Riverside County Superior Court judges have dismissed more than 600 criminal court cases since Oct. 10, 2022. More than half of those cases were dismissed by judges in the Larson Justice Center in Indio.
Over the past four weeks, Riverside County Superior Court judges has dismissed more than 500 criminal court cases.
These cases are both misdemeanor and felony cases and include nearly all crime types. Approximately 50 felony cases have been dismissed thus far. Felony cases dismissed included charges such as attempted murder, assault, stalking, arson, vandalism, and a hate crime. Most of the dismissals are domestic violence or driving under the influence cases. Many of the dismissed cases include a victim of crime.
The Riverside County DA’s Office has filed an appeal with the California 4th District Court of Appeal in the case of People v. Tapia, a felony assault with personal use of a weapon - a machete - which caused great bodily injury to the victim.
On Oct. 10, 2022, Riverside County Superior Court judges began to dismiss criminal cases based on a lack of available trial courtrooms. Dismissed cases range from misdemeanor to felony cases and include many types of crime.
Two defendants have been sentenced in an unemployment benefits fraud scheme, in which they pled guilty to submitting fraudulent California Employment Development Department (EDD) claims, resulting in a total loss of more than $500,000.