Jose Lumbreras, 25, has pleaded no contest on two counts of gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated for the deaths of 22-year-old UC Berkeley graduate Milanca Lopez and her 6-year-old son, Xavier Chevez. The Alameda County District Attorney’s office is requesting the maximum 12 years in prison, according to Deputy District Attorney Teresa Drenick.

“It is a tremendous relief to know this particular chapter has come to a close without the trauma of what we knew would be a painful trial for her family and friends,” said Rue Mapp, a UC Berkeley graduate and neighbor of Lopez, in an email. “We will continue to celebrate Milanca and Xavier’s lives and remember the beautiful friend and mother she was in our community.”

Paul Wolf, Lumbreras’ defense attorney, disagrees with the prosecution’s pursuit of the maximum sentence. He said Lumbreras has suffered greatly from the accident and that 12 years is too severe for the crime.

“Jose has never denied nor sought to shirk his responsibility for the damage and pain for which he has shared and continues to experience,” Wolf said. “He loved both of them. It’s an accident, and he’s responsible for it.”

Wolf will argue for a lighter penalty during Lumbreras’ sentencing on June 11.

At approximately 1 a.m. on May 18, 2012, Lumbreras drove into a tree in central Berkeley, killing Lopez and seriously injuring Chevez. According to police, his blood alcohol level was twice the legal limit.

Chevez was placed on life support and died from his injuries one week later at Children’s Hospital and Research Center in Oakland.

Prior to her death, Lopez and her son lived in university student housing at University Village in Albany. Lopez began studying at UC Berkeley in 2007 and was planning to begin a master’s program for teaching at UCLA following her graduation.

Lumbreras came to UC Berkeley in 2010 after receiving a degree in sociology from UC Santa Barbara. He received a graduate degree from UC Berkeley’s ethnic studies department not long before the accident.

The couple was allegedly drinking in celebration of their recent graduations prior to the collision, Wolf said.

Lumbreras is currently being held at the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, and his bail is set at $200,000, according to the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office inmate locator.

“It’s one of the most tragic cases I’ve ever been involved in, and I’ve been a criminal defense lawyer for 37 years,” Wolf said. “It caused nearly intolerable injury and loss to three people and their respective families.”

Andy Nguyen is the lead crime reporter. Contact him at anguyen@dailycal.org
and follow him on Twitter @Andy_Truc.

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Gregory Hall, 59, of Oakland has been charged with the murder of 67-year-old Michael Thorn Bradley, an artist and UC Berkeley alumnus. On June 14, Oakland Police Department officers were dispatched to Bradley’s home after receiving a call requesting that they check the well-being of a neighbor. They subsequently discovered his body with numerous stab wounds.

Though no suspects were initially identified in the immediate aftermath of the homicide, Oakland Police Department officers picked up Hall on Feb. 15, according to Eamon O’Connor, public information officer for the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office.

Hall will now be prosecuted under the state’s three-strikes law due to his two previous convictions. His previous felony convictions include two separate counts of first-degree residential burglary, according to the criminal complaint filed against him.

Hall is currently being held without bail at Santa Rita Jail, according to the Alameda County Inmate Locator. A court date to enter a plea has not yet been set.

Bradley, who is originally from New York City, attended UC Berkeley in the early 1970s and earned three degrees from the university.

Bradley later went on to become an award-winning artist. He worked extensively, setting up exhibitions of his work throughout the United States as well as publishing a book on poetry, according to his website.

Moreover, Bradley received significant recognition and praise for his work. His numerous awards include the KQED Artist’s Award and the Bookbuilders West Award in San Francisco. He also received the William Andrews Clark Western Books Award and the Regional Design Annual Award in New York City.

Andy Nguyen is the lead crime reporter. Contact him at anguyen@dailycal.org.

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Bernes plead no contest to three other charges from a May 1 Day of Action protest in Oakland, and was sentenced to 30 days of community service, according to Alameda County Deputy District Attorney Teresa Drenick. The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office had added charges from the May 1 protest to the November 9 charges — one of which included battery of a police officer — via a joinder, which allowed the court to consolidate the cases into one.

Bernes’ sentence also includes a three-year stay-away order from the campus and Frank H. Ogawa Plaza in downtown  Oakland, and it also includes a restitution reserve, through which the court reserves the right to order that Bernes pay restitution to the victim of his crimes. The stay-away order will also ban Bernes from these locations unless he is there “for lawful purposes.”

“The stay-away orders are a negative tactic used by the district attorney that should be strongly opposed,” said Bernes’ lawyer, Vylma Ortiz.

