Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Is Judge Frank Devaney a slow learner, or simply determined to keep Mexicans out?

Judge Francis M. Devaney

Overturned probation condition is judge's 2nd
Orders kept youths from entering U.S.
By Greg Moran,
San Diego Union-Tribune Staff Writer
June 23, 2009

The state appeals court struck down the first order as unconstitutional in August, weeks before the second reversal.

For the second time in a year, a state appeals court has reversed a San Diego judge's probation condition that essentially banished a juvenile U.S. citizen to Mexico.

The youth, identified in court papers as Alex O., was 17 when he was arrested in August at the San Ysidro border crossing with about 4 pounds of marijuana. He is a U.S. citizen who lives in Tijuana with his mother, who is not a legal U.S. resident.

Alex pleaded guilty to possessing marijuana, and Superior Court Judge Frank Devaney sentenced him to a year in juvenile camp but stayed that sentence and placed him on probation.

As a condition of the probation, Devaney said the youth could enter the United States only to attend school, visit relatives or work. He also ordered Alex to notify his probation officer when he was to enter the country.

Devaney made that ruling in September. That was just weeks after the state 4th District Court of Appeal in San Diego struck down a similar order that Devaney made for another youth.

In that case, Devaney ordered James C. to live with his grandparents in Tijuana, and under no circumstances return for a year. The state appeals court struck down that order as unconstitutional in August because it violated the youth's rights of free association and travel.

Faced with the similar case of Alex O., Devaney again erred, the court concluded.

The youth does not attend school in this country, has no job and no family, so it was unlikely that any of the permitted reasons for him to enter the country would apply, Justice Patricia Benke wrote. The order also prevented Alex from entering the country to attend a movie or go to the beach or the zoo, Benke said.

“In short, although the juvenile court's order is not an express banishment from the United States, its practical effect on Alex is almost indistinguishable from a banishment,” Benke wrote.

Devaney, now a judge in the downtown San Diego adult courts, declined to comment last week.

Deputy Public Defender Jo Pastore, who handled the appeal, said Devaney's order was too broad. While judges have discretion on setting conditions of probation, the law says those conditions have to have some relation to the crime at issue.

“The (appeals) court is saying the problem happened at the border, so if you are infringing on someone's right to travel, it has to be limited and specifically tailored to crossing the border,” Pastore said.

That is why the appeals court upheld one condition — that Alex notify his probation officer before coming into the United States. Such orders are made in other juvenile probation cases, such as when minors want to leave the county.

Benke said requiring Alex to notify his probation officer when he enters the country relates to the crime he committed, and does not hinder his right to travel as a U.S. citizen.

Pastore said Devaney thought he was complying with the appeals court's first decision when he dealt with Alex. But his solution ended up with the same effect.

“It banished him from the entire country, and the court said that is just over-broad,” Pastore said.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

You're ridiculous. I dare you call him a slow learner. You seem like a slow learner because you can't even write a story correctly or use proper punctuation. YOU should know how to spell and where punctuation marks go and don't go. and then you try to get a "Jerry Springer" rise out of the Mexican community by your headline. The story is about two young men and you say he is determined to keep [ALL] Mexicans out? How do you derive that from these two men? You're dumb and San Diego Union hires many dumb reporters so you are good fit for them. Judge Devaney didn't get to the level of judge being an idiot. You could never meet his level of intelligence. As far as keeping Mexicans out - we all see who is crowding our jails, don't you? Take a look right now online who is in the Chula Vista jail. Wow! See all the Mexicans on the list? 90% Mexicans, right? Is this what our country wants? Did you ever see South Bay about 20 years ago? Nice place. It is ruined now and looks like an extension of TJ. Why do we want a bunch of troublemakers that have nothing to offer? This country welcomes people of all nationalities, if they come here legally, they blend in, they don't cause the citizens of this country trouble and expense and they have some kind of talent to offer the country. Many do not fit.

Jane Swanson said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jane Swanson said...


Have you read all the stories of young white men who commit rapes and don't spend a day in jail? A lot of judges are being accused of bias. Black and brown men spend years in prison for crimes that many white men get away with due to biased judges.

Anonymous said...

Forget the erroneous anonymous comment defending this jerk. We made a total mistake defending him before truly seeing how evil he is. We know now the devil is behind that smile. He should be removed from the bench and punished for the many atrocities he committed against innocent people and the resulting damage caused to families, especially the children.

De bench judge francis devaney!! said...

I totally agree with you. This man should not be a judge at all. And he will be the benched. He sentenced my sister to nine years for driving a vehicle that was packed down with 40 lb of drugs. This vehicle was given to her from her boss to Drive. My sister has no drug or criminal history nor did they give her a drug test at the border. This is my sister's first offense in this messed up criminal world as it is oh, so I find this to be absolutely absurd and ridiculous on his part. Her family bail her out and she was on an ankle monitor for 7 months, so what the hell is this guy's problem why can't he just give her house arrest and let her be. The authorities need to go after the boss and whoever else he's dealing with in Tijuana that arranged to have this car patch down and make my sister Drive hoping they would get away with it. You don't use innocent people as a middleman. The judge calling my sister a big drug dealer and Smuggler. We don't associate with crap like that. My sister has extreme medical conditions that need attention and surgery. Do you think she's going to get the medical treatment inside jail that she needs out here? The answer to that is no they don't care. She is suffering with pain how am I scared to death, and could have a stroke from her high blood pressure from all of this. But the San Diego jail will blame it on a suicide and call it a day. This will not happen in my lifetime, her family is on top of this and her attorney that she paid $5,000 to did a poor job or no job at all.

De bench judge francis devaney!! said...

Excuse my typos please

De bench judge francis devaney!! said...

This guy is not a learner at all and should not be a judge. Not everybody is a criminal in this world you know. If he can't determine Who's Who and he needs to get his ass off that bench

Anonymous said...

This judge is awful. He separates families and strips children of their mothers. A mother who has ZERO criminal record.