He faces six months probation, $400 fine
San Juan Bautista Mayor George Dias has accepted a plea deal from the district attorney’s office finding him guilty of “delaying an officer from completing his duty” related to his April 2007 arrest for scuffling with a sheriff’s deputy.
The pleas deal means prosecutors dropped the charge of resisting an officer causing serious injury, according to attorneys involved in the case. The new misdemeanor charge results in a penalty of six months probation, a $400 fine and credit for the one day he served in San Benito County Jail.
Dias, 46, had faced a maximum sentence of a year in county jail and a fine of up to $1,000 – while both the previous and current charges carried the same potential penalties, according to the California Penal Code.
Dias, a councilman at the time, was charged in connection with an April 14 incident with San Benito County Sheriff’s Office deputies at the scene of a trailer fire in the 600 block of Mission Vineyard Road in San Juan Bautista.
According to sheriff’s reports, the incident began when a trailer fire broke out on Dias’ property and the sheriff’s office responded. Dias refused to leave the area of the trailer fire when ordered to do so by Deputy Jason Leist.
The deputy has stated that Dias said he would not move and that he suggested Leist “should get a real cop.”
Dias and his father have claimed the sheriff was rude and overbearing and that Leist had said: “You gotta move or I’m gonna take your (expletive) to jail. I’m going to give you to three: One, two, three,” after which he immediately moved in for the arrest.
A scuffle ensued, described as a “wrestling match” by witnesses, that ended when Dias, Leist, and another deputy fell into a rose bush causing injuries severe enough to warrant stitches on Leist’s cheek and ear. Dias was then arrested and taken to jail.
The case went to trial earlier in the year, but the result was a hung jury and it was slated for retrial starting Monday.
“George has always claimed that it was not his actions, but rather the officer’s use of excessive force, that caused this situation,” said Larry Biegel, the defense attorney.
When asked why his client accepted a plea deal, Biegel responded: “We vigorously defended this case when it was first tried, and that was very expensive both for the residents of San Benito County and for George personally,” he said. “We and the D.A. decided to come to a solution where everyone could walk away feeling they had won.
“George pled guilty to delaying an officer. He admitted to doing so and he and the D.A. felt the ultimate penalty was consistent with what George admitted doing.”
Deputy District Attorney Palacios agreed with this assessment of the compromise, saying: “Obviously, we are satisfied with the crime he pled to or we wouldn’t have made the amendment to the charge. That is what we ended up with after weighing everything. The ultimate decision on sentencing was up to the judge.”
Palacios said he believes Leist is “satisfied” with the result, what he called “very important” in the consideration. He said there hadn’t been any other deals on the table.
“No, but this deal had been on the table before yesterday,” he said. “We had discussed it, but it had not been accepted.”
Now that this case has been resolved, Biegel said his client wants to move forward in a spirit of cooperation with the San Benito County Sheriff’s Office.
“He wants this to be a fresh start,” Biegel said. “He wants good service from the sheriffs for San Juan Bautista and he believes the resolution of this case will help them move forward. George avoided a lot of additional expense for himself and the county and now he wants to start over in a positive way.”
Sheriff’s office spokesman Lt. Roy Iler agreed.
“For some reason, he seems to think there was some animosity between us,” Iler said. “The resolution of this substantial issue means that basically the whole thing is over. To me, it was a good deal.”
Dias did not immediately return phone calls before press time.