Bernes said he and his lawyer may petition the court before he needs to leave for North Carolina for his postdoctoral fellowship at Duke University to drop the stay-away order. Bernes said he intends to return to Berkeley after the one-year fellowship is completed.

According to UC Berkeley spokesperson Dan Mogulof, the campus was not involved in the court’s decision to issue the stay-away order.

Bernes said the term “lawful purposes” is very ambiguous, making it hard to understand under what conditions he is allowed to go to the campus and Frank H. Ogawa Plaza.

“The terms are designed to prevent me from any protest either at UC Berkeley or Downtown Oakland,” Bernes said.

Ortiz said Bernes had a good case for getting the May 1 charges dismissed, but Bernes wanted to be free to leave in time for the beginning of his fellowship in August.

“I’m disappointed with the resolution that I got, but I need to move on with my life, and that forced me into accepting these terms,” Bernes said.

Members of Occupy Cal have been protesting Bernes’ prosecution throughout the judicial process. Navid Shaghaghi, a UC Berkeley alumnus and Occupy Cal member, said all of the charges should have been dropped, and according to Ortiz, Bernes was acting lawfully on both occasions.

“They’re trying to scare protesters,” Shaghaghi said. “It’s not really about Jasper — it’s about trying to scare everyone else if they protest or oppose the administration.”

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A report released by the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office cleared UCPD Sgt. Andrew Tucker of any criminal liability in the shooting of Travis, who reportedly drew a gun on officers in the school’s computer lab last November. The report, which states there was insufficient evidence to file charges against Tucker, found suicide as the motive for Travis in provoking the police shooting.

In the initial investigations into the incident, the district attorney’s office interviewed all UC Berkeley administrative and student witnesses as well as the UCPD officers who reported to the scene of the shooting.

“We have been training all along for these types of rapid response situations,” said UCPD spokesperson Capt. Margo Bennett. “We felt that the officers’ arrival at campus was quick and their attention to the situation was important.”

Bennett said UCPD followed normal protocol during the incident and has trained extensively for situations involving active shooters.

Regarding incidents of this nature, there are generally three investigations that take place. The first is the initial criminal investigation, the second is the district attorney’s report, and the third part is an administrative review that is done by UCPD in conjunction with the district attorney’s report, she said.

Though an investigation was only conducted by the district attorney’s office and UCPD, the UC Berkeley Police Review Board is also seeking to increase its policies and communication with UCPD following the incident, according to incoming ASUC Executive Vice President Justin Sayarath.

Sayarath also said that since the campus has had to deal with Occupy Cal, the shooting and the Gill Tract occupation this year, meeting with UCPD and the campus administration to discuss the incidents is crucial to maintaining a positive relationship between the ASUC and the other two entities.

“I know the Police Review Board has been amping up its efforts and are trying to hold UCPD officers more accountable to the work that they do,” Sayarath said in an email. “We try to maintain a working relationship with UCPD officers so that if events like the student beatings of the past academic year were to occur, ASUC elected officials are at the table defending and fighting for students.”

Incoming ASUC External Affairs Vice President Shahryar Abbasi echoed Sayarath’s sentiments and said in an email that ASUC officials will continue to stay more active with UCPD in the upcoming year.

“Given the significant amount of student-police interactions over the past few years, it will definitely be a priority … to have more dialogue, communication and negotiations with UCPD and to keep students informed and aware,” Abbasi said in the email.

The city of Berkeley’s Police Review Commission chair George Perezvelez said although it is fortunate that Tucker’s name was cleared, it may be time for students to push for a police oversight agency for the entire UC system, given the number of police officers who are employed on campus.

“A police department of such high number should have an independent oversight agency — a civilian oversight board,” Perezvelez said. “If there is 3,000 police officers that patrol (the university), a criminal oversight agency is important.”

Anjuli Sastry is an assistant news editor.

Correction(s):
A previous version of this article stated that Justin Sayarath is the incoming ASUC External Vice President. In fact, Sayarath is the incoming Executive Vice President.

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On Nov. 15, 2011, Travis pulled out a handgun from his backpack in a Haas computer lab and pointed it at officers, at which point UCPD Sgt. Andrew Tucker opened fire, the report states. Travis was taken to Highland General Hospital in Oakland, where he died during the course of medical attention, said UCPD Chief Mitch Celaya in November.

According to the report, the office did not find sufficient evidence to file any charges against Tucker in the shooting.

“All the information available at the time supports Sgt. Tucker(’s) reasonable belief the use of deadly force was necessary to prevent an imminent threat of death or great bodily injury posed by Christopher Travis,” reads the report.

