Katie and I are kind of goofy about Hanukkah. We have a song by Barenaked Ladies that we play when we light the candles. We’re heading to Sacramento this week and we’ll bring the menorah with us. We’ve taken that thing with us a lot of places but maybe my favorite was Thanksgiving night at the Daily Grill in San Francisco a few years ago. We’ve always shared and folks seem to enjoy some candle-action. My other favorite thing was watching a boatload of menorahs all glowing with the kids smiling and happy (parents too!). 

This will be DeAngelo’s first Christmas behind bars. I’m so sorry for his family. It’s going to be hard, I’m sure. But for the rest of us, who experienced so many screwed up holidays because our loved ones were either missing or hurt, I hope he sucks it. In fact, I’m going to wear my ugly Christmas sweater to court on Thursday, just to celebrate life. A shout out to my fellow court attendees – bring on the ugly holiday sweaters! Let’s live!

Got this note from Victim Services, second paragraph is important:

The next scheduled court appearance for People of the State of California v. Joseph James DeAngelo will take place on Thursday, December 6, 2018 at 1:30 p.m. in Dept. 61 of the Sacramento County Superior Court.  The prosecution team has been working to gather all of the discovery (police reports, physical evidence, etc.) together to provide it to the defense attorneys.  Some information has already been provided to the defense, although this is still a work in progress as we gather documents and evidence together from all six counties.  The prosecution team anticipates that the court appearance will be brief and will result in the case being scheduled for another court date in March, 2019.

The only substantive matter that we anticipate could be discussed is the defendant’s ability to pay for an attorney to represent him.  As you may recall, the prosecution asked the court to make an inquiry as to the defendant’s ability to pay for his representation at the last court date.  This process involves the defense attorneys submitting documentation to the court which will assist the judge in making this determination.  It is unknown whether the court will address this on December 6th or defer it to a future date.

Man, I hope we get on with it this time and put things in order to move forward. Even, what I would call a “project plan”, that outlines key milestones, would be incredibly helpful. I’m going to see if I can get Victim Services or my DA or someone to help me figure it out. Someone has to have the master plan. That would help us all plan accordingly.

More after court this week!