Last month, the defendants accused of perpetrating a series of brazen muggings on the streets of Bernal Heights in January 2013 had their pre-trial hearing to determine if the case should proceed to full trial.

During the hearing, the defendants filled the audience with friends and family, to suggest to the judge that the alleged criminals are upstanding members of their community. Not to be outdone, many members of the Bernal community attended as well, both to support the Bernal neighbors who testified, and to emphasize the extent to which the defendants’ alleged crimes had sent shockwaves through an entire neighborhood.

Bernal Heights even sent its own courtroom artists to document the scene inside the courtroom.  The images you see here,  from Neighbors Laurie Wigham (above) and Sharon Steuer (below), are the result.

Midway through the hearings, Neighbor Laurie reported:

I had an interesting conversation with one of the defense attorneys on the steps at the lunchtime recess. After Monday’s session a lot of the court folks hung around to look at the sketches and chat with me. The impersonal frozen faces they wore during the court proceedings dropped away, and they were all casual and friendly and wanted to talk about their connections with Bernal. I got the impression that they are all surprised but pleased by the high neighborhood involvement.

Neighbor Sarah, Bernalwood’s ace crime correspondent, also attended the hearings, and she filed this extended report on the process and its outcome:

It looks like these guys are going to trial, though one count was dismissed (not sure which).

From the DA (edited slightly by me for clarity):

The defendants were held to answer on all but 1 robbery count. They are scheduled to be arraigned on the Information on 11/22/13. At that time, the defendants may enter a general time waiver or a no time waiver depending on how they want to proceed towards trial. Defendant Thomas Sagaiga moved to have his bail reduced but Judge Kahn denied the request. Both men remain in custody.

We can’t comment on the specifics of testimony, etc., without potentially affecting the case once it goes to full trial, so here are some more general thoughts on the process thus far.

One of the most striking things has been to realize how little we knew of the specific mechanics of the judicial process. The scheduling issue is incredibly daunting – when a judge, an assistant DA, two separate public defenders, witnesses, and the courtroom itself (all of whom/which have many other trials going on) have to coordinate schedules, it’s amazing that anything ever moves forward. And it’s very old-fashioned: the participants just get out their paper calendars, and they go through an iterative process – “How about 9am on the 16th?” “I have another trial that day.” “How about 1:30pm on the 21st?” etc.

Constitutional rights affect the schedule as well – defendants can waive their right to a speedy trial, which they may want to do in order to give their defense attorneys more time to prepare, but then that means that any defendants in other cases who do NOT waive their right to a speedy trial will take precedence over the ones who did.

The same goes for bifurcating your hearing – meaning you’ll let a single hearing take place over several, non-contiguous dates, which is what ended up happening here eventually.

If the juvenile in this case is charged as an adult, he will have the right to the same preliminary hearing, and so we are still quite a ways off from a trial.

We hope Bernalwoodians can continue to show up to support our neighbors and also show that we take an interest in crimes that happen in our neighborhood. Many neighbors have already shown up (several more than once), and we have gotten the impression (from the court employees and others) that it’s rare to have so many people who are not directly involved in a case show up at these hearings.

Finally, we were just as impressed by the bravery, stalwartness and perseverance of the three Bocana victims as we have been struck by the amount of time that elapses between arrest and preliminary hearings — let alone a trial. After watching this preliminary hearing, we have nothing but praise, admiration, and gratitude for Bernal’s three victims and the others who have testified in this case.

ILLUSTRATIONS: Laurie Wigham (top), Sharon Steuer (bel0w) 

Neighbor Daroom just sent me this podium-grade contender for the Best Bernal Heights Halloween Costume of 2013.

It comes in the form of a live impersonation of the mysterious but Yelp-popular Sheepskin City (and discount Toyota Prius battery service provider) that’s such a prominent fixture on the corner of Cesar Chavez and Bryant.

Did you see any other awesome costumes in Bernal yesterday? Send ’em in!  bernalwood@gmail.

UPDATE: Photobernalist Adrian Mendoza shares his photos of becostumed Bernalese from yesterday:

1. Carolina Vallejo invokes her inner “Frida Kahlo” as she staffs the Copy Central Mission on Halloween:

2. This gentleman was sitting outside the Bernal Library, waiting for his wife and child, one of which, he said, would be dressed as wasabi:

3. Land shark attack!

4. Goldilocks and the 3 Bears:

5. Trick or treaters:

6. Mother and son on the 67 bus. “Don’t worry, mijo,” she said, “no one’s going to mistake you for a real cholo. You’re carrying a “Monsters, Inc” candy bag.”

UPDATE: Miss Lisa from the Bernal Heights Rec Center After School programs sends this along:

After the mini carnival run by our middle schoolers on Halloween day, a few of us went Trick or Treating on Cortland. A student named Younger dressed as a Bloody Butcher, complete with a sickle and a package of wrapped brains. I knew that we had to pay a visit to Avedano’s, and they were awesome to let us take some pics:

Just in time for Halloween, Neighbor John has once again created his awesome Grisly Picket Fence of Death! As we learned last year:

For the past few Halloweens, a few of us on Gladys Street have been collaborating, carving upwards of 20 pumpkins in and afternoon and then creating the “Grisly Picket Fence of Death” to display ‘em.

The fence is cute by day, and positively spooky by night. Awesome.

UPDATE: Neighbor Joyce also shares this photo of Neighbor Sharon’s frankentastic display on Highland Street:

PHOTOS: Neighbor John, Neighbor Joyce