In addition, the report states that evidence strongly suggests that Travis intentionally provoked a violent confrontation with police. In November, Haas Business School Dean Richard Lyons said UCPD’s leading theory was that the shooting was a “suicide by police officer.”

According to the report, on Nov. 11, 2003, Travis attempted suicide by swallowing an excessive amount of prescription sleeping pills. The report states he was found and taken to a nearby hospital, where he admitted that his overdose was an attempt to end his own life.

The report also details several incidents in which Travis displayed firearms to Oakland and Berkeley police officers in the months leading up to the shooting.

Family members interviewed after the November shooting told police that Travis’ behavior had become “distant and uncommunicative.”

Read the full text of the report below:

Christopher Yee is an assistant news editor.

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The case could not be resolved in court today because Alameda County Deputy District Attorney Chris Cavagnaro would like Bernes to plead guilty to at least one of the Nov. 9 charges, one of which includes battery of a police officer, according to Vylma Ortiz, Bernes’ attorney and a civil rights lawyer for Siegel & Yee.

Earlier this month, the district attorney’s office amended the original Nov. 9 charges against Bernes to also include an arrest for his involvement in the May 1 Day of Action protests in Oakland.

According to Alameda County Deputy District Attorney Teresa Drenick, the consolidation of cases —  called a joinder — is common practice amongst cases of the same class in order to pursue judicial economy and efficiency.

However, Ortiz said these charges should be dropped for Bernes, just as they were for the other 12 protesters who were also charged with misdemeanors in the Nov. 9 demonstrations.

Ortiz said differing cities, police agencies, locations and the timing between the events illustrate that “there is no simply evidentiary connection between the two alleged offenses.” She also said the joinder denies Bernes his fundamental right to due process and a fair trial.

Although Ortiz submitted an opposition motion to the joinder on May 16, the presiding judge for the case rejected the appeal.

According to the court document for the motion, Ortiz stated that Assistant District Attorney Paul Hora held a meeting on April 25 with the majority of the lawyers defending the protesters charged for their participation in the Nov. 9 Occupy Cal demonstrations. Hora agreed to dismiss the charges for only some of the student demonstrators, but stated he still had to decide about the others.

Bernes is the only protester who did not have his charges dropped after Chancellor Robert Birgeneau sent a letter to Alameda County District Attorney Nancy O’Malley’s office reminding her of the amnesty for the students who were charged for the Nov. 9 Occupy Cal demonstrations.

The next court date is set for May 30 at 9:30 a.m. at the Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse.

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Langan, one of 13 protesters and the only professor charged after the Nov. 9 demonstrations, faced one charge of obstructing an officer, one charge of obstructing a public place and one charge of remaining at the scene of a riot. She pled not guilty to the charges at preliminary hearings.

Although Langan and Kellin Cooper, Langan’s lawyer, were not present at the Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse Friday, Dustin Gordon, a partner from Cooper Law Offices, represented her case in front of Alameda County Superior Court Judge Carol Brosnahan.

Last week, Langan said she was informed by her attorney that her charges would be dropped at her hearing on May 4.

At the hearing, Deputy District Attorney Shara Beltramo read a statement saying the district attorney’s office evaluated the evidence and dropped the charges, taking into account Chancellor Robert Birgeneau’s withdrawal of support for the charges against all the protesters, including Langan.

According to Beltramo, the timing of the hearing was another factor that led to the dismissal since the end of the school year was approaching.

The use of police force on Nov. 9 was widely condemned, and a review of police procedure used is ongoing at the campus and university level. During the Nov. 9 protest, Langan claims her hair was grabbed and she was forced to the ground by UCPD officers.

However, Langan also mentioned her disappointment in not being able to refute police officers’ claims regarding the Nov. 9 protests.

“In my case it’s almost frustrating, as I won’t have (the) opportunity to challenge the police reports of two Alameda County Sheriff’s officers who claimed that I pushed one of them with both hands in the chest — a complete and utter fabrication,” Langan said in an email earlier this month.

The charges filed against all the demonstrators have also faced considerable criticism and public outcry. The Berkeley Faculty Association circulated a petition in March that currently has 366 signatures asking Birgeneau to request that the charges be dropped.

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Hodges was acquitted of four counts of committing lewd acts with a child under the age of 14, one count of oral copulation with a child under 14 and one count of possession of child pornography, according to Bay City News. Jurors were deadlocked seven to five in favor of acquitting him of another charge of committing lewd acts with a child under the age of 14.

