By Teja Dusanapudi and Fabiha Zaman
Probation Violation Hearing Continues with New Testimony
By Teja Dusanapudi
On Thursday afternoon, the probation violation hearing for Jonathan Ruby briefly continued with two witnesses, a police officer and a probation officer, appearing on the stand. Mr. Ruby had previously been charged with burglary in the second degree and petty theft among other charges, with testimony covering those topics in relation to Mr. Ruby’s future in probation.
The People began the case by calling Officer Cody Coulter to the stand, a police officer for 4.5 years. Officer Coulter began his testimony with the events occurring on August 26th 2017, at approximately 5:05 pm, when he had been tasked with dealing with a package theft. After arriving on scene, he “observed 2 males on bikes,” one he identified as Adam Cole and the other as Johnathan Ruby.
Officer Coulter explained that he had recognized the former due to his tattoo and the latter by observing previously stored photos of him. At the People’s inquiry of Mr. Ruby’s past activity in West Sacramento, Officer Coulter indicated that Mr. Ruby had past encounters with the police, identifying him in court and in a picture presented to him by the People, later submitted as evidence.
The Defense, represented by Mr. Brusso, did not cross-examine.
After Officer Coulter, Probation Officer Oneto testified in front of the court. Mr. Oneto stated that Mr. Ruby only ever reported to his Probation appointments once, on May 24th, when his Probation appointments 
began. Mr. Oneto then listed other Probation Appointments that Mr. Ruby failed to attend, on June 14th and in August among others.
Mr. Oneto also noted Mr. Ruby’s fresh offences, including a felony he had not heard of prior, to which the Defense objected to on the basis of the felony’s dismissal. Mr. Oneto stated that he was questioning if “Mr. Ruby is amenable to probation,” stating his “one appearance in six months,” and his charge of burglary as points to the contrary.
Judge Richardson ended the session by rescheduling the continuation of the hearing for a later date.
Earlier Testimony in Stalking Trial
By Fabiha Zaman
On Tuesday afternoon, witness testimony for the trial of defendant Benjamin Prowell resumed. The witness on the stand was Prowell’s ex-girlfriend and the one who had originally filed a complaint about Prowell’s threatening behavior.
Representing Prowell was Public Defender Peter Borruso. After the morning break, he cross-examined the victim, who is the ex-girlfriend of Prowell. She is employed by the Odd Fellows in Davis, where she met Prowell who was a part-time maintenance worker there.
After the victim had broken up with Prowell in January of 2016, he began sending what the victim perceived to be threatening emails. The victim even bought new blacked out curtains in response to the fear she felt when things really escalated with Prowell.
The victim turned to her sister, who is on the Board of Directors for Empower Yolo, a community-based advocacy and educational entity that provides information and resources to victims of domestic
abuse and sexual assault. The victim’s sister forwarded this case to the Davis Police Department, and directed it to Detective Joshua Helton, an officer who had been working with Empower Yolo for some time.
During October 18, 2016, the victim and her sister met with Det. Helton. The victim told him how he felt about the situation and shared a binder filled with emails and messages from the defendants, including those to her friend and coworker Daniella and her current boyfriend Sarun.
Defense counsel asked if the victim had attempted to obtain an emergency protective order, to which she answered no. She also revealed that she did not know what it was at the time. She did say that she called a non-emergency number in Sacramento and asked to speak to an officer. She told the officer she was directed to that her ex-boyfriend was sending her multiple emails but the officer just victim-blamed her and told her not to read the emails and to block Prowell. Since she did not find that advice helpful, she turned to her sister who then led her to Det. Holten.
Mr. Borruso asked the victim why she did not just block Prowell, and she revealed that the defendant had sent her multiple instructions on how to block him on email because he claimed he sent those messages when he was drunk and he had no control during that time. But the victim was not confortable turning her back on something she saw as a threat.
Between October 2016 and January 2017, Prowell sent an increased number of emails that the victim all forwarded to Det. Helton. These emails were very angry and Prowell did not stop even after Det. Helton after contacted him. But once Prowell was arrested there were no emails or personal contact.
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