Ruben Valle

We were very saddened to read about the tragic deaths of Jessica Warren and Dawn Hammond, victims of the police pursuit on Christmas morning. We were saddened not only because we know of the sorrow of the family and friends, but because the circumstances might have been prevented had a jury voted to find the Costa Mesa police guilty in their pursuit of Ruben Valle on Dec. 12, 1984. We believe that the "not guilty" decision gave a green light to Orange County law enforcement that hot pursuits will be condoned or even encouraged at the expense of an innocent public.

One of the two jurors who an appellate court declared was excluded from an Orange County jury because of racial bias said Friday that he felt there was no discrimination and that he didn't want to serve on the jury in the first place. Tuoc Vo, 30, of Anaheim said in an interview that, in fact, he exaggerated his problems with English in order to be dismissed from the jury in the 1986 murder trial of Ruben Valle.

One of the two jurors who an appellate court declared was excluded from an Orange County jury because of racial bias said Friday that he felt there was no discrimination and that he didn't want to serve on the jury in the first place. Tuoc Vo, 30, of Anaheim said in an interview that, in fact, he exaggerated his problems with English in order to be dismissed from the jury in the 1986 murder trial of Ruben Valle.

We were very saddened to read about the tragic deaths of Jessica Warren and Dawn Hammond, victims of the police pursuit on Christmas morning. We were saddened not only because we know of the sorrow of the family and friends, but because the circumstances might have been prevented had a jury voted to find the Costa Mesa police guilty in their pursuit of Ruben Valle on Dec. 12, 1984. We believe that the "not guilty" decision gave a green light to Orange County law enforcement that hot pursuits will be condoned or even encouraged at the expense of an innocent public.

Regarding the recent decision (Feb. 13) convicting Ruben Valle of second-degree murder in a traffic accident: It saddens me to see another weakening of our judicial system when the division between manslaughter and murder is ignored or overruled. I know Ruben Valle and am aware of his willingness to do penance for his disregard of human safety. I have met others who have come to an awareness of the evil of disregarding human life. I do believe it is very important for our courts to distinguish between the two--disregard for human safety and disregard for human life.

After hearing two mothers ask for stiff punishment, an Orange County Superior Court judge sentenced Ruben M. Valle to two consecutive state prison sentences of 15 years to life for killing two youths in a traffic collision. Valle, 23, of Santa Ana, the first person in Orange County convicted of second-degree murder in a traffic collision, turned to the two mothers in the courtroom and asked forgiveness. Valle was arrested after the stolen van he was driving ran a stop sign in Costa Mesa on Dec.

In a scathing opinion, a state appellate court today overturned the murder conviction of a man who killed two Costa Mesa teen-agers in an auto accident as he fled from police, ruling that the prosecutor discriminated against Asians in jury selection. The Fourth District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana ruled that the exclusion of a Vietnamese immigrant because of what the prosecutor felt was his inability to understand English was illegally based on a racial stereotype.

Our readers wrote letters throughout 1989 expressing their viewpoints on a variety of issues. Here are condensed versions of some of those letters. We appreciate their taking the time to share their viewpoints and look forward to hearing from more of them in 1990. We were very saddened to read about the tragic deaths of Jessica Warren and Dawn Hammond, victims of the police pursuit on Christmas morning. We were saddened not only because we know of the sorrow of the family and friends but also because the circumstances might have been prevented had a jury voted to find the Costa Mesa police guilty in their pursuit of Ruben Valle on Dec. 12, 1984.

A state appellate court today overturned the murder conviction of a man who killed two Costa Mesa teen-agers in an auto accident as he fled from police, ruling that the prosecutor discriminated against Asians in jury selection. The Fourth District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana ruled that the exclusion of a Vietnamese immigrant because of what the prosecutor felt was his inability to understand English was illegally based on a racial stereotype.

A state appellate court in Santa Ana on Thursday overturned the murder convictions of a man who killed two teen-agers in a car crash as he fled from police, ruling that discrimination against Asians and Latinos was evident during jury selection. The 4th District Court of Appeal ruled 3 to 0 that the exclusion of a Vietnamese immigrant because of what the prosecutor stated was his inability to understand English was illegally based on a racial stereotype.

An Orange County jury found that Costa Mesa police were not responsible for the deaths of two teen-age boys during a high speed chase of a fleeing suspect. The family of Roy Williamson, one of the dead youths, claimed in a civil suit that the police should have called off the chase on Dec. 12, 1984, which resulted in a stolen van driven by Ruben M. Valle, 21, crashing into the boys' Volkswagen at 19th Street and Placentia Avenue.

A 25-year-old man who drove his car into two men outside a bar, killing one of them, was sentenced Thursday to 15 years to life in state prison. Ruben Guzman Valle of Escondido also was ordered to pay $6,000 in funeral expenses to the family of Alfredo Chavez Sandoval, 33, who watched the sentencing by San Diego Superior Court Judge William Mudd. Guzman pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the March 20 incident outside a Southeast San Diego bar.