According to Bay City News, Hodges has been under investigation by Oakland police since 2009, when a boy came forward and claimed he was molested by Hodges in 2007. The alleged incidents occurred in Berkeley, Oakland and Walnut Creek homes and involved two boys, according to Bay City News.

Defense attorney Patrick Clancy argued that Hodges should be acquitted of all charges because the prosecution’s evidence is based on interviews with alleged victims who Clancy said may have been subjected to unfair questioning techniques by police, according to Bay City News. Clancy said Hodges touched both boys but not in a sexual way, Bay City News reports.

Clancy said Hodges “had no sexual intent,” according to Bay City News.

The Alameda County District Attorney’s Office is expected to say whether it will pursue a retrial for the deadlocked charge in court April 25, according to Bay City News.

According to Bay City News, Clancy said he hopes the office will not retry the remaining charge.

Sarah Burns is the assistant city news editor.

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The stay-away orders for BAMN organizer Yvette Felarca and UC Berkeley students Joshua Anderson, Zakary Habash and Jasper Bernes were all lifted Monday, according to Deputy District Attorney Teresa Drenick.

The orders were issued to 12 of the 13 charged protesters at a series of arraignments last month and prevented the protesters from being within 100 yards of UC Berkeley property except for class and work-related activities. UC Berkeley associate professor of English Celeste Langan was the only one who was charged but not barred from campus.

BAMN attorneys filed a motion and supporting briefs March 23 on behalf of three — Felarca, Anderson and Habash — of the protesters contending that the orders are unconstitutional.

“(The orders) set dangerous precedents,” reads the brief. “If allowed to stand, these ‘bail conditions’ will allow the University of California and the DA to ban any individual from entering a public university and exercising his or her First Amendment rights, simply by asserting that the individual is associated with a group that has supposedly committed misdemeanors.”

A hearing was originally scheduled for the motion Tuesday, but according to BAMN attorney Ronald Cruz, the orders were lifted Monday after he met with the district attorney.

“The school year is nearing an end, and final exams are beginning shortly,” Drenick said. “We do not believe that campus safety will be jeopardized by the lifting of the stay-away order.”

The protesters held a press conference Monday afternoon to “celebrate the victory,” according to Cruz.

“(The stay-away orders) had to go because they were absolutely outrageous attacks clearly aimed at forcing the privatization and resegregation of higher education,” Cruz said.

A number of representatives and candidates from SQUELCH!, Student Action, Students for a Democratic University, CalSERVE and the Defend Affirmative Action Party were also present at the press conference to make statements regarding the lifting of the stay-away orders.

“To have the administration define what free speech is obviously a ridiculous assumption,” said SDU presidential candidate Honest Chung.

Felarca said that in addition to pushing for the lifting of all stay-away orders and the dropping of all charges, there will be a rally at noon on Sproul Plaza Friday calling on the university to double minority enrollment.

CalSERVE presidential candidate Andrew Albright also called for the charges against the student protesters to be dropped.

Cruz said he expected that the eight other protesters would also have their stay-away orders lifted.

Drenick, however, said the fate of the remaining eight stay-away orders would be determined on a case-by-case basis.

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The charges being leveled against 13 Nov. 9 protesters would not have been filed unless the Alameda County district attorney had sufficient evidence to prosecute. That UC Berkeley’s Police Review Board and UCPD’s own review process show no sign of substantive development, though, reveals an inexcusable mismatch with the pace of our legal system. Protesters could receive punishment for the misdemeanors they allegedly committed long before UCPD reconciles what it did wrong — there are few better examples of injustice.

Yes, the criminal justice system is backed by a vast resource pool dedicated to upholding the law while UC Berkeley must assign individuals to do double duty when reviewing protests on campus. But more than four months have passed since the November demonstration at Sproul Hall, and deadlines for progress are being neither met nor reset. The same difficulties and delays occurred in the campus’s last major review of police actions at a protest. Today, there is no excuse for why UC Berkeley cannot hold UCPD accountable with the same timely rigor that protesters are currently facing in court.

In failing to expediently and transparently advance its protest review processes, the campus only allows distrust to grow. Concern has mounted that UCPD could have identified protesters for prosecution via information the Tang Center was required by law to provide after treating the protesters’ injuries. This is an understandable consequence of how the campus managed Nov. 9’s aftermath. While people should be able to trust the police department’s claim that it did not use the information improperly, they should not be expected to. Campus administrators need to, as the ACLU of Northern California suggested, take steps to assure future victims are not dissuaded from seeking medical attention at the Tang Center.

UC Berkeley must use the opportunity these concerns raise to improve upon how it responds to protests, both as they occur and after they end.

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