Outreach Plus at the Indio High School

Riverside—Presiding Justice Manuel A. Ramirez of the Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District, Division Two has announced that the court-community outreach program Outreach Plus will engage with 650 Indio High School students on Thursday, March 28, 2019 beginning at 7:45 a.m. The program is also open to the public.

“Outreach Plus is an innovative court-community outreach program, inspired by former Chief Justice George and supported by current Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye, that has served as a model for other appellate court outreach programs statewide,” commented Presiding Justice Ramirez. “Since its inception in 2005 it has reached an estimated 14,000 students in 17 programs throughout the Coachella Valley.”

Presiding Justice Manuel A. Ramirez and Associate Justices Douglas P. Miller, Carol D. Codrington, Marsha G. Slough, Michael J. Raphael, and Frank J. Menetrez, will hear oral arguments in two pending criminal appeals at the Indio High School performing arts center:

• In People v. Winston the jury convicted the defendant of both threatening to shoot the mother of his child and then pushing her from the van he was driving; the defendant contends that his 16-month sentence for the criminal threat should have been stayed because it was part of the same course of conduct with his pushing the victim out of the van.
• In People v. Gutierrez the jury convicted defendant of slashing his neighbor with a box cutter; the defendant contends that, because he and the victim were mutual combatants, the jury was incorrectly instructed that one who provokes a fight cannot claim self-defense.

Before oral argument, the justices will meet with mock trial participants and other selected students at a reception. After oral argument, the justices will visit classrooms with Desert Bar Association lawyers to interactively discuss with the students the law, the courts, legal careers, and the importance of high school and college education.

The schedule for the upcoming program will begin with the reception in the library at 7:45 a.m. Oral arguments will commence at 9:15 a.m. and 9:45 a.m. and will be followed by the 20-minute question-and-answer session. The classroom discussions will occur from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon.

Arrangements to hold the Outreach Plus in Indio County resulted from the collaboration of the Court of Appeal with Derrick Lawson, Indio High School Principal, Mary Perry, Desert Sands U.S.D. Public Information Officer, and Gabriel Gutierrez, J.D., Indio High School Teacher and Mock Trial Coach.

Presiding Justice Ramirez also thanks Allen G. Weinberg and David R. Greifinger, counsel for the appellants, and Meredith A. White and Heather M. Clark, Deputy Attorneys General, for the People, for making the drive to Indio to represent their clients at oral argument and participate in the question-and-answer session.

For more information, call AnnDee Smith, Assistant Clerk/Executive Officer, at 951-782-2500.