People v. Freehart CA3

FACTS AND HISTORY OF THE PROCEEDINGS

Police arrested defendant for dissuading his son and daughter from speaking with an investigator from the Butte County District Attorney’s Office. The children were later placed in a foster home, and the parties agree that the Butte County Children’s Services Division had custody of the children at the time of the events that follow. Shortly after the children were placed in a foster home, defendant sent them a text around midnight telling them to get their belongings and go outside. The children “were excited because who wants to be in a foster home?” Defendant picked the children up outside and took them first to his girlfriend’s house then to a farm where he resided. When defendant heard law enforcement was looking for him, he took the children to his mother’s house and turned himself in at the police station. The People charged defendant with two counts of dissuading a witness, in violation of section 136.1, subdivision (b)(1) and two counts of taking a child with the intent to detain or conceal that child from a lawful custodian, in violation of section 278. Pursuant to a negotiated plea agreement, defendant pleaded no contest to the two…