Long Beach pays $650,000 for alleged wrongful arrests of pair accused of intimidating witnesses The two were jailed for 3 months after accusations that they took cellphone pictures of witnesses in a gang murder trial, but no images were found Governor George Deukmejian Courthouse in Long Beach. (Photo: Alfredo Santana) By TONY SAAVEDRA | tsaavedra@scng.com | Orange County Register PUBLISHED: February 26, 2024 at 5:15 p.m. | UPDATED: February 26, 2024 at 5:16 p.m. Long Beach has paid $650,000 to settle a federal lawsuit claiming police wrongfully arrested two people for allegedly intimidating witnesses in a murder trial involving gang members. Richard Arciga and Yesenia Martinez were held three months at the Los Angeles County jail on felony charges they took cellphone photos in September 2017 of witnesses standing outside a Long Beach courtroom. Charges were ultimately dropped against the two for lack of evidence. The witnesses were at the Governor George Deukmejian Courthouse to testify in the gang murder case against Daniel Gonzalez Jr., who was found guilty of shooting a rival several times in the back during a fight outside a Long Beach liquor store. Arciga and Martinez were among a group of four people at the courthouse to support Gonzalez. All four — including Gonzalez’s sister, Michelle Gonzalez — were arrested for suspected witness intimidation. She accepted a plea deal that allowed her to be released from jail, according to Jerry Steering, the attorney for Arciga and Martinez. Gonzalez’s mother, Lidia Gonzalez, also was arrested and originally was part of the lawsuit. But she was dismissed from the suit by a judge after text messages referring to a witness as a “rat” were found on her cellphone. She also was seen on a courthouse security camera holding her phone in the direction of witnesses. At the courthouse, a bailiff confiscated the cellphones of the four people, who volunteered their passwords, according to court records. No photos were found of the witnesses, who told police they felt frightened and concerned for their safety. Court records show that a separate witness was beaten up after testifying and recanted his testimony. The four were arrested and released the next day on bail. But they later were taken back into custody on $3 million bail each after the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office bumped up the witness intimidation charge with gang enhancements. Charges later were dropped for three members of the group — one had taken a plea deal — after they had been in jail for three months. Arciga, Martinez and Lidia Gonzalez filed their lawsuit against the Police Department and the District Attorney’s Office in December 2018, but a federal judge later ruled that prosecutors were legally immune from any liability for the extended jail stay. Police officers, however, could be held liable for the one day in jail spent by the plaintiffs. “Because the U.S. Supreme Court has given criminal prosecutors absolute immunity for their filing and prosecuting any criminal case, even if they know that the defendants are completely innocent, the plaintiffs cannot recover damages for being held for three months in one of the most brutal jails in the country,” Steering said. “They should be ashamed of themselves.” Steering said the $650,000 settlement was to compensate the plaintiffs for spending one day in city jail. Long Beach Principal Deputy City Attorney Howard Russell said the vast majority of the settlement was to cover Steering’s attorney fees. ——————————————————— Long Beach Pays $650,000 for False Arrest at Courthouse Courthouse Video Clears Pair Accused of Witness Intimidation Newport Beach, CA February 23, 2024 The City of Long Beach has paid a Long Beach man and woman $650,000.00 for their false arrests at the Old Long Beach Courthouse. On September 15, 2017, Richard Arciga and Yesenia Martinez were present at the murder trial of Yesinia Martinez’ then-boyfriend, Daniel Gonzalez, who was accused of murdering a young man in Long Beach, California. Richard Arciga was then dating Daniel Gonzalez’s sister. They were simply at court to observe jury selection and the beginning of Daniel Gonzalez’s murder trial. During a break in the court proceedings outside of the courtroom in the old Long Beach Courthouse, plaintiffs Richard Arciga and Yesenia Martinez, along with Daniel Gonzalez’ mother and sister, merely stood in the hallway, and did nothing other than discuss the case between them. However, while returning to the Courtroom after the break, family members of the murder victim told Courtroom Bailiffs that Daniel Gonzalez’s family members were taking photographs of them in the hallway, intimidating them. The plaintiffs’ lawyer, Newport Beach Attorney Jerry L. Steering, successfully argued that the Courthouse video recordings show that it was the other way around; that the victim’s family members had been the ones taking the photos in the hallway outside of the Courtroom. “The only thing that the