Courts and Crime
No crime has rocked Santa Barbara’s psyche in recent years more than the stabbing murder of a teenager by high schoolers in broad daylight at the corner of State and Carrillo streets, the true heart of town.
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State and Carrillo streets, the scene of the tragic events that unfolded that day. View photo »
Plenty of baby-faced teens in blue jeans and white shirts were wandering State Street on March 14, including Luis Angel “Nacho” Linares, who was set upon by a group of bat-, knife-, and shank-wielding attackers who killed him. View photo »
When the dust settled, the cops — seen here with the alleged culprits and bottom left with a possible murder weapon — pinned the killing on 14-year-old Ricardo Juarez. View photo »
As that trial inches along, Juarez’s public defender, Karen Atkins, has tried to force newspapers — such as the Daily Sound, whose editor/publisher Jeramy Gordon and co-publisher/photographer Charles Swegles are pictured above — to turn over their photos of that day. View photo »
There was plenty of high-stakes drama in Santa Barbara County’s courtrooms this past year, including the trial of Sylvia Vasquez (pictured left in handcuffs), who was convicted in April of abusing her adopted children by locking them up in cages, treating them like animals, and even giving them hormones to stop pubescence. She got sentenced to 10 years in prison, but will likely only serve one. View photo »
Also on trial was Ernesto Botello, who accidentally ran his truck over Jake Boysel as the 12-year-old boy rode his bike to school. That ended in a mistrial. View photo »
In the dog days of August, just when things seemed to be slowing down to a normal pace, you get a crazed man tried to rob Sizzler on Hollister Avenue in Goleta. View photo »
As the year came to a close in December, former UCSB soccer star Eric Frimpong was convicted of raping a classmate after a highly publicized trial. He is likely to appeal. View photo »
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