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The Courts of Santa Barbara County - Judge Adams + other info |
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Written by Administrator
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Friday, 15 October 2004 |
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The Players
[b]The Courts of Santa Barbara County[/b]
Santa Barbara County has four court locations: Santa Barbara, Santa Maria, Lompoc and Solvang.
While the Solvang Division does handle traffic infractions, all felonies and misdemeanors (which includes all DUI cases) are heard in one of the other three divisions.
Santa Barbara
The courts of Santa Barbara are organized into two divisions and distributed among three physical buildings. The Anacapa Division includes the historic courthouse at 1100 Anacapa Street and the Jury Services Building across Santa Barbara Street. The Figueroa Division is housed in the facility at 118 East Figueroa.
There are five courtrooms that handle DUI cases. DUI arraignments are done in Department 8 in the Figueroa Division, presided over by Commissioners Edward DeCaro and Deborah Talmage. Preliminary hearings in felony DUI cases are done in Department 9, Judge Joseph Lodge presiding. After arraignment, DUI cases are assigned to Department 1 (Judge Frank Ochoa), Department 2 (Judge Thomas Adams) or Department 12 (Judge Brian Hill) for trial.
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Santa Maria
The courts of Santa Maria are organized into two divisions and distributed among several physical buildings at the corner of Miller and Cook Streets. The Cook Division is the name given to the civil courts in Santa Maria; the criminal courts are called the Miller Division.
There are 4 courtrooms in the Miller Division that handle DUI cases. DUI arraignments are done in Department 7 before Commissioner John McGregor. After arraignment, DUI cases are assigned to Department 3 (Judge Timothy Staffel), Department 7 (no judge assigned permanently) or Department 8 (Judge Arthur Garcia) for trial.
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Lompoc
All criminal cases in Lompoc are heard in Department 1 before Judge James Iwasko, from arraignment through trial.
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The Prosecutors of Santa Barbara County
The elected District Attorney for Santa Barbara County is Tom Sneddon. You may have heard of him from his prosecutions of Michael Jackson. In 2003 Mr. Sneddon began serving his sixth term as D.A., having first been elected in 1983.
The District Attorney employs some fifty prosecutors with offices in Santa Barbara, Santa Maria and Lompoc.
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In Santa Barbara
Deputy D.A. Desmond McIntosh handles most of the arraignments in Santa Barbara. Mr. McIntosh is assigned to Department 8, where most arraignments take place in Santa Barbara.
After arraignment, most DUI cases are prosecuted by the deputy assigned to a particular courtroom department, currently Departments 1, 2 and 12.
Department 1 is Judge Frank Ochoa’s courtroom, and the assigned deputy is Joshua Webb.
Department 2 is Judge Thomas Adams’s courtroom, and the assigned deputy is Aimee Libeu.
Department 12 is Judge Brian Hill’s courtroom, and the assigned deputy is Brian Cota.
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In Santa Maria
Deputy D.A. Tom Muscio handles most of the arraignments in Santa Maria. Mr. Muscio is assigned to Department 9, where most arraignments take place in Santa Maria.
Department 3 is Judge Timothy Staffel’s courtroom, and the assigned deputy is Sidney Weiser.
Department 7 currently does not have an assigned judge or deputy.
Department 8 is Judge Arthur Garcia’s courtroom, and the assigned deputy is Ed Alston.
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In Lompoc
In Lompoc all criminal matters are handled in Department 1 before Judge James Iwasko.
A DUI in Lompoc may be prosecuted by any deputy in that office, which currently includes Ed Bullard, Jerry McBeth and Rick Henry.
Source: Google Cache
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