healthcare and pensions of all police officers. They deserve MUCH better.


I’m so proud of the good cops in SLO! We knew they were out there. Thank God they’re standing up and demanding justice! Yay! This is what good cops do! Good cops know that everyone is equal under the law and that police should exemplify what it means to be honest, fair and unbiased.


The good cops of SLO just want to get back to work helping the folks stay safe, saving pets, etc. They’re tired of shooting pets, breaking up families via false charges and illegal searches, forgetting guns in fast food restaurants, naked women in their cars, lying about phone records etc.


Thank god it’s only one or two cops who are rotten! All the good ones are standing up and bravely putting their jobs on the line for what is right!


We all believe this, right?


40

Doct,

Thank you, sincerely!


Where are you, good cops?

I know you are out there!

Silence means that you are in agreement

Doct is 1000%, right on.

I am embarrassed for you!


20

What do you mean by she left the “toilet paper safe unlocked”?


0

Best practices for gun safety.

You take your gun off, you lock it up.

The top cop in our fair city should be following best practices, don’t you think?

Lol


1

Yes I do believe they should be practicing gun safety at all times, but I was just curious what a “toilet paper safe” was. Do you mean she should have locked it in the toilet paper dispenser? I totally agree your points, I was just curious on the verbiage used.


0

No, there is no safe place to leave your gun in a restroom, there was no safe in there, the toilet paper dispenser is not a gun safe, this should never have happened.

The chief of police taking her gun off to go pee and then leaving/forgeting it in the restroom is, in itself, unbelievable, and then to have caused others to suffer due to her irresponsibility and try to cover what she did up, goes beyond the pale.

Anyway, the ‘toilet paper dispenser safe’, is a joke, an irony, if you will.


1

Body cam footage will be lost or destroyed…probably lost then destroyed. Of course it’s an accident! The massive “transparency” of the Chief and her officers is a thing of beauty! So transparent we can’t even see it…..


The phone records are more problematic. The Chief—due to transparency that is embedded in her DNA…NOBODY is more transparent—-would have released those records weeks ago, but the city attorneys said, “no.” That’s gotta be a source of frustration for the chief! Those records will exonerate her, but the damn attorneys won’t let her release them!


So, with the phone records only…..body cam/internal records are certainly lost and destroyed by now….she’ll skate these difficulties.


I predict a resignation with full pay and benefits in the next few months, with no mention of her actions or missteps. She can then get a job at another department that is in need of diversity and transparency.


31

Must be a lot of editing going on at the police station.


40

Corruption… this case proves the depth of the criminality and lack of morality that so many officials in this county are afflicted by. See this video trailer on the subject:

http://www.lyingintrash.com


34

Leaving her gun in the crapper was profoundly irresponsible, but it’s something that Cantrell could remover from.


She won’t however recover from the BS she pulled trying to cover things up and to place blame elsewhere. Her very character is now in question. Not good for a CLEO!


If she was an honorable person,she would have resigned by now. She’s clearly not. She’d better get ready to come clean or face contempt of court charges.


52

LameCommenter,


One too many Doobie do’s?

https://youtu.be/-CxX8nvLalE

It’s a joke son


citizensoldier wrote:

Julie,

What every bureaucracy counts on is the limited attention span most citizens have, in general.


Your comment:

LameCommenter

From Tacker: “What every bureaucracy counts on is the limited attention span most citizens have, in general.”


Yours is the Comment of the Century, Julie. We all bleat here about the grand failings of SLO area officials, but it is so difficult to achieve improvement. The whole town could pack the streets in and around council chambers, every meeting, and it wouldn’t change Heidi an inch.


Demonstrates a kind of Stockholm syndrome that many citizens exhibit due in part to the lack if citizenship “muscle memory” that leads to apathy and a defeatist attitude.


I know Julie Tacker by her selfless and tireless steadfast citizenship. Her never-ending efforts and hard work during the Los Osos water war in 2008, set her apart from the low information and unengaged Los Osos citizens, who did not stand up and fight when “duty” called.


“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”~Margaret Mead


When the whole town does pack the streets in and around council chambers, every meeting, it would move Heidi away from her agenda, in favor of commonsense results.


If you (the citizens) don’t or won’t act, you will never know what you can get.


-1

We all know Cantrell and SLO city will have their high priced taxpayer funded lawyers appeal this ruling, and why not when you are not paying for legal services why not keep spending. So what happens when they lose again and still won’t hand over the records, when is someone finally going to be held in contempt and put in jail?


51
1 2