Courthouse video recordings do show, is a family member of the murder victim pointing his cell phone at the plaintiffs, and appearing to be taking photos of them”. When plaintiffs Richard Arciga, Yesenia Martinez and Daniel Gonzalez’s mother and sister returned to the Courtroom, they were accused in open court of taking photos of the victim’s family. The plaintiffs all immediately voluntarily handed over their cell phones to the Bailiff, proclaiming their innocence, and telling the police their passwords for them to examine their cell phones. Although the Long Beach police officers found that there were no photographs on the plaintiffs’ cell phone, the Courthouse hallway video recording showed the mother of murder defendant Daniel Gonzalez (Lidia Gonzalez) facing witnesses and the victim’s family members, and holding up what appeared to be her cell phone. However, the video also showed Richard Arciga and Yesenia Martinez facing the other way, away from the murder witness and the victim’s family members. Plaintiffs Richard Arciga, Yesenia Martinez and Daniel Gonzalez’ mother and sister were then arrested for felony witness intimidation, and paraded across the parking lot to the Long Beach City Jail, were they were held on $100,000.00 bail for violation of Cal. Penal Code § 136.1; felony witness intimidation; something that they were all innocent of. The four arrestees made the $100,000.00 bail and were released from jail after a day in custody. However, at their arraignment on October 17, 2017, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office not only filed a Felony Complaint against the four for felony witness intimidation but also for doing so for the benefit of a criminal street gang; the gang the Daniel Gonzalez was a member of. Because of the gang benefit allegations, the four’s bail was raised to $3,000,000.00; an amount that they could not make, causing them to remain in the Los Angeles County Jail until their Preliminary Examination Hearing on October 12, 2017. At that October 12, 2017 Preliminary Examination Hearing, the prosecution announced that they could not proceed with the case, as they had no evidence to do so, and the Long Beach Superior Court dismissed all charges against Richard Arciga, Yesenia Martinez and Lidia Gonzalez. Daniel Gonzalez’s sister had already pleaded out in the case to get out of jail, rather than spend three months in the Los Angeles County Jail like the others. Richard Arciga, Yesenia Martinez and Daniel Gonzalez’ mother, Lidia Gonzalez, then sued the arresting Long Beach Police Officers and the County of Los Angeles for false arrest and malicious prosecution. Lidia Gonzalez, et al. v. County of Los Angeles, City of Long Beach, et al; United States District Court, Central District of California Case Number 2:18-cv-09117-ODW-AS. On June 2, 2021, United States District Judge Otis Wright awarded Summary Judgment to Deputy District Attorney Patrick Frey and to the Long Beach Police Department Officers as to all plaintiffs on all of their federal law claims, and declined to exercise jurisdiction over Richard Arciga’s and Yesenia Martinez’ California state law false arrest claims. Plaintiffs Richard Arciga, Yesenia Martinez and Lidia Gonzalez appealed Judge Wright’s award of Summary Judgment to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, and on September 13, 2023, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the award of Summary Judgment as to Richard Arciga and Yesenia Martinez, but affirmed Summary Judgment as to Lidia Gonzalez. See, the attached Memorandum Opinion of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals of September 13, 2023. The Ninth Circuit also held that because the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office exercised its “independent judgment” in deciding to file the criminal case against the plaintiffs, Richard Arciga and Yesenia Martinez were only entitled to damages for their one day in the Long Beach City Jail, but not for their three months of imprisonment in the Los Angeles County Jail awaiting their Preliminary Examination Hearing, notwithstanding their innocence. As Attorney Jerry L. Steering has noted: “Because the U.S. Supreme Court has given criminal prosecutors absolute immunity for their filing and prosecuting any criminal case, even if they know that the defendants are completely innocent, the plaintiffs cannot recover damages for being held for three months in one of the most brutal jails in the country, when the District Attorney’s Office knew very well that they were completely innocent of either witness intimidation and doing so for the benefit of a criminal street gang. They should be ashamed of themselves. They only did so to attempt to protect the Long Beach police officers who falsely arrested the plaintiffs from civil liability for those false arrests.” The parties thereafter settled Richard Arciga and Yesenia Martinez’s claims for their one day in the Long Beach City Jail for $650,000.00. Jerry L. Steering, Esq.
