In a brief court hearing Tuesday morning, a representative of Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch’s office dismissed all charges in a controversial case against a Graton man, citing insufficient evidence.
On April 4, deputies from the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office approached Jason Anglero-Wyrick’s Graton home after receiving a phone call alleging Anglero-Wyrick had threatened the caller and his family with a gun.
In a separate hearing the same morning, Ravitch’s office dismissed additional charges against Naustachia Green, a woman who was arrested at the time as Anglero-Wyrick.
A bystander video of the April 4 events before the arrest shows Anglero-Wyrick and Green standing in front of a house with their hands raised. Almost simultaneously, deputies shot Anglero-Wyrick with a Taser, pulled Green away from Anglero-Wyrick, and released a K-9 unit on Anglero-Wyrick. The dog, Vader, bit Anglero-Wyrick, who was lying face down in the driveway, for over a minute. Deputies did not find a gun after searching the property.
Sonoma County Superior Court records show that Ravitch’s office filed multiple charges—including two counts of felony resisting arrest—against Anglero-Wyrick on April 6, two days after the arrest. The same day, Ravitch’s office filed two misdemeanor charges—one for resisting arrest and another for battery of a police officer—against Green.
All of the April 6 charges were dismissed on June 2.
The Court officially reopened the day before the June 2 trials, about two months after most court procedures were delayed due to efforts to slow the spread of Covid-19.
Approximately 30 of Anglero-Wyrick and Green’s relatives and supporters gathered across the parking lot from the courthouse as other court attendees lined up for Covid-19 health screenings now required to enter the court.
The protesters, all wearing white, were unaware that Ravitch’s office planned to dismiss the charges when they showed up in the morning.
Robert Evans, Anglero-Wyrick’s stepfather, said that charges were unjustified.
“His hands were up. He was giving up,” Evans said, adding that he believes the deputies involved in the arrest should be fired.
In an emailed statement on Tuesday afternoon Brian Staebell, the Chief Deputy District Attorney, said that the charges against Anglero-Wyrick and Green were dismissed because “we feel we do not have sufficient evidence to prove these charges beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.”
“After gathering additional information we simply feel that there is not enough evidence to prevail at trial on these charges,” Staebell wrote.
Two weeks ago, after the Bohemian broke the news that Ravitch’s office had filed charges against Anglero-Wyrick, Staebell told the Press Democrat that, “The evidence received so far indicates that those officers attempted to detain him and he physically resisted them.”
Staebell did not respond to a follow-up inquiry about what new information has come to light.
[NOTE: This article was updated at 4:35pm with information about the charges against
