Appeals Court Overturns Judge Babineau’s Ruling in Matthew Coulter Case
The City of Grass Valley's weaponization of the court system continues through judicial stalking.
Recently, the Third Appellate District Court overturned Judge Kelly Babineau's ruling that Matthew Coulter had violated restraining orders against the City of Grass Valley. Now, in addition to the City spending over $100,000 of General Funds on the judicial stalking of Matthew Coulter, they are subject to coughing up attorney's fees for Coulter's council, Patrick Dwyer.
On March 19, 2024, Dwyer filed a Writ of Prohibition asking the Court of Appeals to vacate a judgment of contempt against Matthew Coulter for posting photos and comments on his Facebook page.
Judge Babineau's serious errors quoted directly from the Writ:
First, the court's interpretation of the scope of the March 13, 2023 ("Restraining Order") went far beyond its "clear, specific, and unequivocal language.”
Second, the court misinterpreted CCP527.6 by expanding the definition of harassment far beyond the statute's legislative intent.
Third, the court ignored the Petitioner's First Amendment right to freedom of speech and right to petition for redress concerning unequal enforcement of municipal regulations.
Fourth, there was no substantial evidence before the court to support the finding of contempt, let alone evidence that satisfied the requirement that there was a willful violation "beyond a reasonable doubt."
In plain language, the City of Grass Valley cannot just bring a case to court and make stuff up.
Following the overturning of Judge Babineau's ruling, the City just couldn't accept the Appellate Court's decision. In desperation, the city attorney decided to spend even more of the people's money, and now accusing Coulter of stalking, something that was not entered into the trial. The city attorney lobbied Judge Babineau at length to allow the City to send the decision back to the Appellate Court to be heard again. Sending a case back to the Appellate Court is virtually unheard of. Not a good idea!
It took Judge Babineau another week to consider all this. Finally, on Friday, May 24, she did the only right thing and vacated her previous ruling. Matthew Coulter had not violated the restraining orders. Judge Babineau was visibly 'not happy' to have her ruling overturned and verbally defended her decision.
Now, fast forward to the May 28, Grass Valley City Council meeting. City Attorney Michael Colantuano, in a four-minute sour-grapes tirade, chastised Matthew Coulter following his phoned-in public comment. During the verbal thrashing, he continued to accuse Coulter of 'stalking' city council women and employees even though there was zero mention of stalking in the court trial.
Alluding to the September 1, 2022 incident where Sierra Foothills Construction workers, Mark Olsen and Marc Nelson attacked, beat, and kicked Coulter (all caught on city mast cam video), Colantuano had this to say:
"Your inappropriate behavior has gotten you hurt. You've gone to the emergency room. Sorry to have to joke about it, but for contempt of construction workers. They are not folks who are used to resolving their disputes using the kind of language I am using now. But you did get in their face. And there were consequences for you."
Not joking here, I guess construction workers are not able to use language and have to settle their disputes by attacking, beating, and kicking. Grass Valley police, even with video evidence, never arrested Olsen and Nelson. Instead, they charged Coulter.
Mr. Colantuano's final statement during the city council meeting was, "So, we'll keep looking for ways to help you, my friend, and we'll keep looking for ways to protect people on our team who are rightfully frightened by your behavior. And if that requires us to spend $100,000 or more of the City's General Fund money, as it has to date, not park money, unfortunately, that is necessary".
Does the public have anything to say regarding the City of Grass Valley spending over $100,000 of General Fund resources to 'judicially stalk' Matthew Coulter?
While Mr. Colantuano alluded to Matthew Coulter's mental health challenges in his diatribe, it seems as if the City has its mental health challenges with its obsession of prosecuting Coulter at every opportunity.
The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again with poor results.
The trial for the September 1, 2022 incident is scheduled for this July. Coulter has pled 'not guilty' to the now 'misdemeanor' battery charge for which he wrongly spent a month in jail. We'll see what happens when the jury watches that mast cam video footage of Mark Olsen and Marc Nelson attacking, beating, and kicking Matthew Coulter.
Pauli Halstead
Nevada City
Sources:
Writ of Prohibition
The video(s), below, are not open to interpretation.
Link to this past Tuesday's city council meeting. Wow, boy did he slander Matthew!
September 1, 2022, City Mast Cam Video
Original File...
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1b_by8CiA2Z4A12i9LhEi2ObrklvWxQie/view?usp=share_link
Zoomed-in File...
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HfcH8JxROut6jCc5pSObnt06DjqZ6icd/view?usp=share_link
Zoomed-in more file...
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wgN2mNKaf5St2Odp0-n-x1Ow77u9sla8/view?usp=share_link
Hi Pauli,
Apparently we're living in "times of trials"...
Franz Kafka died a hundred years ago (to the day) on June 3, 1924.
Here are some quotes from his famous novel "The Trial":
“Guilt is never to be doubted.”
“There is no such thing as innocence; only degrees of guilt.”
“The trial is a spectacle, a circus where the accused is the main attraction.”
“The court is a mirror reflecting the absurdity of existence.”
“The trial is not about justice; it is about power.”
Fast forward 100 years, to June 2024, and it seems like our country has been dragged - like it or not - into another trial, that will also be remembered for many years: the Trump trial. It will be interesting to see - in time - what the history's verdict will be, but it has become obvious, already, that the current jury's verdict is rather telling - not about Trump, but about things much more important than one political candidate.
The Trump trial is perceived by over half of the country as unfair, unjust, and politically motivated. And it's precisely events like this one that make people - almost force people - to lose any remaining trust in the system.
From the failure of the Soviet Union we learned (or could have learned) that a system only works if enough of people believe in it. It is truly scary to consider that public trust in our own federal government, which has been low for decades, is currently the lowest in nearly seven decades of polling (PEW RESEARCH CENTER).
Here are just two short video clips (around 10 minutes each) of Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz, who was a lifelong Democrat. He still is a Democrat, and a strong Biden supporter. He voted for Biden, and says will vote for him again, because he doesn't like nor support Trump. Clearly, it took a lot of moral courage for him to expose the Trump trial for what it is: a politically motivated persecution.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qRa1dVQ96d0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsjXSIT9_4s
I am personally not a big fan of Dershowitz, but I am a big fan of Glenn Greenwald, who is among our best - if not THE best - of our journalists and political commentators. Here is what he had to say:
https://youtu.be/JlQy6Hw-VYA?si
Regardless of what one might think of Trump, it will be hard to dismiss Dershowitz's and Greenwald's strong and convincing arguments.
P.S.
Suggested summer reading: Franz Kafka, The Trial (published in 1925, a year after Kafka's death).
Best regards,
AirRik