News Briefs News Briefs (October 01, 2004)

Hate crime trial begins

Lawyers for both sides in the hate crime trial of Jerrod Cohn gave their opening statements Wednesday in a Palo Alto courtroom. Cohn is one of three defendants in last year's beating of Mountain View resident Angel Santuario.

Deputy District Attorney Dan Okonkwo is seeking a hate crime conviction because Cohn's alleged motive in the attack was his belief that Santuario was gay. The other two defendants, New Yorkers Brian Walter and Michael Daugherty both pled no contest to similar charges in February. Okonkwo is expected to call both Walter and Daugherty as witnesses in the trial.

Cohn is also accused of stealing and destroying Santuario's guitar and faces a maximum jail sentence of nine years. Cohn is represented by Wes Schroeder of San Jose.

Abe-Koga picks up late endorsement

The Tri-County Apartment Association has added Margaret Abe-Koga to the list of candidates it is supporting in this fall's city council election. Earlier this month, the housing advocacy group endorsed incumbents Nick Galiotto and Matt Pear and challenger Laura Macias.

Citizen Kasperzak

Council member Mike Kasperzak attended the League of California Cities conference Sept. 17-19 where he was honored as one of the first graduates of the group's Leadership in Action program.

Kaspzerak was also elected to the league's board of directors. The league met to discuss Proposition 1A, which will be on the ballot next month, housing, homeland security, city finance, technology in government and ethics for public officials.

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