Richard Lucero died this past weekend in the Yolo County jail at age 73, as he awaited trial on charges that he failed to register as required as a sex offender under Penal Code section 290. His attorney, Deputy Public Defender Lisa Lance, filed a motion last Friday (June 15) for a dismissal in the interest of justice.
In her motion she explained that Mr. Lucero had registered out of Sacramento County in August 2017 as required. At that time, he gave the specific residence in West Sacramento where he was moving.
He and his wife had been evicted from their residence and he was being treated for metastatic liver cancer. According to his attorney, at the time “[h]e apparently had been fighting cancer for several years already, and was quite ill.”
Ms. Lance notes, “It is alleged by the prosecution that Mr. Lucero willfully failed to ‘register in’ after he moved to that same West Sacramento address he gave when he ‘registered out.'”
In March 2018, he contacted West Sacramento PD. The officer made an appointment on March 21 for him to register at the department. However, instead of waiting, the next day, officers went to his residence, 
found Mr. Lucero in the residence and arrested him for two felony violations of PC section 290. He has been in custody ever since.
Ms. Lance writes that, because he was in custody, “Mr. Lucero did not make it to his referral to Woodland Clinic, nor did he receive any other treatment for his cancer at that time.”
In April his condition worsened and he was hospitalized at Woodland Memorial for blood transfusions and, in May, he was in the hospital again, where tests were conducted showing that “there was essentially no treatment at that time that was medically indicated to assist in fighting his cancer, and he was sent back to the jail for Hospice care.”
In May, the doctor advised counsel as well as two lieutenants from the jail that the prognosis “was extremely poor, and life expectancy was days to months.”
Despite this, Mr. Lucero remained in custody and “was seen by Hospice personnel and jail medical staff regularly.”
His case was set to begin a jury trial on June 18, but he died over the weekend.
Mr. Lucero was arraigned on March 22 for a felony violation, PC section 290(b) for failing to register within specified entrance into a jurisdiction, along with two strike priors from 1987 and 1996.
Ms. Lance notes that he has had no criminal history since 1996.
The matter was set for preliminary hearing on April 5, but defense requested a waiver of the hearing as Mr. Lucero “was quite ill and extremely uncomfortable in court.”
The People agreed to the waiver under the condition that they add a second count, failing to register within five days of his birthday for an annual update – which would have been due on September 6 of 2017, 26 days after registering in Sacramento.
“As such, those are the pending charges and they both have life exposure,” she writes.
Mr. Lucero’s brother offered to give Mr. Lucero a place to live where he could receive his hospice care until he passed away.
In a letter dated April 5, Dr. John Stockburger indicated that Mr. Lucero was a patient at Salud Clinic. He writes: “His case is complicated by severe anemia, at times symptomatic. He is under the care of an oncologist (cancer and blood specialist) and requires frequent monitoring and treatment. He is very frail, and his prognosis is poor.”
The doctor continued, “I am unaware of his legal difficulties. or whether criminal charges are involved. However, if he is not to be released for care in the community, it is critical that his physicians at the jail arrange follow up with Hematology Oncology at Woodland Health Care as soon as possible.”
Two months later, on June 13, doctors and nurses from Yolo Hospice wrote that they “describe his condition as progressing to the point where he is not interested in food and is eating minimal amounts.”
They write, “His energy level is diminishing and he is becoming so weak that he is almost completely bed bound and cannot get out of bed without assistance. He has recently fallen in an attempt to transfer without assistance. He has been sleeping more and more and when awakes, is confused and disoriented. This is indicative of progression of his underlying liver failure and cancer. We estimate that he has a prognosis of less than three months, likely more in the realm of weeks.”
Counsel requested the court dismiss this matter in the furtherance of justice or release Mr. Lucero on supervised OR.
—David M. Greenwald reporting
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