The typical opinion has some terrible, tragic facts and is depressing. Yet today's opinion actually contains some degree of happiness. It could have been a terrible thing. But ends up being just a frightening event that hopefully the kid gets over.
Here are the facts:
"A.D., who was then 14 years old, rode his bicycle home from school on
October 31, 2014, around 12:30 p.m. He entered the house, locked the door, and went
upstairs to his room. He and his 11-year-old brother were the only people at home.
About 10 minutes later, A.D. heard knocking at the front door. He ignored it but it
became louder so he went downstairs and looked through the front door peephole. He
saw a man, later identified as Bedolla, wearing a white t-shirt. A.D. did not know the
man, so he returned upstairs and looked out the window for a better view. Another man,
wearing a black hoodie, was pacing between the front walkway and the sidewalk. He
appeared to be acting as a lookout. Meanwhile, the banging on the front door became
louder, like kicking. A.D. heard more than 30 kicks and believed someone was trying to
break in. He called his father who told him to call 911.
A City of San Jose police officer arrived at the scene within 30 to 45 seconds of
the emergency call. Two men were standing in the driveway of A.D.’s house. They took
off running. The officer intercepted them and detained them at gunpoint. One suspect,
later identified as Joseph Mariscal, was wearing a black jacket with a gray hoodie. The
other, identified as Bedolla, was wearing a white t-shirt. Officers brought Bedolla and
Mariscal to the sidewalk in front of A.D.’s house for an in-field identification. A.D. identified them from the upstairs window as the individuals he had seen outside his
house.
The front door of A.D.’s house was closed when the officers arrived and was
visibly damaged. There was white debris on the door mat and splinters from the door,
which was “almost partially open.” The damage was consistent with other burglaries in
which the front door had been kicked in. Shoe prints on the door matched the shoes worn
by Mariscal."
You gotta love that the San Jose police officer arrived within 30 to 45 seconds after the 911 call. An event that made all the difference here.
The defendant, Mr. Bedolla, ends up essentially getting sentenced to time served -- the 215 days he was in jail before trial (since he couldn't bond out). Plus three years of probation. So not a huge penalty.
Though this is not Mr. Bedolla's first run-in with the criminal justice system. (Though he's also far from a hardened criminal. Yet.) We'll see whether we run into his name again in some future case.
Hopefully not.
In the meantime, let's all be thankful for the 30- to 45-second response time here.
