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   From: abryant@deportleftists.com   
      
   OAKLAND (CBS SF) — Stating that a prosecutor’s comment might   
   improperly influence jurors, a judge declared a mistrial Tuesday   
   in the long-awaited case of a former Fremont elementary school   
   teacher who’s accused of molesting two young students nearly 17   
   years ago.   
      
   Frank Montenegro, who’s now 53, was charged in 2001 with   
   molesting two students, ages 10 and 11, multiple times during   
   summer school sessions in his classroom in 2000 while he was an   
   elementary school teacher with the Fremont Unified School   
   District.   
      
   But Montenegro, who had worked for the district since 1988, fled   
   the Bay Area for 14 years until FBI fugitive task force members   
   found him and arrested him in the Los Angeles area on Aug. 15,   
   2015.   
      
   Read Also: Fremont Teacher Accused Of Molesting Students   
   Arrested In LA   
      
   In her opening statement Tuesday, prosecutor Amanda Chavez told   
   jurors that when FBI agents handcuffed Montenegro “he refused to   
   say one word.”   
      
   In a hearing outside the presence of jurors after Chavez   
   completed her opening statement, defense attorney Todd Bequette   
   asked for a mistrial, saying that court rulings have established   
   that prosecutors aren’t allowed to comment to jurors about a   
   defendant exercising his right against self-incrimination.   
      
   Bequette said he thinks Chavez’s comment “was not an intentional   
   error on her part” and “was not intended to mislead the jury”   
   but he believes it irreparably harmed Montenegro’s right to a   
   fair trial.   
      
   Chavez admitted “it was an unwise phrase” but said she didn’t   
   mean to comment on Montenegro’s privilege against self-   
   incrimination but instead was referring to the fact that he   
   wouldn’t even give his name or give any other booking   
   information to authorities when he was arrested.   
      
   Alameda County Superior Court Judge Kevin Murphy said, “It’s a   
   close call” and he agrees that Chavez didn’t intend to mislead   
   the jury but he said he would declare a mistrial “out of an   
   abundance of caution” because Chavez’s remark “could create an   
   inference or an impression.”   
      
   Murphy then brought jurors back into his courtroom and dismissed   
   them, saying, “There’s been a development in this case and we no   
   longer need your services.”   
      
   Jury selection in the case took about four days. Montenegro,   
   who’s being held without bail, will return to court on Wednesday   
   when jury selection will begin for a new trial.   
      
   Montenegro is charged with 13 felony counts, including   
   aggravated sexual assault of a child, committing lewd acts upon   
   a child and sodomy on a child.   
      
   Chavez said in her opening statement that one of the alleged   
   victims in the case “was terrified for his family because every   
   time he (Montenegro) sodomized him he told him, ‘Don’t say   
   anything about this or you’ll never see your family again.'”   
      
   Chavez said that victim “felt dirty, angry and depressed” and   
   the other alleged victim “shut down and withdrew from people.”   
      
   Chavez said Montenegro “manipulated everyone” and told jurors   
   that other witnesses would corroborate the testimony of the two   
   alleged victims.   
      
   Murphy declared the mistrial before Bequette presented his   
   opening statement.   
      
   http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2017/02/14/mistrial-declared-   
   for-ex-fremont-teacher-accused-of-molestation/?e=n6iR5e*yOwKPFA   
       
      
   --- SoupGate-DOS v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)